In a column unfortunately slated to run during the opening weekend of school vacation, NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof wakes up at last to the schoolyard bell: Education is the issue, and the key to unlocking the nation's potential.

With $ 100 billion in stimulus fundingfor education in excess of anything that's ever been spent before, will the movers, shakers and deal-makers heed Kristof's call? It seems that the funds will at least stanch New York's threatened teacher bleed-- but can wholesale change be legislated, or funded, from on high -- from the federal to the hyper-local level? Will NCLB undergo Obama-eque "rebranding" (as the Bush-era TARP morphed into the current stimulus plan)? Will national standards become routine -- or will independent localities prevail, as American education history shows again and again?

While the answers await the test of time and Education Secretary Arne Duncan's leadership, placing education at center stage is a welcome, and long-overdue, arrival. Thank you, Nick Kristof, for kick-starting the conversation.