First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed the National Education Association Representative Assembly today and called for greater support and resources for public education and teachers. Mrs. Clinton received wild applause for virtually every point she made and received several standing ovations. But it was the non-reaction of the assembly when she delivered fulsome praise for the nation's charter schools that was the only unplanned-for incident during the entire speech.

"I also hope you will continue to stand behind the charter school public school movement," Mrs. Clinton began, "because I believe that parents do deserve greater choice within the public school system to meet the needs of their children."

She described how positively impressed she was by the high standards she saw at a Washington, DC charter school that required children to master Latin. She told the audience that despite the rigorous requirements, the school had a large waiting list. She wondered why we couldn't have more schools like it.

"Well, slowly but surely we're beginning to create schooling opportunities through the public school charter system that are providing those kinds of options for parents and students," Mrs. Clinton continued, "raising academic standards and empowering educators, and I invite educators to be at the forefront of this. Because I know that the NEA has already helped to create a number of charter schools. And I'm very pleased that you have done this, because I think when we look back on the 1990s, we will see that the charter school movement, led by committed, experienced, expert educators, will be one of the ways we will have turned around the entire public school system."

Mrs. Clinton paused, but not a single cheer or clap emerged from the 15,000 people in the audience. Mrs. Clinton returned to firmer ground, praising our America's public education system as having "the best schools and the smartest kids." The crowd cheered and applauded raucously as she finished, with many signs supporting her candidacy for U.S. senator from New York, President of the United States, and one for governor of Florida.

Sometime tomorrow, the delegates will consider New Business Item 36, which says in part: "NEA recognizes that the growing experience with charter schools is increasingly negative, that charters have been seized on by right-wing forces as a wedge to break up and resegregate education and prepare the way for privatization... that charter schools overwhelmingly fail to provide any of the benefits they originally claimed to offer. NEA will publicly oppose further extension of charter schools."

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The Education Intelligence Agency conducts public education research, analysis and investigations. Director: Mike Antonucci. Ph: 916-422-4373. Fax: 916-392-1482. E-Mail: EducIntel@aol.com