U.S. President Barack Obama says kids and the economy will benefit from the changes he's making in education policy and his plan to spend billions to upgrade schools and keep teachers on the job. Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to push his $447 billion jobs bill through the prism of education. Obama said the package of tax cuts and direct spending he has sent to Congress would put tens of thousands of teachers back to work and modernize at least 35,000 schools. He announced steps Friday to let states scrap a requirement that all children show they are proficient in reading and math by 2014.
