Weingarten at 50

As Randi Weingarten celebrated her 50th birthday last night by raising money for her charter schools, the thought struck us that it's a shame there is no obvious next step for her here in New York. She has been president of the United Federation of Teachers since 1998 and serves as head of the city's Municipal Labor Committee. The betting is that Ms. Weingarten is headed to Washington soon to make a bid for the presidency of her national union, the American Federation of Teachers. That would follow in the footsteps of both the Albert Shanker and Sandra Feldman.

Ms. Weingarten's idealism is plain to anyone who sits down with her for lunch. Her leadership has certainly been time-tested and proven. She sailed to her most recent UFT presidential term this March, her fourth, with 87% of the vote. Her membership in New York would no doubt be happy to have her stay in the City for the rest of time. Under her watch, following negotiations with Mayor Bloomberg's administration, teachers' starting salaries have gone up 43% in the past five years.

For her birthday we're sending Ms. Weingarten a copy of Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose." We hope that she'll be able to find time to imbibe the idea that the most empowering option — not just for children and parents, but also for the members of her union — would be a system not of socialism but of choice. Friedman's idea of school choice is only a couple of years older than Ms. Weingarten herself, and it's something around which in the next 50 years the union leader could — what's the right word — organize.