Category Archives: Education Politics

I love anniversaries, don’t you? Exactly one year ago I commented on a front-page Denver Post story documenting the use of taxpayer-funded union release time in Colorado school districts. Without taking a comprehensive look, the Post reporter found $5.8 million in subsidies to teacher unions. So on this not-quite-historic 1st anniversary, it’s interesting to see a new video posted of a recent interview with one of the union officers paid by taxpayers to take leave from the classroom. In the Spotlight on Corruption production, the District Twelve Educators Association (DTEA) official discloses some of what she does:

Really quick for a Friday, the good news for the education reform movement this week is that “Indiana’s loss turned out to be Florida’s gain.” What am I talking about? The sad news that the Hoosier State’s commissioner of education Tony Bennett lost his re-election bid is quelled by the fact he agreed to take over the same position in the only state with a longer, more comprehensive history of reform: Florida. Bennett sat down with national education guru Rick Hess for an interview to explain how it all came together, and what sort of challenges and opportunities face him in the Sunshine State. Anyone who hoped that Bennett might have become commissioner here in Colorado can be consoled by Hess’ reminder comparing Florida’s education reform acquisition with our state’s football acquisition: After all, it’s been a tough year for Indiana; they keep shipping homegrown stars elsewhere. This spring, the Indianapolis Colts cut ties with all-world quarterback Peyton Manning, with the Denver Broncos outbidding several other franchises for his services…. In a perfect world, I’d take both Manning and Bennett. Winning Super Bowl XLVII would be exciting enough. Winning the Super Bowl of education reform — providing more choice, opportunity, […]

Thousands of kids in Michigan are missing school today. Can you guess why? It is December, so you might be tempted to think a snow day or some other inclement weather situation explains all the absences…. Sorry, try again. Maybe some sort of influenza or chicken pox epidemic, you might say?… Well, if you did, you’d be wrong once more. And no, it’s not “Take Your Daughter to Work Day” either, so don’t even bother with that guess. The real answer is a union-orchestrated political protest against legislation that would give workers more freedom in the workplace. Michigan Capitol Confidential tells the story

All the big people are talking about these days seems to be the coming “fiscal cliff,” and some tough decisions leaders in Washington, D.C., have to make. For anyone who has common sense, a big part of the solution has to be for Congress to stop spending more money than it takes in. You know, the kind of balanced budget people like my parents have to use? In one of his more provocative pieces (and that’s really saying something), education guru Rick Hess writes that many so-called education advocates are essentially saying: “Let’s push kids off the fiscal cliff!” What does he mean? He does a good job crunching some numbers to show that, in order for politicians to stop racking up bills that kids like me will have to pay someday, our country needs significant reforms to old-age entitlement programs (Social Security and Medicare). So you’d expect the education advocates to be pushing for entitlement reform to help spare kids like me a massive debt burden? Not so fast, Hess points out:

With so much going on in Colorado’s world of education reform — and all sorts of new and shiny things taking place — it can be easy to forget the state is in the middle of a large-scale change to teacher evaluations. The highly-charged debates over SB 191 in 2010 seem like a distant memory. Yet the long process of implementing a new evaluation system focused on educator effectiveness grinds forward across Colorado, with bill sponsor Senator Michael Johnston insisting there is no reason to delay further. A couple of new reports from different sources give reason for ed reformers to keep their fingers crossed. A Center for American Progress report by Patrick McGuinn unpacks the challenges facing state education agencies as they try to bring new evaluation systems to life on a large scale. The report specifically cites Colorado’s work to multiply the number of qualified trainers and the unique partnership between CDE and the Legacy Foundation — concluding that a lot of careful thought and planning has to be given to any state contemplating similar reform.

I have a (sort of) happy ending to a story shared here back in April. Though she had to wait nearly a whole year, Denver teacher Ronda Reinhardt finally was able to exercise her right and revoke her union membership. In many Colorado school districts (including Denver), a teacher who wants to exercise her right to leave the union can only do so during a brief window of time and under certain conditions. These opt-out periods vary from district to district. As Ronda’s experience highlights, many teachers don’t know about the restrictions until they want to quit and find out it’s too late. Tim Farmer from the Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE) shared the account of Ronda finally being able to exercise her choice:

I’m still recovering from all the election excitement. Rather than try to rehash all the interesting results for the world of education reform, I’m going to do the lazy, little kid thing and point you to a few pieces to digest the information and analysis for yourself:

Apparently, today is some kind of big day, with a lot of big people here in Colorado and in other states making some important decision about the future of the country or something. It sounds like some sort of big deal. But as elections go, I’m more tuned in to some key education reform races around the country — compliments of Mike Petrilli at Education Next. (In addition to the local education tax issues on the ballot in many Colorado school districts.) I’m watching a few of them, too. Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett has been one of the nation’s boldest education reform leaders. Choice? Accountability? Labor reforms? Check marks on all three. How will he fare seeking re-election? That’s for Hoosiers to decide. Even more interesting to me is a trio of Idaho ballot initiatives the teachers union is backing in an attempt to toss out some yummy tater tot reforms. Petrilli points out that New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg of all people has thrown some tangible support behind the reforms and against the union. Why can I almost imagine some bemused Pocatello denizen proclaiming: “New York City?”

Halloween is this week, which means it’s almost time for little old me to don the green paint and flex my growing muscles as the Incredible Hulk. (I can hear some of those murmurs out there: “Yeah, incredible is right!”) All right, so maybe just because I put on the costume and go door to door, no one is going to ask me to pick up a car — except for possibly one of those “smart” cars — and hurl it at the bad guys. You may have figured out I’m not really that strong. But how strong is the teachers union in Colorado? It’s a topic you hear about plenty from my Education Policy Center friends. Well, today the Fordham Institute released the most thorough study of its kind: “How Strong Are U.S. Teacher Unions? A State-by-State Comparison.” If Mike Antonucci says it’s a “much-needed reference work,” then you know it’s worth your attention. The authors looked at everything from what percentage of teachers are members to laws about tenure and collective bargaining. Adding up all the categories, Colorado ranked 35th overall. That means our state is just inside the bottom third, which represents the weaker state unions. However, […]

Call me lazy. Call me a copycat. Call me whatever you want (“sticks and stones,” and all that…). Just read this insightful piece by Mike Antonucci that unpacks the answers of Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis in a post-strike retrospective interview. His piece reminds us that democracy applies more broadly than to union actions, that not only the “experts” get a voice and a vote, and that the powerful trends of education reform persist even after this fall’s labor showdown in the Windy City. The conclusion?