This Sunday's gospel focuses on Jesus' power and authority as a teacher and the amazement it evoked from those who heard him teach. Proponents and opponents alike of the economic stimulus bill moving through Congress are expressing amazement at the scope of assistance it includes for schools and teachers at all levels of education.

The plan would shower U.S. school districts, child care centers, and university campuses with $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education's current budget.

The proposed emergency expenditures in nearly every area of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start, and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II.

Critics and supporters alike said that by its sheer scope the measure could profoundly change the federal government's role in education, which has traditionally been the responsibility of state and local government.

Supporters say the aid will bring crucial financial relief to the nation's 15,000 school districts and to thousands of campuses otherwise threatened with severe cutbacks. "This is going to avert literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday.

But Republicans strongly criticized some of the proposals as wasteful spending and an ill-considered expansion of the federal government's role, traditionally centered on aid to needy students, into new realms like local school construction.

Source: An article by Sam Dillon for the International Herald Tribune