The holidays will bring no welcome surprises for public education this year. With the economy still in reverse-gear and priorities shifting from the public to private, funding and commitment for schools continue to slip away at the highest levels of power. Elected leaders and limelight seekers simultaneously warn us about further cuts and use that weakened foundation as stepping stones for their own political ambitions.

Anti-hero Michelle Rhee, the former Washington D.C. chancellor of schools who resigned in the midst of electoral fallout has now liberated herself from political, bureaucratic and legal confines. With her new organization Students First, Rhee is attempting to take her brand of top-down, statistically defined education nation-wide. No doubt some will join her, but Rhee’s record in D.C. is similar to Duncan’s