Voters in three states will elect members of their Statehouses on Tuesday, and the ramifacations will be felt nationwide, as a story in USA Today explains.

Certainly, voters in those three states—New Jersey, Virginia, and Mississippi —should care, since state legislatures set school spending and often shape educational priorities. (Louisiana’s Statehouse elections are later in November.) Check out Education Week’s Election 2007 coverage here.

But these legislative elections also will determine who draws new Congressional boundaries in those states after the 2010 Census, which greatly influences whether Democrats or Republicans get elected to Congress. And, given the national interest in education policy—from expanding prekindergarten to retooling the No Child Left Behind Act—who serves in and controls Congress will likely have a big impact on public schools across the country.

Stay tuned here, and we’ll keep you up-to-date on next week’s elections.