The national teachers unions have christened today a “National Day of Action.” So rather than spend too much time sitting here working on the blog, I am going to get busy and play ball outside. Then after awhile when I get cold, it will be time to go inside and take action with my Legos and video games (until my parents make me participate in cleaning up and setting the dinner table, that is).

But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn more about the National Day of Action. In (almost) 12 Days of Christmas style, Mike Antonucci breaks down the union-sponsored list of activities. For some reason, it looks different than my own plan to commemorate the second Monday in December.

Not for some students, though, who apparently will be participating. Steve Gunn of EAG News points out that many of these students brought in by the union and their sympathizers sadly “will be protesting against policies that were clearly designed to help them.”

Whining for extra dollars is one approach, though the stunningly harsh rebuke of Amendment 66 at least ought to give pause in Colorado. Apparently, union leaders feel impelled to protest in order to drag even more money into the most well-funded education system in the world. Hmmm, how about doing something to help ensure kids are first–truly–by raising expectations rather than raising taxes? That seems more like something we all could rally around.

Dropout Nation’s Rishawn Biddle dissects the numbers behind a New York teachers union’s pension plan debt to make the case that the big hubbub today is about “protecting the policies and practices that sustain their coffers…because their finances aren’t nearly as robust as they once were.” Overly generous, unsustainable pension plans and union officer compensation packages must be just the sort of thing to motivate some people to do something.

Hey, I’ve got another great idea for a Day of Action: Help Colorado Kids Win by enacting K-12 scholarship tax credits. More opportunities, more incentives, more dollars left over per student… a true Win-Win-Win! For that I’d give up playing ball, Legos, and video games. For today, anyway.