Inside Higher Ed reports this morning on the Obama administration’s hopes to increase education funding in the current stimulus package.

[Education Secretary Arne] Duncan noted that the Senate had included “only half of what the House approved” ($39 billion vs. $79 billion) in terms of the “stabilization fund” designed to help states plug major holes in their education budgets. The Senate version, he said, contains “not nearly as much as we need,” and during the process in which Congress reconciles differences between the two bills, he said, “we need to push for every dollar we can get because public universities and community colleges desperately need that money to avert cuts.” He added: “This is not just good education policy. It’s good economic policy.”