More SMACK!

Who was really responsible for killing New York's shot at $700 million in federal education funding in round 1 of the Race to the Top competition?

Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch? Education Commissioner David Steiner? Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver? Senate Democratic Conference chief John Sampson? City teachers union President Michael Mulgrew?

Not according to Randi Weingarten, formerly of New York, now heading the national American Federation of Teachers.

Quoted in the current issue of Education Week, Weingarten considered why New York got skunked while Delaware and Tennessee pulled in big bucks. She put blame for New York's failure squarely on the newspaper you're holding in your hands, or reading online, at this very moment.

"The key lever to changing schools is changing systems, which means you have to change the labor-management dynamic to be one that is very disciplined and very collaborative," Weingarten said. "The screaming you heard from the [newspaper] tabloids in New York compared to the working together quietly in Tennessee and Delaware teaches us a thing or two."

Pardon us while we, well, scream.

---------------------