The latest education buzz phrase is sure to be "Career to Cradle,'' and questions are already being raised about its meaning.

On Monday, President Barack Obama submitted his second budget request to Congress, and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan noted that the president is committed to providing a "cradle-to-career,'' education for all U.S. students.

That includes some $9.3 billion over 10 years for the Early Learning Challenge Fund, which will provide competitive grants to states that agree to expand their early learning experiences from birth through kindergarten.

EarlyStories will be interested in watching coverage of this newest acronym, along with some concerns already being expressed about its meaning. Eric Tipler at the Huffington Post expressed concerns that "career readiness,'' actually means "readiness for a career, not a back door to avoiding the children we're currently failing to educate."

And blogger Donna Garner worried that cradle to career goes too far.

"It was not enough for Obama/Duncan to control our K-12 public school children's minds through national standards, national tests, national curriculum, and a national database,'' Garner wrote in a letter she sent to two Texas senators. "Now they have revealed their plan to extend the federal government's control over our youngest children while at the same time controlling which high-school graduates will get student loans."

For his part, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the U.S. Department of education "can't wait to make these reforms."