Obama to seek $1.35 billion in additional education funds

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Today, while the balance of power in the Senate is on the block in Massachusetts, President Obama will travel to a suburban Virginia elementary school to tout additional spending for his program of education reform.

The president will seek an additional $1.35 billion in his proposed 2011 budget for ‘Race to the Top,’’ a program offering states additional federal aid for plans designed to boost student performance.

This is among the initiatives that the public is likely to hear about in the president’s first State of the Union address, scheduled for a joint session of Congress on Jan. 27. The plan will ‘invigorate district-level reform by expanding the Race to the Top beyond just states but to school districts ready to embark on system-wide improvement of their educations policies and practices,’’ the White House said.

Obama will promote the plan this morning at Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Va., where he will meet with students before delivering an address.

Read more in the Swamp.

-- Mark Silva