The American Spectator : Teachers Union Spending Spree

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Teachers Union Spending Spree

By RiShawn Biddle on 1.29.10 @ 6:06AM

The worse the Democrats' political prospects, the better the teachers' unions are treated.

For President Barack Obama, Scott Brown's victory over Martha Coakley in the U.S. Senate special election could at the very least lead to a drastically scaled-down version of his healthcare reform plan. But for the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and suburban school districts, it may mean at least $27 billion and perhaps, even more.

Even as Obama proclaims he has listened to voter discontent by freezing some domestic spending, the president made sure to assure teachers unions (along with school districts and the school reform movement) that more federal money would flow into their coffers. This includes his announcement in his State of the Union address of a $4 billion increase in Title I funding as well as another $1.5 billion for the federal Race to the Top school reform effort.

Skeptics of federal education policy aren't fooled. Declares Andrew Coulson of the Cato Institute: "[Obama will] be driving this country deeper into debt for no good reason at all…unless of course you consider swelling the ranks of the public school employee unions a good reason."

But the spending spree -- and the catering to the NEA and AFT -- isn't likely to stop with a few lousy federal ducats. Even before Coakley, the allegedly prosecutorial misconduct-prone Massachusetts attorney general, plunged into a series of gaffes that gave the Massachusetts state senator the election, House Democrats were considering a new round of stimulus subsidies. The highlight of this scheme: A plan to ladle $23 billion into school districts in order to keep their teachers on the payroll. This would be on top of $70 billion in so-called "state fiscal stabilization" funds poured into state and school district coffers last year. But centrist Democrats in the Senate such as Evan Bayh of Indiana put the kibosh on the new plan.

Since then, Democrats have seen congressional incumbents such as Bryan Dorgan and Christopher Dodd (along with governors such as Colorado's Bill Ritter) throw in their towels for this year's midterm races. Defeats in last year's general election races in New Jersey and Virginia also have Democrats wondering if they can keep their wide congressional majorities. Now there is the defeat in Massachusetts. This, along with other tough congressional, Senate and statehouse races in November, means that Democrats are scrambling to secure all the war chests (and grassroots supporters) within their traditional base of allies.

The NEA and AFT are more than ready to help. After all, their vast campaign war chests (including $66 million during the 2007-2008 election cycle) and 4.6 million rank-and-file public school employees gives them the kind of electioneering heft that few of the other players within Democratic Party politics -- including school reformers -- can ever muster. The raises their members have received so far, along with the growth in the teaching ranks, have filled their coffers even more. In 2009, the two unions raised $15 million for the 2010 campaign cycle, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics; this is more than double the amount raised a year before the 2008 elections.

Thanks to last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that abolished limits on campaign finance spending by corporations, the NEA and AFT will have an even larger presence. The fact that other issues with which the two unions are concerned -- passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform -- will also be in play this election season will especially energize much of their rank-and-file. Although the school reform movement has counted on the backing of such big-named philanthropists as Eli Broad and Bill Gates, its advocates have more of a presence inside the Beltway than among grassroots activists. The last campaign by school reformers to foster consensus on its prescriptions -- 2008's "ED in '08" -- petered out well before Election Day.

NEA and AFT affiliates will play a particularly critical role in states such as Pennsylvania and Colorado, where Democrats are defending vulnerable seats held respectively by Arlen Specter and Michael Bennett. The two unions and their affiliates spent $9.3 million in those two states alone. Although Bennett has been a strong school reformer since his days running Denver's school district, a re-energized GOP, voter dissatisfaction with Obama's healthcare and economic policies, and the lack of a strong incumbent in the gubernatorial race mean that Bennett will take all the help he can get.

But such help comes with a price. The NEA and AFT are particularly annoyed with Obama and his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, over Race to the Top, the $4.3 billion reform effort that has won qualified praise from school reformers. The dollars, along with the willingness of Obama and Duncan to use their respective bully pulpits, has convinced legislators in states such as California, Michigan and Massachusetts to ignore the entreaties of the two unions and eliminate restrictions on the expansion of charter schools and on the use of student test score data in evaluating teachers. This has forced the two unions to bully school districts -- which have to sign onto the plan -- and use other scorched-earth tactics in order to maintain the status quo.

For the Democrats, the tab starts with the $23 billion teacher subsidy package. Expect that package to gain passage by April, just before school districts begin drawing up plans to lay off teachers once the first round of stimulus funds runs out. This, by the way, will also benefit congressional Republicans in suburban districts, where opposition to the 16-year string of school reform efforts undertaken by Obama and his predecessors is strongest (and which plays to fears among some in the GOP that school reform is just another phrase for government mandate).

An ever bigger play may come with reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, the Bush-era reform of Title I that teachers unions, suburban school districts, and some Republicans alike oppose altogether. Will it be scrapped? Given the strong support for the measure among the motley crew of centrist Democrats, left-leaning civil rights activists, and even otherwise-conservative Republicans -- including newly elected Senator Brown -- not a chance. But at the very least, No Child may remain in legislative limbo despite Obama's own interest in putting his stamp on the measure.

The biggest piece could come in the next couple of years, as states are forced to reckon with decades of deal-making with teachers unions (and their own fiscal mismanagement) in the form of underfunded pensions and unfunded retiree healthcare liabilities. The battles are already starting to rage in Vermont -- where taxpayers will see a 43 percent increase in payments in order to keep the Green Mountain State's teachers' pensions afloat -- and Pennsylvania. Don't be surprised if Obama calls for a bailout of those pensions if the Democrats succeed in keeping control of Congress. Keeping the NEA and AFT happy is merely a small price for staying in power -- and one that the taxpayers (and children) will be paying in their stead.

topics:
Election 2010, National Education Association, No Child Left Behind

About the Author

RiShawn Biddle the editor of Dropout Nation , is co-author of A Byte at the Apple: Rethinking Education Data for the Post-NCLB Era. He can be followed at Twitter.com/dropoutnation.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (57) | Leave a comment

Becky| 1.29.10 @ 9:18AM

I so detest teachers unions and tenure for teachers and it is getting stronger all the time.

Why not push for the dissolution of teachers unions (and supporting staff unions) when the graduation rate and the red ink rate diverge? Detroit should be the laboratory for such an experiment. The district fails to educate and graduate, and their deficits are scandalous. Yet the teachers fight and protest to keep their jobs. What could be worse than your students having a higher chance of ending up in jail than graduating?

In defense of today's teachers I know that there are many problems that originate with social ills (single parenthood, etc.) What they fail to realize is that they are also part of the problem with their solutions. Differentiation and adapting the schools to meet the needs and demands are not in teacher's and their unions interest.

Teachers unions are just like UAW and SEIU unions. They are about the adults, not the children.

crookedwren| 1.29.10 @ 2:12PM

I wouldn't step into a public school room without being a member of a teacher's union. Why?
Because parents litigate at the drop of a hat and School Superintendents throw teachers under the bus.

I don't like the teacher's union, and I disagree vehemently with most current paradigms that currently rule the classroom.

Knowing that my union dues are electing officials with whom I deeply disagree, I still would be hesitant to be in that classroom without their protection.

Look, some parents use classroom events to solve their economic woes. Teachers don't make enough money to fight back.

Caleb| 1.29.10 @ 5:43PM

crookedwren. You raise an interesting point. I think your concern would be protected even better by the school's insurance policy, though. As an employee of the school, they would be covered just like an employee in mine or any other business.
That's what liability insurance does...defend lawsuits. Both frivolous and vaild.

Tenacious Teacher| 1.30.10 @ 4:11PM

I am in the same frame of mind, I don't care for the Union politics at all, in fact, I have tried to get my union to stop political donations altogether. An exercise in futility at best, But I need the insurance, therefore . . . I have a freshman student right now whose mother has sued his elementary AND his middle school. We will soon be added to the list, I am sure.

Alan Brooks| 1.29.10 @ 11:38PM

"They are about the adults, not the children."

You hit it right where it hurts.
Those at AS know social progress (oxymoron?) has positive and negative connotations;
positive would be, say, better schools.
But social progress, 1945-'71, is over, and such is not the teachers' faults'-- or the unions or administrators-- as many weren't born before the decline.
So now the game (albeit a serious one) is to keep public schools from becoming worse than they are now.
Good luck.

Alan Brooks| 1.29.10 @ 11:42PM

... Public schools will not improve (or will only marginally).

Robert| 1.31.10 @ 3:58PM

any educator and anyone that wants to be

truly educated

should READ CHARLOTTE ISERBYT

for gods sake people

the communists took over america

in 1913 with the passing of the FEDERAL RESERVE ACT

wake up END THE FED

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henrymakow.com
canadafreepress.com

saberzedge| 1.29.10 @ 9:20AM

Sorry, but not all teachers are "rank and file". A lot of us did not vote for Obama and don't belong to the AFT. In Texas we have three other associations that we can join and avoid the disgusting AFT. My association, which only concerns itself with Texas educational legislation, provides legal advice and liability insurance, costs $95 per year and the AFT costs $325. I really turns my stomach that teachers hand over all of that money on a yearly basis to the AFT. I am not afraid to question other teachers and ask them why they fork over so much money to a union that supports so many social and political causes they might even not agree with. Their stupid response is "I might not agree with them, but I need them." Upon hearing that, I have to rush to the restroom and puke.

stevor| 1.29.10 @ 1:54PM

I'm a teacher. I've taught for 23 years. I dislike the way the teachers union TAKES my money and gives it to causes I'm against.

As for education, it'd be great if we actually had schools that were more meaningful to kids. We no longer have "shop" classes in most high schools. Insurance is too high for it and too many kids do stupid things because it's not just the kids who want to be in them that are put in them (if they find them) but kids that want to "get back" at education for it not doing them any good.

First we need schools suited to the students needs. Then we need a bus that comes and hauls off students who don't appreciate their free education and takes them out to do "public service" sweeping streets, getting rid of graffiti, or whatever so those who want education can get one (and probably a better one when teachers get to spend more time teaching and less time being cops).

crookedwren| 1.29.10 @ 2:23PM

I agree. And classrooms would be more orderly and a whole lot safer -- for everyone.

Franklin| 1.29.10 @ 2:08PM

My teacher friend just retired at age 56 after working 6 hours a day for 235 days a year.

Me? I'll never be able to retire.

crookedwren| 1.29.10 @ 2:22PM

I taught in the public school for five years. Thought it was six. Thought, during the first year, that I'd never make it. Thought, during one particularly horror of a class, I was quitting -- headed as I was for the Principal's Office to do just that.

Also, during those years, while I was in school, I got up before 6 am, was at work before 8 am, often didn't get home til after midnight. (I had to produce plays and shows -- didn't get a single cent extra for it, either, unlike the athletic coaches or band teachers.) When I DID get home before six pm -- and on weekends -- I was building sets, gathering props, creating materials, grading papers, working on administrative and record-keeping forms, etc.

Also, weeks before school started for the year, I was reading, planning, and prepping.

It's not for everyone.

Franklin| 1.29.10 @ 3:06PM

crookedwren, you're a gem. My friend is also a great teacher. I told her that if I had teachers like her, I would have enjoyed school much more.

I don't know how common (as in numbers-wise) you are, though. It sounds like (from my friend's prospective) that there are more of the other kind - ones that punch a timeclock and never give more than required. That's true in all industries.

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jim darpino| 1.30.10 @ 9:19AM

Why don't you try teaching for twenty five years and then will talk.

victor| 1.31.10 @ 4:05PM

"jim darpino| 1.30.10 @ 9:19AM

Why don't you try teaching for twenty five years and then will talk."

Why don't you try "spellcheck"? Or perhaps, spelling it right in the first place?

The "teacher's union" is there for the teachers and not the students. Otherwise why would graduation rates be so low?

Richard Baker| 1.29.10 @ 3:39PM

Was a teacher here in Florida and read the various Union publications that came my way. The teachers unions don't give a fig for the education of children. They are concerned with union activities and growing their membership. Quality and accomplishment are waaay behind retirement planning. Delusional to believe that these unions care about the kids.

kathy| 1.29.10 @ 8:31PM

Why on earth are the liberals so mad at the recent Supreme Court decision when it will enable these two unions to throw buckets full of money at Democrats? I guess they're mad because other people will now be able to throw buckets full of money at the other side as well. It's just not fair, is it?

xiaobo| 1.29.10 @ 9:05PM

The reason DemoRats are putting so much money in the Teachers' pockets is because they are relying on them to brain-wash a whole generation of young kids to become DemoRats and become voters for the DemoRat Party. That's why the public education system is full of Pathetic Liberals.

dionnsh| 1.30.10 @ 12:20AM

Once you graduate from high school, you are done unless you have applied and have been accepted to a university, or you choose to attend a junior college, community college, or career training college to get a degree.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-.....?C=2236525

Yosemeti Sam| 1.30.10 @ 1:23AM

It is appropriate that the author uses the word
teacher(s) - as opposed to the word educator(s).

One is limiting - the other is expansive.

Richard Baker| 1.30.10 @ 9:28AM

kathy:
Monopolies always detest competition. That is the core of the issue for these detractors. Now other groups can get their message out, regardless. Does the baloney know the meat grinder?

Caroline Moseley| 1.30.10 @ 12:53PM

Educators must be kept on the payroll. No pay - no teaching going on. No educators, no school. Overcrowded classrooms are hellholes - not conducive to learning. Most teachers pay into a pension plan; it's certainly not right to take it away! Teacher evaluation by that teacher's administrator cannot be fair - personalities enter into the outcome. Evaluation must be done by independent evaluators - which is NOT done in most states. One problem with liability insurance for teachers is that it will only pay if the teacher wins in court - unions pay court costs and a lawyer regardless of outcome. Until things change for the better in these areas, teacher unions are a necessary evil.

Marc Jeric| 1.30.10 @ 4:11PM

Strong union = dead or dying industry! Some 45% of unionized teachers teach - mainly self-esteem and politically correct multicultural claptrap, including marxist history. Some 55% of them administer, develop, correlate, write phony reports, congregate, interrelate, lobby - and several other things that have nothing to with schooling. Government employee unions are a conspiracy against people and should be outlawed. One remembers air traffic controllers strike that Reagan fired - in 1981 they were paid an average of $70,000/year for something that anybody could learn in a 6-week training. Some 80,000 qualified applicants showed up to replace 14,000 striking air traffic controllers for less money.

Richard Baker| 1.30.10 @ 5:30PM

Caroline Moseley:
Close the public schools. Give the money to the parents in a voucher form for placement of their kids into a private or parochial school and discharge the ones who refuse to behave, period. In answer to the argument that these kids would roam the streets in an uneducated form, remember that this is the present situation. When the kids understand that school is for learning instead of Hell-raising, they'll soon get with the program. I was a teacher here in Florida and many, many of my kids hated the fact that the disruptive kids were allowed to remain and keep them from an education. The teachers unions are an evil, nothing less.

rich| 1.30.10 @ 10:57PM

funny how the teachers union is so against giving parents a choice to send thier children to a private school with a voucher but are preserving a parents right to abort thier child. Prochoice on abortion but not if the parents want to help thier child suceed.

Jim| 1.31.10 @ 9:25AM

The education system, more than ever, is corrupting our culture and dumbing down our kids.
Recent real-life examples:
A physics teacher in an inner-city school was ordered to teach physics without using math.
A kid was asked to write a paper about "how global warming affects your life" and the kid challenged the premise, stating that "global warming" was a questionable phenomenon made up by Al Gore and others for political and financial gain. He was given a zero score and told by his teacher that he is "off-topic".
A professor at a major university started his psychology class by asking students to raise their hands if they thought the United States was the greatest country in the world. He then instructed those students to get up and leave, because they were "morons" and "I don't teach morons".
Education is giving way to indoctrination. Teaching physics without using math is like taking a bath without using water.

victor| 1.31.10 @ 4:08PM

Reminds me of the Algebra textbook that provided lessons on the rain forest, recycling and environmentalism.

Joe Hamilton| 1.31.10 @ 8:18PM

There is a false premise which makes "education" a bottomless pit for taxpayer money. Charles Murray's book "Real Educaton" "Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality" discusses this among other problems with America's schools . I refer to the practice of throwing more money at schools which have lower SAT scores . It's absurd to believe all students are equally capable of learning anything taught is schools. If students at a particular school they don't do as well as those attending suburban schools , it proof of racism, etc. This is a result of the Civil Rights movement . However, it is obviously false. Just as there is an mean height below which the height of 50% of the general population is lower and the height of the other approximately 50% is above the mean, the same applies to ability to grasp complicated concepts. I know the R word would be thrown at me for pointing this out. However, screw the charge of racism, I am tired of working almost half the year to pay my taxes and have it wasted on illogical BS such as everyone has equal ability to learn. They don't !!!!

Marcia C| 1.31.10 @ 11:11PM

Republicans say: we want to keep our students poor and stupid! Just like they are!

The bottom 22 states are red and are the poorest in America.

If you want your state to be near the bottom in per capita income, vote for a "Conservative!"

Ronnie, Bush I and II left us with $15 trillion in new US debt.

They spent and spent and spent but they didn't pay it back. But for some reason they never seem to admit it. So much for "personal responsibility", eh?

Marcia C| 1.31.10 @ 11:15PM

If students at a particular school they don't do as well as those attending suburban schools , it proof of racism, etc"

So, Joe, I'm sure you'd have no problem sending your kids to the dirty, noisy, polluted, asthma-causing, dangerous inner citiy, where most mothers don't have much money and have to work all day, and not be there for their children after school, and would expect your chidren do as well as they did in your quite, clean, prosperous suburb, where the schools have all the latest computers and other teaching materials, and each of them have their very own school books, right?

So why don't you try it?

bob| 2.3.10 @ 11:36AM

Dear Marcia:
Thanks for proving the point. Most inner-city politicians are Democrats. Most suburban politicians are Conservatives. Who takes better care of the schools and the kids? By your own words, the Conservatives do. Hope you get with the program soon.

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