Thursday, November 1, 2012

But It's For The Children...

From the San Fransisco Chronicle:  The Oakland Education Association might want to consider changing its name.
The teachers union was one of six unions in California that refused last week to support their school district application for millions of dollars worth of federal funding offered by the Race to the Top program. Without union support, the districts could not qualify for the grants, which - if won - would have paid for high-quality math programs for fourth-through-eighth-grade students.
Clearly the union placed the welfare of its membership above that of the students, so it's somewhat misleading that it calls itself an "education association."
The big sticking point for the association and other teachers unions, including San Francisco's, in not backing the application was a requirement in the federal program to use student test scores to evaluate teacher performance. Oakland and San Francisco were part of a consortium of eight California cities that were seeking the grant, but only the Sanger and Clovis school districts near Fresno persuaded their teachers unions to sign.
The lack of cooperation from these teachers unions is utterly selfish and contemptible.
The teachers union is not 100% to blame.  The Obama administration is also to blame by allowing the unions to have veto power over administrative decisions.
Meanwhile the CCEA, despite the help of Governor, is still refusing sign off on the proposal.
And when a certain liberal commentator, whose name shall not be revealed, says unions don't cost people jobs or are not a hindrance to hiring, well, I guess this shows he is wrong.  Again.

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