September 13, 2005  When Mayor Martin O’Malley of Baltimore showed up to give a pep talk to several hundred new teachers preparing to start their jobs last month, he brought up the “P” word along with the three R’s.

June 14, 2005  As the nationwide debate over attempts to bring intelligent design into public school classes has grown increasingly polarized, Bernadette Reinking and Dover CARES seem intent on conveying a centrist message to voters. Her group supports allowing discussion of intelligent design—in social studies, comparative religion, or similar classes, not as a biology lesson.

May 3, 2005  After nearly 40 years in elected office, North Dakota schools chief Wayne G. Sanstead has formed an enviable bond with voters and schoolchildren throughout his state. But the brisk 70-year-old has drawn increasing criticism from teachers and administrators.

March 29, 2005  When California Teachers Association President Barbara Kerr met with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last month, she had one pressing question: “What happened to the man we knew last year?”

February 23, 2005  Mark it down: 2005 may be a banner year for private school choice in state legislatures.

January 19, 2005  Approximately 1,200 people at a pro-education rally in Jackson, Mississipi, presented state lawmakers and the governor with more than 137,000 signatures on Jan. 11, asking them to spend more on education this year.

November 23, 2004  The nation’s governors are pushing high school reform as a way to build up the workforce in their states—and to score major political points in the process.

October 19, 2004  State schools chiefs don’t often seek election to the U.S. Senate. But this year, Democrats Inez Tenenbaum, the incumbent chief in South Carolina, and Betty Castor, a former Florida commissioner, are doing just that.

October 1, 2004  Although the hard-fought presidential race has dominated campaign news in recent weeks, it’s also a critical year for state legislative elections.

June 16, 2004   With a long list of accomplishments and identities—author, scholar, pundit, federal humanities chief, and wife of Vice President Dick Cheney—perhaps it is the status awarded her by her young granddaughter that Lynne V. Cheney cherishes most these days.

March 31, 2004   Mayor Anthony A. William's plan for assuming more control of the District of Columbia school system has found few supporters, as the search for a new chief continues.

February 25, 2004   Recent incidents underscore the questions that arise over the use of school time and resources for political purposes.

November 26, 2003   Conflicting results send few clear messages to policymakers and political candidates facing demands to improve schools, provide tax relief, and lift personal income—all at the same time. Includes accompanying story, "Let Noncitizens Vote, Mayoral Hopeful Says."

October 22, 2003  While their campaigns for governor may have a down-home feel, the candidates in Mississippi, as well as in Louisiana and Kentucky, are stressing serious issues such as education, the economy, and ways they can help people find better jobs. Voters in those three states head to the polls in the coming weeks to choose governors.

September 17, 2003  As state legislators stage their annual back-to-school events this fall, the students they're visiting have had something many of the lawmakers haven't: a summer break.

June 18, 2003   Head Start advocates have greeted President Bush's proposed changes to the program with a blitzkrieg of e-mails, rallies, and a lawsuit.

May 14, 2003  It seems that the face of political activism is getting younger—at least where protests against school funding cuts are concerned.

April 9, 2003  While most mayors have little control over the public schools in their cities, increasing public pressure is putting the elected leaders on the political hot seat to help improve struggling urban districts.

March 5, 2003  Just what stake does the education community have in the debate over judicial selection and the makeup of the federal judiciary? A potentially big one, say several legal experts and activists. Includes "Federal Appeals Court Vacancies."

January 29, 2003   Bit by bit, the functions that former Gov. Roy Barnes transferred out of the state department of education are being brought back by the state's newly elected Republican superintendant of schools.

December 4, 2002   When state lawmakers return to their capitals next month, many will do so without colleagues who for years took the lead on complex school funding issues, state testing systems, and teacher-quality initiatives.

October 30, 2002   One of the most significant local contests on the Nov. 5 ballot is in Cleveland, where citizens will decide whether to keep a 4-year-old system of mayoral control of their district or return to an elected school board.