After taking a slam from Rod Paige and Chester Finn on his 65% deception gimmick, Ken Blackwell may be muzzling his wife, Rosa, who happens to be the superintendent of the Cincinnati Public Schools. State Sen. Teresa Fedor of Toledo - who is only the ranking member on the Ohio Senate Education Committee - said last week that Ken's ONLY big idea in education would have a "disastrous" effect on Ohio public schools. Hmm... since there are 35,600 students in the Cincinnati Public Schools, Ken's ONLY big idea on education would likely dump a big truckload of problems in the lap of his wife as she tries to do her job.
Sadly, she's silent on the question.
I feel for Rosa. I can see her struggling with two different visions of her future: "Good morning, Superintendent Blackwell, but what are we going to do about our budget cuts?" versus "Good morning, First Lady Blackwell, would you like to serve crème brulee or the chocolate mousse at the luncheon with the Cabinet spouses?" Only from that perspective is her public silence on the issue understandable. When state lawmakers and other education leaders in Ohio are speaking out about her husband's most recent cockamamie scheme (ahem, see also "TEL"), it makes no sense for Cincinnati's chief educator to take a pass, no matter who she sees when she gets home at night.
By the way, does anybody know anything about Patrick Byrne, the guy behind Blackwell's 65% scam? I got this off Blackwell's website:
"In an effort to improve Ohio schools' classroom performance, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell joined First Class Education National Advisory Chair Patrick Byrne in announcing the start of an Ohio effort to enact what's been called `The 65 Cent Solution.' The proposal would require every Ohio school district to spend at least 65 cents of each education dollar on `in the classroom' instruction, increasing classroom spending by more than $1.2 billion statewide without a tax increase."
And this:
"Blackwell and Byrne will work together over the next several months to create a strategy to give Ohio voters the opportunity to pass the 65 Cent Solution in November 2006, whether by legislative referral or citizen petition. First Class Education estimates that voters in approximately a dozen states will have the opportunity to vote for The 65 Cent Solution on November 2006 ballots."
I did a Google search; if Blackwell is a stooge for Byrne, Ohio's screwed. He's got a website. Byrne runs Overstock.com but plays in politics where he can, and he's apparently suckered George Will (of course) and Republican candidates across the country into latching onto his 65% deception. I'm going to dig deeper and may post what I find out.
Meantime, come back to us, Rosa. Do it for the kids. All 35,600 of them in Cincinnati.