The author reports on the federal budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 in which President Barack Obama singled out education as an area crucial to the country's economic future. He called for bolstering programs he deems critical to his vision for a renewed Elementary and Secondary Education Act and proposed new ones in research, early-childhood education, teaching, and efforts to close achievement gaps. But the proposal faces steep hurdles in Congress--it came just three days after Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives released a plan that would slice nearly $5 billion from the budget now funding the department. The Obama administration's proposed $48.8 billion in discretionary Education Department spending for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 excludes money for Pell Grant college aid and represents a 4.3 percent increase over fiscal 2010. Lawmakers are still working on the fiscal 2011 spending plan. Key precollegiate programs and areas would be slated for modest increases: Title I, which has a wide sweep and helps educate disadvantaged students, would get $14.8 billion, up $300 million from current funding; and aid to special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act would rise to $11.7 billion, up $200 million. The proposal also reprises the administration's ambitious reorganization plan that would consolidate and regroup a wide range of programs under headings focused on particular areas, such as teaching and learning.