US teachers union head lawyer on its "power"

[Dr Mordrid]

The point is he put the teachers needs secondary to the needs of the kids, even if their often exorbitant salary demands mean the kids get the short shrift (wage demands take up about 60%-80% of shcool funding increases here).

What really ticks parents off is when a rather high percentage of these self-described "poorly paid teachers" come back from the Christmas or Easter breaks talking about their break vacations to Cancun, Cozumel, Cabo San Lucas etc.

Rare? Hardly. My wife, being a teacher, hears these conversations first hand in the teachers lounge. Makes her sick to hear them talk of these things then 2 months later cry poverty when contract time comes up, almost inevitably followed 6 months later by some kind of "emergency" property tax millage on homes for "education".

Meanwhile the private schools, charter and religious, do as good or a better job educating the kids - the charters on just the state provided funds and no property taxes.

This is why in failing districts like Detroit over half the kids have withdrawn from the public schools and attend charter, religious or attend classes in other districts that do cross-district school of choice, even though in most cases their parents have to provide the transportation. A large and growing number are also being home schooled, which is a growing, and legal, movement in Michigan.

Problem is even if you withdraw your kids from the public schools you still have to pay the property taxes that send other peoples kids to increasingly failing public schools.

Personally I see a taxpayers revolt over the issue, and soon.

[Technoid]

I've seen it twice and I can't see what so damning about it, he honestly says how the union must work and why. well, he is a bit blunt but from what I saw he was addressing adults

[Dr Mordrid]

Any questions now as to if the teachers union (National Education Assn.) has as its highest priority your kids or their own self interest?

We need more legislators like James Meeks and Dan Cronin - ones more interested in the kids than NEA contributions. This isn't a Democrat vs. Republican thing as there are more than enough legislators in both parties with their hands out to these leeches. We need to change that.

BTW: my wife, the teacher of 30+ years, is tougher on them than I am...probably because she has to deal with other teachers all day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-piPkgAUo0w

Chicago Tribune editorial....

'Too high a price'

We watched an interesting YouTube video the other day. It was brought to our attention by state Sen. James Meeks, the Chicago Democrat who is also pastor of Salem Baptist Church on the South Side. We think our readers should check out the video. It'll open your eyes.

Meeks, who chairs the Illinois Senate Education Committee, has been in a war with the Chicago Teachers Union since he had some tough things to say about public education in a Tribune essay and in a speech at Rainbow Push.

The CTU responded with a vow not to give him another dime in campaign money until he apologized. Meeks promptly wrote a check for $4,000, giving back every dime the union had already given him.

No apology.

You have to love this guy. He's genuinely looking out for kids and doesn't back down to pressure.

Back to the video. It shows the top lawyer of the National Education Association, Bob Chanin, speaking at the NEA's annual meeting in July. Chanin was retiring. This was his swan song.

Chanin makes unmistakably clear what the highest priority is for the union. Hint: It's not the education of your kids.

Chanin closed his nearly 25-minute speech by explaining the influence of the NEA:
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We tried for several days to get NEA officials to explain those remarks. We wanted to ask if the rest of the union leadership believed that kids ranked behind collective bargaining on the teacher priority list. We're still waiting to hear from them.

We know the answer the Chicago Teachers Union gave the Rev. Meeks: Cross us and we'll choke off your money.

Meeks plans to introduce a bill in January that would give the kids at Chicago's lowest-performing schools a choice. It would give kids at 15 high schools and 48 elementary schools a voucher to pay for another school.

He plans to push to remove the cap on the number of charter schools in Illinois. The legislature raised the cap this year. But there should be no cap at all.

Meeks met on Thursday with Sen. Dan Cronin, the Republican leader on the Education Committee, to see if they can work out a bipartisan agenda.

Good for both of them.
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