Morning announcements: Is $1.7 billion too much or too little for the nation to spend annually on standardized testing?

How much do standardized tests costs? A new report from the Brown Center, that looks in detail at the costs of assessments, find that the U.S. spends $1.7 billion per year, or an average of $65 per students in grades 3-9 on testing. Education Week

And speaking of spending a lot of money, charter schools spend millions of taxpayer dollars every year on advertising to recruit new students. The information is gleaned from Kantar Media, based on advertising rates and buys. Huffington Post

During the 2009-10 school year, 69 percent of California’s student-body were students of color or Native American. These students graduated on-time, at a lower percentage than their white peers. A new Alliance report calls for equity in education to close the achievement gap and ensure economic prosperity for individuals and the country. The Press-Enterprise

Michigan parents, teachers, PTA leaders and others – including the Detroit Public Schools superintendent – are up in arms over one of the US Department of Education’s picks for the Race to the Top-District competition finalists.Washington Post

The California State Treasurer would like to see a time out in education borrowing. He called for an overhaul of how the system uses capital-appreciation bonds, saying the system is relying too much on credit and has too many debt payments. Wall Street Journal