Schools Chancellor Klein Heads to Colbert Report

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is many things. He's the head of the largest public school system in the country, he's a lawyer (he was a former Assistant Attorney General - biggest case: going after Microsoft) and he's a businessman (he was chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann). But who knew he was someone who should appear on The Colbert Report?

The Daily News reports that the Department of Education's media relations department approached The Colbert Report about having Klein as a guest. A DOE spokesman said, "The chancellor likes the show and although it's a satirical show, it gives an airing to serious issues. He's going to talk about pressing issues in urban education. ... It's an opportunity to get our ideas out to a demographic we don't normally reach." We can only hope that Colbert will nail Klein with questions about making little kids take mass transit by themselves, racial quotas, cellphone usage, and standardized testing.

New York magazine had a long feature about him a few years ago, suggesting he was either "the most effective school chancellor in the past several decades," "a pawn in Mayor Bloomberg’s game," "the loser in a battle with the teachers union," "a man who dreams of being mayor" or "all of the above." And back in 2004, Klein was the highest-paid city employee.