At a conference on Friday morning at the Center for American Progress in Washington, panelists hashed out the details of a manifesto put out recently by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation (that has received a long list of bipartisan backers) that urges school funding policies where the cash theoretically and equitably follows each child from school to school, like it has been stuffed in a backpack.

The idea, designed to achieve more equitable funding within school districts, was supported on the panel by liberal panelists like former Clinton aide John Podesta and former San Francisco Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and conservatives like former U.S. Ed Secretary Rod Paige.

Campaign for Fiscal Equity guru Mike Rebell was the spoiler.

Rebell, who was agitated from the get-go, along with some skeptical audience members raised some interesting and legitimate criticisms of the plan, including the very likely scenario that politics will infuse any attempt to develop equitable weighted student funding formulas in ways that are themselves inequitable (i.e. gifted and talented parents lobby to increase weighted amounts for gifted kids.) For Rebell's part, much of his opposition to the plan stemmed from his belief that too much of a focus on equity WITHIN districts would take away from attempts to secure ADEQUATE funding from states FOR districts.

But Rebell's most interesting argument for why the "Fund the Child" plan wouldn't work in New York City? "The teachers aren't good enough and principals don't know what they are doing." The initial words were put that way by moderator John Merrow, after Rebell suggested NYC educators would somehow screw it up. "That's what I'm saying," Rebell responded.

Yes, Rebell was kind of cranky, but I don't actually think he believes what he was saying about the lameness of NYC's educators. Here is my theory: The guy, who has made a career fighting for more funding for urban school kids, is getting sick of coming off as another shill for the education establishment and teacher unions. (At one point, Podesta shot-down one of Rebell's arguments by saying Rebell was defending a system that was hurting poor kids the most. Hey! That used to be Rebell's line!) Already, even some of the people who have been involved in adequacy cases nationally have been complaining publicly that the lawsuits have been taken over by the usual suspects.

Jim Guthrie, the Vanderbilt professor whose work in costing out what makes an "adequate education" helped create the early formulation of New York's staggering $5.6 billion per year payment figure, made some remarks on a panel at Harvard last fall in which he basically said once-noble school adequacy lawsuits have gotten out of control. He called his work in NYC's CFE case "a matter of deep professional embarrassment" and his world's "worst nightmare."

So at a time when Rebell has been forced to argue vehemently against a funding plan for districts with a name like "Fund the Child," he needs something else to show that he's not a dime-a-dozen status-quo lawyer hack. New York City teachers become his new whipping post (at least when he's outside NYC!)

Unless, of course, he meant it.

UPDATE: AFT Michele blogs on it here, Maisie at UFT's Edwize blogs on it here.