From the LA Times: Teachers unions have been the Democratic Party's foot soldiers for more than half a century, providing not only generous financial backing but an army of volunteers in return for support of their entrenched power in the nation's public schools.
But this relationship is fraying, and the deterioration was evident Monday as Democrats gathered here for their national convention.
A handful of teachers and parents, carrying large inflated pencils, picketed a screening of "Won't Back Down," a movie to be released this month starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis as mothers, one a teacher, who try to take over a failing inner-city school.
The plot is ripped from the headlines: California has the first "parent trigger" law in the nation, which allows parents to petition for sweeping changes to improve low-performing schools. The first parent trigger attempts have occurred in Compton and Adelanto; the former failed, and the latter faces numerous obstacles.
Parent triggers, along with other emerging efforts, have some Democrats questioning their party's longtime support of guarantees that public school districts have made to teachers for decades. Those efforts also include merit pay, charter schools, weakening the tenure system and evaluating teachers partly based on their students' performance on standardized tests.
"There is no longer sort of this assumed alliance between the Democratic Party and the teachers unions," Michelle Rhee, a leader in the movement, said in an interview. Rhee, a Democrat who is a target of the unions' ire, discussed the issues on a panel after the film screening here and one at the Republican National Convention last week. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-education-dems-20120904,0,6567521.story
In Nevada, the teachers union found out in the last legislative session found out that the Democrats are not on their side with the changes
In Chicago, the teachers are threatening to go on strike because they are pissed off at Obamaite, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel. In cities around the country, school boards are cracking down on teacher behavior and Democrats are finally demanding improvement in the kids education.
So, where do the ugly kids, like the teacher unions, go for dates?
There is no way that I would vote for Barack Obama as a teacher. Half of California's teacher association member's are Unemployed. More teacher's are without jobs than ever before in our state. CTA lead it's members to believe that he would be good for teacher's and the kids and classroom sizes are larger than they have ever been and unemployment in our profession is higher than it has ever been. I wnat to see my kids classroom sizes under 35 and I want my Job back!
ReplyDelete