Website Exclusive: CRS Previews Reauthorization

As you may recall, I've been trying to get my hands on various CRS reports, which I remember fondly from my days on the Hill for their dry but exhaustive analysis. Here's the first of what I hope are several such reports that I've been able to dig up. Dated December 14th, this is the most recent Congressional Research Service preview of NCLB reauthorization issues prepared for the Congress that officially starts tomorrow: 1206 ESEA Overview (PDF).

Others may find more interesting things to note, but what jumped out at me about the report was a chart towards the back that shows appropriations levels as a percentage of authorization levels -- a statistic that I've never seen before and am not sure has any meaning, given the highly romantic nature of Congressional authorization levels. It starts out at over 75 percent and declines steadily to just over 51 percent.