Michelle Rhee Doesn't Want to Eliminate Public Schools Entirely

A Tea Party leader and voucher advocate was quoted in the Newark Star-Ledger on the future of public schools, saying what school reformers are never supposed to say out loud:

"We think public schools should go away," says Teri Adams, the head of the Independence Hall Tea Party and a leading advocate—both in New Jersey and Pennsylvania—of passage of school voucher bills….

They should "go away," she says, because "they are hurting our children."

Former D.C. school head (and Reason cartoon cover girl) Michelle Rhee felt compelled to respond on the blog of her new organization, Students First:

Those who look at the system as it is and argue that we should do away with it are…wrong. The right to a free public education is not only essential to our future success, but a cornerstone of the American creed that anyone who works hard can make it here—because they have the fair shot at a quality, state-funded education.

Her response generated this headline:

Michelle Rhee says push to do away with public schools is wrong.

Ah well. Nobody's perfect.