Happy New Year! Before you run out and buy that bottle of champagne, check out Politics K-12’s most-read stories of 2012.

10) Six More States Get Waivers: Waive goodbye to 2012. NCLB waivers—what they looked like and who got them and when—were a recurring story.

9) Five Issues Facing Arne Duncan: Right after the election, Michele speculated about what still-Secretary Duncan will have to deal with in his second term.

8) Who Could Be Romney’s Education Secretary?: Just before the conventions, I took a look at who could run 400 Maryland Ave in a potential Romney administration, and wound up naming just about every Republican who has ever sneezed in the direction of a school.

7) New Graduation Data Shows Large Achievement Gaps: A common graduation metric showed big gaps between white and minority students in some states

6) Duncan Sketches Out Second Term Agenda: Duncan told the Council of Chief State School Officers what to expect over the next four years. (Hint: Don’t hold your breath for reauthorization.)

5) Teachers Unions, Federal Spending Slammed at GOP Convention: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tells the nation that there’s a big difference between rank-and-file teachers and their unions.

4) Ten States Get NCLB Waivers, New Mexico Has To Wait: The very first round of waivers. Now the department has released over 30.

3) Romney: I’m Not Going to Cut Education Funding: During a presidential debate, GOP nominee Mitt Romney made this pledge. We’ll never know what he meant by it exactly, or if he would have stood by it as president.

2) Romney: No Federal Support for Common Core: Romney argued against the feds steering resources—or other encouragement—for the common standards.

1) Arne Duncan Picks 16 Race to the Top Winners: The long-awaited announcement of the first-ever districts to snag Race to the Top grants.