Tag Archives: National Education Association

Recently, a group of public school teachers in rural Kansas were tired of being represented by the nation’s largest teachers union and decided to do something about it. From Education Week: Teachers in Riley County have voted to decertify from the Kansas National Education Association and the National Education Association. The approximately 58 teachers in the district voted earlier this month to have Riley County Educators serve as their negotiating agent. Riley County High School industrial arts teacher and track coach Garry Sigle, who also serves as spokesman for the Riley County Educators, was kind enough to record an iVoices podcast explaining why he and the other teachers chose this course of action and what the process is like: The Association of American Educators (AAE), which has provided assistance to the teachers in Riley, explains that these teachers in the Kansas district are not the first local to decertify from NEA in recent years. It has happened in several other states, though not yet in Colorado. My Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow tells me he is working to get more information on the decertification option to put up on the Independent Teachers website. I’ll keep you updated.

Are Colorado teachers underpaid, overpaid, or compensated about right? Many people have different opinions on the matter, but it’s always good to root opinion in fact when possible. In its most recent estimates the National Education Association ranked Colorado 29th in average teacher salary at $48,707, just a hair under the national average of $48,969. But as Terry Stoops explains in his new John Locke Foundation report (PDF), even the NEA admits that these data aren’t very good for apples-to-apples comparisons. So he went a step further and factor in cost of living, pension contributions, and average experience to see which state’s teachers are getting the most compensation value for their work. What did Stoops find?

The horse isn’t dead yet, so I’m not going to stop beating it. I’ve already highlighted the silliness of the “magical money tree” solution to education coming from Congress. Let’s not mince words: the so-called “stimulus” bill in Washington, DC, is a disaster. A disaster for education reform, and a disaster for students – who would end up being burdened with far, far more debt than we can hope to gain from the proposed education spending. As much as I have enjoyed picking apart the nonsense of this gargantuan wasteful spending bill, the writers at the Edspresso blog truly have been in their heyday unraveling the topic. After a hot start a few years ago, Edspresso went through some tough, slow times. That appears to be in the past, though. The latest piece “Status Quo Education Stimulus” ironically lauds the National Education Association for showing us how “the stimulus bill is nothing more than additional funding for the education programs and structures that already exist, regardless of efficacy.”

It’s a few days before Christmas, and school is out. Students and teachers are supposed to be home, getting ready for the best holiday of the year. But what about when students and teachers are home when they’re not supposed to be? No, I’m not talking about those fun snow days. I’m talking about teacher strikes. The Wall Street Journal has an editorial today about one state where the problem of teacher strikes is rampant: Teachers unions routinely claim that the interests of students are their top priority. So we would be interested to hear how the Pennsylvania affiliate of the National Education Association explains the proliferation of teacher walkouts in the middle of the school year. According to a recent study by the Allegheny Institute, Pennsylvania is once again the worst state in the country for teacher strikes. No less than 42% of all teacher walkouts nationwide occur in the Keystone State, leaving kids sidelined and parents scrambling to juggle work and family, potentially on as little as 48 hours notice required by state law. The strikes take place despite the state’s ranking in the top 20% nationwide for teacher salaries in 2006-2007 — the most recent data available […]

The American people may not know all the ins and outs of education reform, but enough of them get the big ideas to give me hope for the future. Look at this recent poll from Rasmussen Reports (H/T Mike Antonucci): But two-thirds of U.S. voters (66%) say the teachers’ unions – the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers – are more interested in protecting their members’ jobs than in the quality of education. Only 23% of voters say educational quality comes first for the unions, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twelve percent (12%) are undecided…. Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters also believe the secretary of Education should be an advocate for students rather than teachers, but 19% say teachers should be the secretary’s priority. Fifteen percent (15%) aren’t sure. [emphases added] If we were to put A and B together, it seems that 2 out of 3 Americans should like the idea that President-elect Barack Obama didn’t select the unions’ favorite candidate to be Secretary of Education. There are differing opinions about the mettle of Chicago Public Schools CEO and soon-to-be Education Secretary Arne Duncan. But some are quite confident that he will […]

Rocky Mountain News guest columnist Robert Maranto – an endowed chair at the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform – makes some striking points about some politicians’ school choice hypocrisy. Especially about one very prominent politician in particular: Candidate [Barack] Obama declares that “We need to fix & improve our public schools, not throw our hands up and walk away from them,” the way Barack and Michelle Obama have with their own children. Candidate Obama’s official education program opposes private school choice, and only under pressure gave a very qualified endorsement to public charter schools. Instead of letting parents choose, Obama emphasizes bureaucratic programs like teacher certification. Supporters of traditional teacher certification programs, like Obama education adviser Linda Darling Hammond, want all public school teachers to be certified. They argue that no one wants children to be operated on by uncertified doctors, so why should they be taught by uncertified teachers? Yet unlike medical certification, there is precious little evidence that teacher certification works. Those same rich people who would never send their children to unlicensed doctors choose to pay big bucks to have those same children taught by unlicensed teachers. Just look at Sen. Obama and other recent […]

Is the election almost over yet? All the scary political attack ads are giving me bad dreams, and I can’t believe how gullible some politicians are to think they can buy my vote by promising me all sorts of goodies. President whatz-his-name wants to take money from someone else and give it to me. Congressman so-and-so says he’s going to make my life better. Such-and-such amendment on the ballot has to pass “for the children.” (Then again, I wonder if they realize they’re trying to buy the vote of a 5-year-old, but I digress….) Puh-lease. My parents don’t even treat me like that. Anyway, in the meantime, if you haven’t voted and you care about school choice and accountability, the Center for Education Reform (CER) has graded candidates for U.S. Senate across the country, based on their support of the D.C. school choice program, federal funds to start up innovative charter schools, and the No Child Left Behind Act. A possible 3 points for each issue makes 9 a perfect score. In Colorado, Republican Bob Schaffer received a 6 out of 9. His scores are perfect on school choice and charter schools. However, he opposed the final version of No […]

The National Education Association (NEA) has contacted Josh Pullen of Michigan 19 times (10 phone calls, 9 postcards) asking him to support their preferred presidential candidate. Some of you might say, “Yeah, so what? It’s election season.” Well, Josh’s father disagrees. The most recent postcard urging a vote for “Barak” Obama put him over the edge. That’s right … Josh’s father. Josh is only 6 years old! Maybe if Josh were 7 years old – like O’Jahnae Smith from Connecticut – ACORN (a group under investigation in many states for potentially fraudulent activities) could register him to vote. Blogger Matthew Tabor wonders about NEA’s priorities: The NEA and its brethren consistently moan about low pay for teachers, shortfalls in school budgets, teachers buying their own supplies, etc. If you’ve got an example of hardship and martyrdom, someone at the AFT or NEA is whining about it. All these gripes – and many of them are real problems – and the NEA spends its time, money and other resources on contacting a 6-year old 19 times. When I turn 6, I hope I don’t end up getting harassed like that. Of course, the election will be over by then, too.

Eddie is watching Colorado, but as you know, sometimes I watch bigger events, too. Take for example last night’s vice presidential debate. I have to say from the perspective of reforming schools and helping kids, neither candidate’s answer was very encouraging. First, Sarah Palin: …I say, too, with education, America needs to be putting a lot more focus on that and our schools have got to be really ramped up in terms of the funding that they are deserving…. Okay, but how would you help parents with more choices and opportunities? More accountability for schools? Education credit in American has been in some sense in some of our states just accepted to be a little bit lax and we have got to increase the standards. No Child Left Behind was implemented. It’s not doing the job though. We need flexibility in No Child Left Behind. We need to put more of an emphasis on the profession of teaching…. Greg Forster is down on Sarah Palin’s education reform remarks, and her record. Then there was Joe Biden: …I hope we’ll get back to education because I don’t know any government program that John is supporting, not early education, more money for […]

Kim Ursetta, the president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) tells this little story yesterday: One of my twins (6 yrs. old; first grade) was really sad when he came home from school today. It seems that another boy in his class told him he was “stupid.” I asked why the boy would say something like that, and my son was so upset. He told me that the boy “was just mad ’cause I won’t vote for McCain… I’m only voting for Obama!” I’m not going to tell you who my mom and dad plan to vote for President. It’s not important for me to do so. But I know I’d be in trouble from them if I called anyone “stupid” – especially just because they might support someone different than my parents do. It simply isn’t nice. I’ve told you about the Presidential campaign before. On the issue of education, there are reasons to be hopeful about both candidates (as well as reasons to be skeptical). But I had to scratch my head and wonder why the Denver teachers union president has her kids so excited about Barack Obama, especially after the NEA convention she attended booed Obama […]