Leaders of a national education reform movement, including Joel I. Klein and Michelle Rhee, the former schools chancellors in New York and Washington, have formed a statewide political group in New York with an eye toward being a counterweight to the powerful teachers’ union in the 2013 mayoral election.
[…] Michael Mulgrew, president of the city teachers’ union, the United Federation of Teachers,said the same policies that StudentsFirst sought to preserve in the city and extend throughout the state were no longer palatable to parents or voters.
“If these 1-percenters want to mount an AstroTurf campaign with their deep pockets, they’ve done this before,” he said. “But let’s be clear: the public school parents have not bought into the Bloomberg education reform movement.”
The new group is not supporting a particular candidate, nor will it necessarily endorse one, Mr. Lasher said. But he indicated that between now and the Democratic primary, the group would pressure mayoral candidates to declare their positions on education; those who have so far expressed interest in running have been silent on some elements of the reform agenda. Most of the politicians considering a run, including Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker; Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate; and Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, have been more cordial with Mr. Mulgrew than Mayor Bloomberg has.
I believe when Michelle Rhee began, she had the best intentions at heart. I think she’s lost her way, and things that she gets involved in make me nervous.
