Janis Risch should be smiling today.

She was the focus of my Monday print column.

Risch is executive director of Good Schools Pennsylvania. They are pushing for increased spending for education in Pennsylvania as well as a new funding formula that would go a long way toward evening the playing field among schools districts, especially those right here in Delaware County.

So why would they be smiling today?

Because in the early-morning hours this morning out in Harrisburg, Gov. Ed Rendell and members of the Legislature cut a deal on a new state budget.

And the $28.2 million spending deal appears to include a huge boost in education funding. In Rendell’s original plan, he called for a 6 percent boost in money for education. That’s a healthy 6 percent boost. But it clearly was a little too rich for some Republicans in the state Senate, who were leery of that kind of spending increase amid some serious economic doldrums. There also was some serious bickering about who was in line to get the most money, specifically the amount of money earmarked for Philadelphia schools.

Just exactly how much money will go to education is not clear under this deal, but Rendell said early this morning that it is “basically the same.”

If that’s the case, Risch and education proponents all across the state should be smiling broadly.

But their work likely is not done. They still are looking to fix the riddle of education funding in the state.

But at least for one day, and one state budget, they look like they have won a battle.

The war goes on.