A plan to blow up the Philadelphia public school system

Philadelphia officials say that the traditional district structure, with a superintendent in charge of all public schools, has been shown not to work and that it is time for a change. Supposing that were true, a plan that entails people bidding for a chance to run an achievement network hardly seems like a way to run a civic institution, as the public school system should be viewed. Schools are not businesses, students aren’t widgets, and test scores aren’t a product. -- Valerie Strauss, Washington Post