Free Republic

How would the nation's school system be different if teachers were paid like engineers? Secretary of Education Arne Duncan proposed last month that a significant boost in teacher salaries could transform public schools for the better by luring the country's brightest college graduates into the profession. But it's possible that teachers would rather have more job security than a higher salary. When Michelle Rhee controlled Washington D.C.'s schools, she offered up to $130,000 salaries to teachers if they would give up their union's tenure and seniority rules and agree to be paid based on their students' test scores. She could...

The Donald Trump transition team is eyeing former Washington, D.C. public school chancellor Michelle Rhee for Secretary of Education, multiple sources close to the transition tell the Daily Mail. The appointment of Rhee – who has been dubbed 'Public Enemy No. 1' of the teachers' unions -- would be a bold move by the Trump team, and a signal that his administration is gearing up to take an aggressive stance on education reform. It would also cut across partisan lines. Rhee is a lifelong Democrat, and a proponent of Common Core, a set of federal education standards that is opposed...

When she served as chancellor of Washington, D. C.’s public schools, Michelle Rhee’s policies provoked scorn from Capital City teachers, to put it mildly. Long gone from the D. C. scene, Rhee’s approach is still benefiting D. C. students. “Ninety-one percent of the students on opportunity scholarships graduate from high school compared to 77 percent of the students in D. C. public schools,” Patrick Wolf of the University of Arkansas said at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last Thursday. Currently, there are 22 states with private school funding programs, according to Dr. Wolf. Additionally, some states have Educational Savings...

Who would have thought the ubiquitous education superstar Michelle Rhee would be sitting next to Andy Stern on the board of the Broad Foundation? Yes, that's right. The Republican governors' siren and CEO of StudentsFirst works alongside the former SEIU leader, who's visited the White House more than anyone else in the past four years and who said "workers of the world, unite" back in 2007. Stern is the same guy who called the left-leaning former KB Homes executive Eli Broad his "favorite billionaire" in 2005 when the union elites and progressive business owners got together to seriously implement their...

A chorus of Washington, D.C. Democrats are calling on Mayor Vincent Gray to resign amid allegations his campaign engaged in “underhanded deeds” to win his race against incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty in 2010. The Washington Times reports : “Three D.C. Council members called on embattled Mayor Vincent C. Gray to resign Wednesday, just hours after he defended his integrity in his first public comments since federal prosecutors outlined a politically damaging ‘shadow’ effort by members of his 2010 campaign. “David A. Catania, Mary M. Cheh and Muriel Bowser became the first city leaders to argue that Mr. Gray is no...

[...]On the most obvious level, teachers unions are taking a pounding because Republicans have gained power in recent state elections, and the GOP has a strong partisan interest in undermining public-employee unions, which provide troops and treasure to the Democratic Party. In Wisconsin, Walker's campaign to restrict the collective bargaining rights of teachers and other groups to the issue of wages is transparently partisan. Exempt from his plan are two unions that supported him politically: those representing police and firefighters. But Walker's argument - that greedy teachers are putting their own interests over the interests of the public - resonates...

The first 75 teachers who former Chancellor Michelle Rhee fired must be given about $7.5 million in back wages and offered positions with D.C. Public Schools, an arbitrator ruled. "The [termination] process used in this case was so devoid of due process as to be arbitrary and capricious," arbitrator Charles Feigenbaum said in his verdict favoring the Washington Teachers' Union, which has been fighting D.C. Public Schools officials over the July 2008 dismissals for more than two years. Rhee fired 75 first- and second-year teachers after asking principals to recommend recent hires for dismissal. D.C. Public Schools officials told teachers...

In her post-D.C. Public Schools career, former Chancellor Michelle Rhee has had no trouble whatsoever attracting attention to her new education reform ventures. And she's been getting the most attention from prominent elected Republicans. Since leaving DCPS, Rhee has joined the transition team of new Florida Gov. Rick Scott (pictured) and has since agreed to continue on as an "informal adviser" to his administration. On Tuesday, she appeared at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's State of the State address. "No one in America has been more clear that we must change our public education system," Christie said from the podium....

In the past year, 46 states grappled with budget deficits of more than $130 billion. This year could be worse as federal recovery dollars dry up. And yet, for education reform, 2011 could be the best of times. California, to name one example, bridged its $25.4 billion budget gap by cutting billions from public education. It is now forced to cut another $18 billion to fill its current deficit. State executives and legislatures face severe choices and disappointments that could undo political careers and derail progress. On the bright side, public support is building for a frontal attack on the...

| Michelle Rhee, the outspoken former chancellor of the Washington D.C. public school system, has a new mission in life: She wants to save the world. OK. She wants to save the United States' public education system, but it's still a massive undertaking. Her new mission -- Students First -- is being called "A movement to transform public education." And just to be sure she had a big audience for the official launch of her new venture, Rhee announced it last week on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." She also was featured on a Newsweek cover story, so the word is...

A seminal trend may be occurring in media coverage of education, at least at the K-12 level: The press is starting to notice where the problem comes from. In 2010: o The Economist ran an article showing that you can’t solve education problems by throwing money at them; o The L. A. Times conducted an investigation of teacher salaries in the City of the Angels; and o Newsweek ran an article by Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D. C. chancellor who became the bête noire of teachers’ unions everywhere.

After my boss, Washington, D.C., mayor Adrian Fenty, lost his primary in September, I was stunned. I had never imagined he wouldn’t win the contest, given the progress that was visible throughout the city—the new recreation centers, the turnaround of once struggling neighborhoods, and, yes, the improvements in the schools. Three and a half years ago, when I first met with Fenty about becoming chancellor of the D.C. public-school system, I had warned him that he wouldn’t want to hire me. If we did the job right for the city’s children, I told him, it would upset the status quo—I...

The educational reforms some conservatives have championed for decades may actually have a chance at a second life now that a few liberals have embraced them. For example, the current darling of conservative reformers, outgoing Washington, D. C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, was a Democratic appointee in a Democratic administration in one of the most Democratic (in party registrations) cities in America. In Washington, pre-Rhee, “Over 95 percent of teachers in D. C. P. S. rated satisfactory while 10 percent of students were reading at grade level,” Jason Kamras of Teaching Human Capital said at the Atlantic Forum on K-12...

Now it’s official: Michelle Rhee today announced her resignation as chancellor of the D.C. public schools. It was expected, of course, after her patron, Mayor Fenty, lost the Democratic primary a few weeks ago. A schools chancellor needs the strong backing of the mayor — especially if she’s a chancellor who wants to make a difference. Ms. Rhee realized the backing for what she was doing — sacking bad teachers, expanding options for parents, measuring student achievement — was not going to be forthcoming from the presumptive mayor-to-be, Vincent Gray. Ironically Rhee’s departure comes on the heels of the release...

The head of the D.C. public school system says she is resigning. Michelle Rhee made the announcement at a news conference Wednesday. She says the thought of not being chancellor anymore is "heartbreaking." Rhee took over one of the worst urban school systems in the country in 2007 with a mandate from Mayor Adrian Fenty to improve them. Since then, she has arguably improved test scores but also angered many with teacher layoffs, firings and a brusque style. Rhee's departure is not surprising since she campaigned for Fenty, who lost his re-election bid in a September primary. Fenty says Rhee...

Documentary film "Waiting for Superman" praises Chancellor Michelle Rhee as a highly effective school reformer and applauds her desire to end teacher tenure. Now, her own tenure may be ending after Mayor Adrian Fenty, who hired Rhee and allowed her great freedom to exercise school reform, lost his bid for re-election to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, who has criticized her leadership style as autocratic. Education was a primary issue in the election, with many D.C. residents saying they would vote against Fenty because they disagreed with Rhee's reforms. Rhee said she "could not answer" if she wished "Waiting for...

“The fight for the Democratic mayoral nominee in Washington D.C. encapsulates the national struggle for education reform,” wrote Christopher Prandoni of Americans for Tax Reform, on the eve of the primary that wiped D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty off the map. He noted that that Mayor Fenty and School Chancellor Michelle Rhee, were “true reformers who took on the teachers unions in hopes of improving DC’s schools.” But the youngest mayor in D.C. history who presided over a downturn in homicide rates and an upturn in city public school achievements, fell victim to “big city politician” Vincent Gray, who is apparently...

Salary Rheeview Bethany Stotts, June 14, 2010 Michelle Rhee and the Washington Teachers Union have reached a tentative union contract which “will boost the average annual salary of a D.C. educator from $67,000 to about $81,000 and gives the city’s public school teachers salaries comparable to those in surrounding suburban districts, according to a union survey,” according to the Washington Post. In 2007 the Washington Post called the D.C. Public Schools system “among the highest-spending and worst-performing in the nation.” The Washington Post reports that the tentative agreement (pdf) with the Washington Teachers Union * redefines tenure as a due-process...

Oversight: After an unjust firing and campaign of character assassination, the former AmeriCorps inspector general has been cleared of acting improperly. Now where does he go to get his job and reputation back? On June 10, Gerald Walpin was fired with one hour's notice as the watchdog of AmeriCorps in violation of a federal law requiring Congress to be given a heads-up 30 days in advance. He then fell victim to a campaign of character assassination. When pressed for a reason for the sudden and improper dismissal of a federal watchdog, the White House responded with a letter to Sens....

Byron York, Washington Examiner:A congressional investigation of the volunteer organization AmeriCorps contains charges that D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee handled "damage control" after allegations of sexual misconduct against her now fiance, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star and a prominent ally of President Obama, The Washington Examiner has learned. The charges are contained in a report prepared by Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. Darrell Issa, ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.The investigation began after the AmeriCorps inspector general, Gerald Walpin, received reports that Johnson had...