Don't cancel your subscription to the New York Times just yet. Education reformers (and people of contrarian spirit everywhere) should be pleased with the announcement that reporter and columnist John Tierney is taking over William Safire's patch of the most-watched journalistic real estate in the world: the Times op-ed page. Tierney has for years been sympathetic to vouchers, merit pay, and various other school reforms. (See here and here for some examples of his against-the-grain work.) He's a fine writer and tenacious reporter. We hope he'll be a little more open to charter schools than certain members of the Times' reporting staff, at the least.
"Contrarian voice joins N.Y. Times op-ed page," by Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, March 2, 2005
"N.Y. Times picks John Tierney for op-ed page," by Joe Strupp, Editor & Publisher, March 1, 2005