Here’s a quick look at the news from last week (September 5-9) in Washington.

ADMINISTRATION
The President announced his jobs package last night, which contains several components that deal with education and training issues, including funding for school construction for elementary and secondary schools and community colleges, support for state and local governments (including teacher salaries), and funding for innovative job training initiatives.

The Administration is likely to release its NCLB waiver guidance the third week in September, and  waivers will likely begin to be approved in early to mid-winter.

The Department of Education released the proposed requirements for the third round of Race to the Top (RTT3) on Wednesday.  The proposed RTT3 requirements will be available in the Federal Register for public comment until October 11; a final application will follow.

HOUSE 
The House completed debate on the charter school bill (H.R. 2218) on Thursday and the remaining votes are expected to take place early next week. The bill is expected to pass with overwhelming bipartisan support.

The House Education & the Workforce Committee is holding a hearing to “examine the federal role in public school accountability” on September 14, with the likely witnesses to be state and local education officials who wish to see more flexibility in Federal education laws.

The House Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Subcommittee had scheduled a mark up for the appropriations bill today but has postponed it indefinitely.

The House GOP staff continue to work on their final ESEA reauthorization bill dealing with most of the remaining programs and issues in ESEA that have not been covered in the three bills that have previously passed the Education Committee.

SENATE
Harkin and Enzi staff continue to negotiate ESEA reauthorization.

The pending mark up for WIA reauthorization has not been scheduled.

OTHER NEWS
The bipartisan Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction held their first meeting yesterday and announced their first open hearing for Tuesday where CBO director Douglas Elmendorf will testify about the history and consequences of the national debt. They named Sarah Kuehl as deputy staff director and Mark Prater as staff director.