The New Mexico Senate proposed a new budget earlier this week that will cut all public agencies by $314 million, with a 6% cut to public education--more than $140 million. The new budget also reduced higher education spending by almost $52 million. However, the budget plan is still controversial and discussions are continuing.

The Obama administration announced that federal aid and stimulus packages have saved 250,000 education jobs. However, many schools continue to face tremendous budget shortcomings, and The National Conference of State Legislatures reported that 27 states have deficits at least $61 billion.

Theodore Sizer, an education reformer who headed Ivy League education departments and high schools, died from colon cancer on Friday, October 23, at the age of 77.

At Columbia Teachers College in New York City, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan slammed teacher training schools, exclaiming that the schools were just "cash cows" that need "revolutionary change." He pushed for more practical training in the classroom for teachers, and more stringent requirements for licensing.

Due to budget cuts, Hawaii schools are implementing 34 "furlough Fridays" over the course of the next two school years, drawing large parent protests. The Hawaiian school year is already shorter than in most US states, and the furloughs will reduce the teaching days to 163 a year, compared to 180 in most US school districts. Furthermore, Hawaii is ranked 47th out of the 50 states in school performance, causing even more outrage--even from Education Secretary Arne Duncan--over the first furlough on Friday, October 23.