Where Republicans want to take education

can be clearly seen in a biting column this morning by Gail Collins in The New York Times. In Reading, ’Riting and Revenues she takes us through what is happening in Ohio and in Texas. In the former, the State House

approved legislation that would allow for-profit businesses to open up their own taxpayer-financed charter schools.

The bill would also reduce oversight. Collins implies that no one will take credit for inserting the provisions into the legislation.

But consider this:

It got a rave review in The Columbus Dispatch from an op-ed contributor named Thomas Needles, who cheered legislators for trying to end the “drip-drop of wrongheaded regulation” of charter schools.

. Collins informs us that Needles is a consultant for White Hat, a chain of for-profit charter schools with a dubious track record.