"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) House and Senate Pass Budget Blueprints: Plans Would Increase Spending by More than $20 Billion Over the President's Budget; (2) Spellings Announces New Plan to Differentiate Between "Schools on Fire" and "Those With a Smolder"; (3) "Nationalize the Schools (...A Little)!": Report Calls for National Standards, Increased Federal Role in Education; and (4) "A Nation Still At Risk": Report Declares that America's Seventeen-Year-Olds Lack Knowledge of Historical Events, Literary Accomplishments.