*This infomation has been updated. Read our latest news story on the budget agreement.*

Lawmakers in Washington have apparently come to an agreement on the remaining nine funding bills for FY2012, inlcuding the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Appropriations bill.

The current temporary budget extension expires on Friday, December 16, so any budget deal must pass in both chambers of Congress and be signed by the President swiftly. In the budget agreement, there appears to be an increase for IDEA and Title I funding, but the size of increase is not yet known. Race To The Top is also funded and districts will be allowed to directly compete for these funds.

As you may recall, the Senate passed an Education Appropriations bill out of the Appropriations Committee that provided level funding from FY2011 for IDEA and Title I, and cut only a small number of programs. The House of Representatives, in comparison, was never able to get approval of their Education Appropriations bill, which included huge increases to IDEA and Title I funding, eliminated School Improvement Grants, RTTT, and 29 other education programs.

It is not yet clear how an agreement was reached between two drastically different proposed funding bills.

Stay tuned to the NAESP blog, as details emerge, we will keep you updated.