Want to know how well President Obama is doing on education reform? Check out who's angry with him.

The president infuriated teachers nationwide by endorsing a Rhode Island school board's recent firing of the entire staff at a poor-performing school. When a school fails its students year after year, Obama explained, at some point there must be accountability.

Good point.

Yet, Rhode Island promises to become a litmus test as education unions reconsider their support for Obama, and by association, for Demo-crats.

This is a classic tempest in a teapot.

Yes, the teachers unions and their 4 million members worked hard to get Obama elected. So they thought they owned him? Instead, they and the rest of us are seeing firsthand the president's independence and relentless push to make good on promised reforms.

I detected a similar steely resolve in the voice of Education Secretary Arne Duncan during a recent reporters' conference call about the $4.35 billion Race to the Top competitive grants. Out of 41 states that applied for the grants, 16 are finalists.

I asked Duncan whether the administration's unyielding emphasis on large and systemic changes fed Washington's contention that it didn't stand a chance.

Duncan was unrepentant. States face a steep challenge trying to push sizable reforms through nervous legislatures. But at least half of the federal pot of money would be reserved for a second round, Duncan noted. State lawmakers: Put your game face on.

A tall order considering the Obama administration has embraced charter schools and this state (Washington) equates them with something on the order of satanic rituals. Still, lawmakers here are trying. The state House passed an education-reform bill that includes stronger-than-expected language on evaluating principals and teachers. The Senate is going wobbly and the two sides must reach an agreement before the legislation can make it to the governor's desk.

Even with all the back and forth, changing law will be a piece of cake compared with changing the entrenched hearts and minds in education. Opposition to education reform remains in some quarters a staple of state politics.

The Obama administration may be making some enemies, but it deserves credit for using money, lots of it, to win friends in schools struggling with poverty and other challenges that interfere with academics. A $3.5 billion federal fund sends additional aid to schools ranked in the lowest 5 percent in terms of student achievement.

The feds are using the carrot-and-stick approach to force not just a conversation, but action, on improving schools. The perennially underfunded educational system is promised a lifesaving fiscal shot in the arm, but the money is earmarked for dismantling the status quo.

The conversation promises to turn sharper and more uncomfortable.

The education secretary was in Selma, Ala., last week to mark the 45th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," a day state troopers responded to peaceful civil-rights protesters by using billy clubs and tear gas.

Rather than the staid mantra of education as opportunity, Duncan sent a shot across the bow, noting a lapse on the part of the previous administration in ensuring equal opportunities in the classrooms. Regular reviews are promised to ensure students have equal access to college-prep and advanced curriculum as well as STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — programs.

Count on the administration to pick up a few more enemies. The right ones.

Lynne K. Varner is a columnist for the Seattle Times.