I've been highlighting the tidal wave of reformers coming into positions of leadership in the education world across the country for quite some time (most importantly, President Obama and Sec. Duncan), and there's more good news on that front. TFAer Kira Orange Jones "was elected to represent most of Orleans Parish on the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Saturday."

Kira Orange Jones, the young Teach for America leader, was elected to represent most of Orleans Parish on the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Saturday. Her victory was part of a near sweep of this year's board races for allies of the school reform movement that has remade the city's public education system.

Kira Orange Jones, left, and Louella Givens

Saturday's runoff, in which Orange Jones toppled incumbent Louella Givens, amounted to the first definitive referendum on the city's mass experiment with autonomous charter schools, which now educate more than 80 percent of public school children in New Orleans. And taken together with the results of last month's primary and two other runoffs, it marks a shift in philosophy on the 11-member board that could usher in stark and controversial changes in the way all of Louisiana educates its children.

Two other second-round votes on Saturday went in favor of candidates who positioned themselves as proponents of revamping the way public education functions statewide.

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