Education

• Mitt Romney details his plan for public education, which includes vouchers for parents who want to send their children to private schools.
• The Feds propose rules for a third round of Race to the Top grants.

Economics has surpassed the biological sciences as the most popular field at Brown University. Roughly 220 members of the undergraduate class of 2012 will receive economics degrees during commencement exercises this weekend.

Biological sciences are the second most popular degree with 200 concentrators, while international relations comes in a distant third.

The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has sent another letter to Barrington school officials, warning them that a selective admissions program may violate the law.

Barrington has announced plans to admit up to 10 students from other towns. Under the proposal, those students would pay $13,000 a year to attend the highly ranked school district.

More children are living with grandparents and other relatives, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In Rhode Island, an estimated 6,000 children are in that situation. Rhode Island Kids Count Executive Director Elizabeth Burke Bryant says it’s not always easy for grandparents or aunts and uncles to become primary caretakers.

“It’s a hard job, it’s something that really strains resources in their own family structure,” Burke Bryant explains. “And yet they are stepping up in order to provide care during these periods of difficulty.”