Political operatives have opened a new front in the war on public education.

Dubbed the "65-percent solution," the well-financed campaign to overhaul school funding is part of a partisan national strategy designed to split teachers and administrators in a fight for scarce education dollars. Simply put, it calls for legislation requiring 65 percent of school district budgets to be spent directly in the classroom.

The real election-year targets are pro-education suburban moms who want public schools "fixed, not replaced," thus effectively blocking the crusade for vouchers, charter schools, and other public school alternatives.

Although the group's fundraising web site, First Class Education, says the campaign is a grassroots school funding initiative, an internal memo shows otherwise.

Chaired by voucher proponent and Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, the effort is clearly focused on unseating Democratic governors or challengers in key states such as Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, and Oklahoma.

However, the campaign has several "tangential political advantages," according to organizers.

Outlined in cynical detail, these goals include "splitting the education union" by pitting "administrators and teachers at odds with each other," "predisposing" targeted voters to support "voucher and charter school proposals," establishing "the debate on taxes" by highlighting public education's "inefficiencies," and providing Republicans with "greater credibility on public-education issues."

The real agenda, however, might be spelled out in benefit No. 4, which "allows the use of unlimited non-personal money for political positioning advantages."

Written by First Class's executive director, Tim Mooney, the memo also advises groups to set up 501(c)(4) organizations, so "The aforementioned benefits can be achieved with funding in any amount and from any source. In the era of campaign finance limitations on candidates, PACs, and parties, galvanizing an electorate via the initiative process is a tremendous opportunity."

Although the memo's posting on blogs and online news sites is draining the group's credibility faster than a quick lube job on a dirty engine, more than 25 states have active "65-percent solution" candidates or groups pushing the initiative.

Studies by respected, non-partisan organizations such as Standard & Poor's and the Economic Policy Institute have shown the solution won't do anything to improve public education. Yet a Harris Interactive poll shows between 70 percent and 80 percent of the public favors the measure.

Why? The siren song of the sound bite is too hard to resist. Supporters promise better public schools without a tax increase, and they dismiss substantive concerns by professional educators and grassroots advocates as corrupt Tammany Hall protectors of the status quo.

Politicians, talk show radio hosts, and TV news reporters don't seem to care that there aren't any data or research that support the "65-percent solution"--intuitively, it sounds right, and it provides yet another springboard for public-school bashing, the nation's new national pastime.