Rhee Starts Organization As Children's Advocate

Former D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is starting an organization called Students First. Rhee calls it "a national movement to defend and promote the interests of children."

Oprah Winfrey was apparently one of those people wondering what Rhee was going to do after stepping down.

"I am going to start a revolution. I'm going to start a movement in this country on behalf of the nation's children," Rhee says.

Rhee says teachers' unions and textbook manufacturers influence education policy, but there is no national, organized interest group that promotes the interests of children.

Rhee wants to raise $1 billion and sign up 1 million supporters in one year. She says the group will be non-partisan but political, pushing for changes in legislation and supporting political candidates who are "reform minded."

So far she has one powerful supporter on her side: Winfrey.

"I keep saying and I've been saying from this platform, 'Somebody needs to fix it.' And the fact that you've stepped up and said, 'I want to be the person to do it,' God bless you for that," Winfrey says.

In a first-person Newsweek piece this week, Rhee says she's "not done fighting."