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The NEA’s Progressive Turn
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Taking Over Lousy Schools
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Special Report
Teachers’ Union Fat Cats
They’re in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, which actually should be camping out in front of their offices.
There’s something about class warfare rhetoric that always seems to attract even the wealthiest limousine left-leaner — even when they have no interest in handing over any of their own ducats. Consider the two-month-long Occupy Wall Street protests that have spread out from the shadowy canyons of New York City’s financial district to areas as distant as St. Louis and Indianapolis. In the last month, the original crowd of underemployed college graduates have attracted such big names as 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin (who is as renowned for his lefty credentials as for his infamously abusive tirade against his own daughter), smarmy British comedian Russell Brand (whose lack of jokes makes him Europe’s version of Dane Cook), and hip-hopper Kanye West (who came down to the occasion wearing a sparkly gold chain, a $355 Givenchy shirt, and a $23,000 Rolex).
But it’s not just the celebrities who are joining in on the fun. The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers have spent the past month ginning up their own public relations machines so they can declare their solidarity for the Occupy Wall Street protesters and for all which they stand.
Earlier this month, AFT President Randi Weingarten (who took a few steps out of the union’s plush offices on Broadway to join the protests) proclaimed that “we need to get serious as a nation about working together to create economic opportunities for all Americans.” Twenty-four of the union’s rank-and-file members in Boston decided to politicize their classrooms by holding what they call a “grade-in” in sympathy of their, umm, comrades. And Leo Casey, the union’s mouthpiece for its New York City local who never misses an opportunity to use class warfare rhetoric to criticize school reformers, declared that “public education, teachers and unions have increasingly come under attack from the One Percent,” including Big Apple Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has successfully weakened the union’s influence.
Meanwhile the NEA’s affiliates in states such as Kentucky and Missouri have joined in the protests. The union’s California unit has gone even further by offering its members a “lesson plan” so they can teach their students something other than the three Rs. Declared Dean Vogel, the president of the NEA’s Golden State unit: “It’s time to put Main Street before Wall Street, and for corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.”
As with the celebrities, there’s something rather hilarious about the appearance of the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions at a protest against allegedly pampered fat cats. Few organizations have managed to become so influential — and build such vast coffers — at the expense of taxpayers and their children.
The AFT alone collected $211 million a year in dues during its 2010-2011 fiscal year (most of it by force from the very teachers whose interests they proclaim to represent), while the far-larger NEA pulled in $397 million during its 2009-2010 fiscal year period. Each union, on their own, collects more dues than the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, Service Employees International Union, or the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. When one adds in the revenues collected by their affiliates, the two unions are billion-dollar organizations with budgets that match their corporate peers.
The leaders of both unions are as well paid as most midsized corporate chief executives and leaders in the nonprofit arena. AFT President Weingarten, for example, collected $493,895 in 2010-2011, a 15 percent increase over the same period last year; Weingarten’s NEA counterpart, Dennis Van Roekel, collected $397,221 in the previous year. Their staffs are also well-compensated. Four hundred thirty-three of the NEA’s staffers earned at least $100,000 in annual compensation; the 193 AFT staffers collecting six-figure checks include David Dorn, the union’s director of international affairs (who was paid $223,965 last year), and Hartina Flournoy, a longtime Democratic Party operative who earns $231,337 a year as Weingarten’s assistant.
When you consider that teachers’ union leaders at all levels collect lucrative sums from their unions and and additional salaries from the school districts that are servile to them, the wealth they acquire at the expense of taxpayers is astounding. New York City, for example, will shell out $9 million to 1,500 AFT officials even though they spend almost no time teaching. One of those double-dippers is Tom Dromgoole, an AFT representative who will collect $100,049 from the city (on top of his $50,461 paycheck from the union) even though he will only teach English classes for two days during the school year. And when they retire, they also collect sweet pension checks long after they left the classroom. Former NEA President Reginald Weaver, for example, collects an “annual annuity of $242,657” from Illinois’ busted pension system, thanks to a state law that allows union bosses to base their final year’s salary off their unionizing work; he’s one of 119 union players who get the proverbial fat of the land.
The two unions also maintain cozy ties to the Wall Street firms they decry. Through one of its affiliates, the NEA works with insurance giant Prudential to peddle term life insurance to members as part of its “benefits” package; the AFT also sells insurance to its members with the help of MetLife. Both unions also manage voluntary employee benefit associations (or VEBAs) which provide healthcare to rank-and-file members (and charge states and school districts for the privilege). This hasn’t always worked out for either the unions or its members. Two years ago, the NEA had to take control of its once-powerful Indiana affiliate after the unit (with help of investment advisers that included powerhouses Morgan Stanley and UBS) made a series of bad bets that led to its insolvency.
Few groups match the NEA and AFT in lobbying and campaign spending. The $297 million in campaign donations given by the unions between 2000 and 2011 makes them the biggest players in local, state, and national politics. The AFT alone spent $34 million in 2010-2011 on lobbying and contributions to like-minded nonprofits which, in theory, help the union build a coalition on behalf of its goals. This includes $150,000 to Build a Stronger Ohio, which unsuccessfully worked last year to keep John Kasich from winning the Buckeye State’s governorship, and $350,000 to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank cofounded by former Clinton administration economic honcho Robert Reich, whose studies on education always seemingly dovetail nicely with the union’s agenda.
Until recently, such spending has helped the unions maintain its influence over the nation’s traditional public education systems. And this, in turn, has helped the NEA and AFT fulfill their goal of making teaching the most-lucrative profession in the public sector. This has especially paid off well for Baby Boomers. Thanks to the array of degree- and seniority-based privileges, near-lifetime employment, free health insurance, and defined-benefit pensions, the average 35-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree earns $61,100 a year (or more than the median household income of $51,425), and can retire at age 55 (or 10 years earlier than private-sector counterparts) with a pension of as much as $2 million (depending on when she retires).
The NEA and AFT, along with its allies among the institutions who have long dominated education, have pampered themselves quite nicely — at the expense of taxpayers and their children. And that should anger the Occupy Wall Streeters. After all, they will bear those burdens once they stop protesting and become gainfully employed in the private sector.
The costs start with $1.4 trillion in defined-benefit pension deficits and unfunded teacher retirement healthcare costs, a legacy of the decades of dealmaking between NEA and AFT affiliates, state governments, and school districts. NEA and AFT bosses have helped exacerbate the insolvency of pensions by sitting on their boards — and approving an array of inflated growth rates, unrealized losses, overly optimistic methods of valuing assets, and risky hedge fund deals that should have never been made in the first place.
Then there are the even greater costs facing taxpayers in the form of welfare payments for high-school dropouts, who lack the strong literacy, math, and science skills needed for even high-paying blue collar work. In September, 14 percent of American high school dropouts age 25 and older were unemployed on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a slight decline from the same period last year; one-third of dropouts age 16-to-24 are out of work on a not seasonally adjusted basis.
Thanks in part to the NEA and AFT, the nation’s traditional public schools have become a $594 billion drain on taxpayers. The two unions have defended practices that have kept laggard teachers on the payroll. This has perpetuated the low quality of instruction in the nation’s schools, an underlying reason why 33 percent of American third-graders read “Below Basic Proficiency” on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, while 27 percent of eighth-graders are mathematically illiterate. The NEA and AFT have also stridently opposed efforts to expand school choice options that allow for families to opt out of failing urban schools and mediocre offering in suburbia — and fought efforts to let families reform the schools in their neighborhoods. All in all, the two unions have proven to be the very fat cats they decry.
Perhaps the Occupy Wall Street gang would be better off moving their protests down to D.C. in front of the NEA’s and AFT’s ritzy headquarters. Or do what a group of college grads — including Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp and her acolyte, Michelle Rhee — did a decade ago: become school reformers and help weaken teachers’ union influence.
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 (78) | Leave a comment
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ENOUGH ROPE| 10.26.11 @ 6:28AM
End public schools in all states, and replace them with private secular schools and private sectarian schools. Public schools corrupt Judeo-Christian values and produce ignoramuses.
Shamus| 10.26.11 @ 6:52AM
The justification for public schools has always been that a knowledgeable electorate is necessary for our system of government to function. Our educational system has utterly failed in this regard, so is there really any justification for wasting resources on a failed system?
Teaghan| 10.26.11 @ 10:31AM
But of course Shamus. They need to keep control of our young. As moochelle obama said the other day, loosley, "the younger we can get them, the more we can affect how they grow up" Headstart as an example. Oh no, the dems will continue to pour millions into the NEA and the unions.
Dave Williams| 10.26.11 @ 3:19PM
As a university professor who teaches incoming freshmen, it's my pleasure to see the results of the US education system firsthand. With a few honorable exceptions, my kiddies can't read, write, or think their way out of a wet paper bag -- but WOW, their self-esteem and sense of entitlement are sky-high. Thanks, union teachers, for destroying what used to be a pretty good country....
J.C.Eaton| 10.26.11 @ 3:41PM
I must be in the classroom down the hall. I get your kids next hour.
Larry| 10.26.11 @ 10:52PM
You poor man. It must be hell dealing with a bunch of young dunderheads. You have my sympathies. It is why I decided to NOT teach at any college or law school after I retired from my previous job. I wouldn't have the patience for it, nor for the academic political correctness nonsense.
Kevin| 10.28.11 @ 6:06AM
Yes, indeed. Corruption of future generations of America's leaders with the truth, as opposed to the same old anti-union dreck above, must be avoided at all costs. With public education, this nation will never become a theocracy like Iran.
Pecos Pete| 10.26.11 @ 7:08AM
There should be NO public service unions. That means teacher, janitor, bookkeeper, etc. in city, county, state or federal governments.
The problems with the public school system are a direct result of: (1) federal government funding and related regulations; and, (2) teacher unions.
Jeamar37| 10.26.11 @ 2:44PM
And parents who are too lazy to inform themselves about those running for local school boards and county superintendents and then actually going to the polls to vote for them. Big changes could be made at the local level in"government" schools if enough people really cared to get involved. It's so much easier to complain.--Good parenting and preparing kids to respect education is for a whole other discussion.
Brubaker| 10.26.11 @ 8:05PM
You're right, but wrong. Parents should be more involved, but they tend to get involved for the wrong reasons. If little Jimmy doesn't get an 'A', the parents raise hell. "Jimmy is super bright and deserves an 'A'.
The teacher knows which side their bread is buttered on, so they bump the grades. The parents are happy, the principal is happy and, of course, Jimmy is happy. Jimmy is now full of self esteem, but he's still as dumb as ever.
Parents almost never focus on what is actually being taught, or the skill and knowledge of the person doing the teaching.
Jeamar37| 10.26.11 @ 9:38PM
Brubaker: Many, if not most, teachers ever bump up a grade. I never did in 13 yrs. of teaching, but of course, I was an older teacher. It is unethical for a principal or dept. chairman (in my state at least) to request a teacher to change a grade--reconsider yes but it's up to the teacher. I think younger teachers don't take grades or their autonomy as seriously as in the past because it is the way the younger teachers are trained. Professors who aren't demanding turn out students who are undemanding.
TrueBlue| 10.26.11 @ 4:30PM
In agreement with you there. What is the purpose of a union? To protect the employees from bad management and overly harsh decisions by their employer... So why do we need public sector unions? To protect the employees from the public? Say what now?
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.26.11 @ 7:23AM
This is all about Hussein. The filth in the streets. Kanye West. (Oops. I'm repeating myself) Trumpka. Moveon. org. Code Pink. And, of course, the Teacher's Unions.
Let's talk about the Teacher's Union. Let's talk about Randi Weingarten. Let's talk about where HER KIDS went to School. Cause it wasn't in a PUBLIC SCHOOL. Get the Data. See how many of these other Far Left, Dumb Down Specialists, send their kids off to PRIVATE SCHOOLS. (It's really unbelievable) Apparently, they're just like the POS in the White House: "These schools don't meet my Daughter's standards". "Yeah. But you filthy little poor Black kids, in D.C.? These Public Schools are just what the Doctor ordered, for you. How stupid would I have to be, giving you a Voucher? You might get an Education. You might get out of the hood. Get a job. Think for yourself. Next thing you know, you're voting Republican.
No. You stay right where you are. You don't need no steenkin Education. Me, and my Democrats will take care of you. You don't need to worry yourself about College, or a Job, or a Career, or a FUTURE. Uncle Democrat will take good care of you, right here, on our Plantation, where there's always a Voting Machine, nearby."
"Hey, don't blame me. I'm just doing what the Teacher's Unions MONEY tells me to do."
Tell ya what. You Blacks. You go get yourselves MILLIONS of Dollars for my Re-election. And, maybe we can talk."
This is Wisconsin, all over again. The New York City Schools (Where WEINGARTEN makes her home) is turning out "Graduates" that are Unready for College. Only 25% were deemed Ready for College. If they were an EVIL CORPOARATION, there "Product" would be RECALLED!
Everybody complains that Corporations keep getting their Employees from Overseas. "They work for less more monies than me would." No, Johnnie. It's not that they work for more less. Or, less more. It's that you're just not enough smart. And High Tech companies don't have the time to make you more smart. Understand?
(Obviously, Johnnie's Mom and Dad, aren't Teacher's Union Officials. He's got "Public School" written all over him)
"We are the ones we've been waiting for."
I'm 54 Years old. I don't recognize my Country, anymore. We've become Argentina, under Juan Peron, and Eva. Something needs to be done.
Attention must be paid. Before it's too late.
HE HAS TO GO.
Teaghan| 10.26.11 @ 10:35AM
Tim, you sound about as pissed off as I am.
It is a terrible time for our nation and what blows my mind is I hear people, RICH educated people saying they will vote for this imbicile again! They would vote for Hitler or Mao before they would vote Republican. What a quandry we are in.
Bsg| 10.27.11 @ 7:14PM
You can't hang it all on the Owronga administration, this dumbing down and brainwashing of America has been going on since the 60's. The history has been rewritten, the social causes have been amplefied, and environmentalism drummed into thier heads. Its because of the affirmative action equality attitude that we have a street organizer and and Emelda Marcos wanna be in the White House.
Its also beyond the unions although they add to the problems by protecting the incompetents. The problem is as big as the country as we continue to become dumber and dumber.
big bob| 10.26.11 @ 7:23AM
As much as I hate to say it, I doubt if many of those in the two unions understand a lot of the economic discussion in your piece. My dad taught for 43 years and was a lapdog for the unions. He did whatever they said without question and never did understand what it was he was doing or how the union bosses benefited. There were too many like him and even though he is no longer with us, the economic ignorance stays alive throughout the union. How is it the bosses could make the money they are making if this were NOT true? Captive audiences, funds taken in a manner similar to students who lose their lunch monies daily to bullies on the playground, and mob mentality when it comes to voting and elections. What's not to like if you are king of the hill?
TrueBlue| 10.26.11 @ 4:31PM
It's worse than the bully on the playground. Most union dues are confiscated before you ever see your paycheck. Many of their "members" don't even realize they've had the fees deducted from their pay.
Tina B| 10.27.11 @ 7:59AM
As soon as I learned that the NEA was supporting Planned Parenthood with my dues I left the union and never looked back. I was in the union for 5 to 7 years and out of it for the next 15 or so. I felt so clean after that, after learning what the NEA was all about.
Doctor_X| 10.26.11 @ 7:25AM
My step-son wants to be a highschool English teacher. He is in 10th grade and we've had a few talks about the teachers union and I think i got through to him how the union does more to hurt education than help it.
I wouldn't mind if the teachers unions were local only, that is no big money national orginization behind them, just the teachers in the district with limited collective bargining rights.
Jeamar37| 10.26.11 @ 2:49PM
See my comment above but also consider. Many teachers belong to Unions because they feel only the union can provide them with protection from potential legal problems. They do not have enough sense to realize they can buy their on liability insurance on the free market. They are also attracted to belong to the teachers' credit unions and don't even bother to go elsewhere. I never called the teachers' credit union for a car loan that wasn't more expensive than my bank.
martin j smith| 10.26.11 @ 8:00AM
You know the OWS Movement is very rich. I heard they collected an half mil and its in the bank. But the biggest joke of all is the amount of money WS has given the Socialists--HA HA. HA>
This issue should be exposed in political adds if it is not being done now. It is all a LIE. Failure to do so might lead to serious injury.
Trebuchet| 10.26.11 @ 8:07AM
Everyone who can should buy a copy of the Documentary "Waiting for Superman" which describes in detail how the Teachers Unions have destroyed education in theis country and have a Tea Party gathering to watch it. It's a message that needs to get out.
Teaghan| 10.26.11 @ 10:37AM
Have seen it. Made me weep.
beebop2| 10.27.11 @ 6:02AM
I went to see it with three liberals. I was astounded that not one of them wanted to discuss it during dinner afterwards. You just can't fix willful ignorance and denial. Michelle Rhee and Jeffrey Canada are hardly Conservatives and I can't begin to express how moved I was by the parents, grandparents and the kids.
Please support Governor Kasich and his efforts to return SANITY to the local communities and their ability to balance dollars and education. If you can spare $5, please help combat the heavy union money pouring in and support SB5. (Unlike Mittless)
Deborah| 10.27.11 @ 7:25AM
I thought that was an amazing documentary and very surprised that they actually went after the teachers' unions. It is a message that needs to get out. Our kids and many of our teachers are getting the shaft.
boogalie| 10.26.11 @ 8:29AM
Frankly, the Department of Education should be abolished. Unionization of teachers is regressive and is largely abusive by the Union's self interests (in the name of 'the children). It is up to we the people at the local level to inject ourselves in to the dialogue and stop allowing the union's free action (largely uncontested at the local level). The cariculum in our Universities with some small exceptions is very, very liberal giving no weight to its' alternative, and diminishing conservative students who wish to dissent. It is shameful. No wonder these OWS folks have such a confused compass.
TrueBlue| 10.26.11 @ 4:53PM
Actually it's not even in the name of the children. Albert Shanker even said it once (Head of United Federation of Teachers '64-'84 and Federation of Teachers '74-'97)"When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children.”
That should tell people all they need to know about the teachers unions.
cowgirl| 10.26.11 @ 9:02AM
The public education racket in the United States is nothing more than welfare for the people it employs. The educational system in the US has failed because the people it employs sit around all day long and do nothing while collecting paychecks and fat cat benefits. Time to end it.
Jabber3| 10.26.11 @ 3:45PM
Yes, it is time to end the public education racket and I think the best way to start is to pass a national right to work law so that the unions are not guaranteed the membership dues of those educators who opt not to belong to the union.
MizGeek| 10.30.11 @ 9:46AM
Right jabber3, make membership in the union and dues paying voluntary and see how fast the union coffers empty. It is a sin that union members are bilked out of millions so these lefties can push their socialist agendas on the country. McCarthy where are you? Maybe we need to start hearings on un-American activities again and start the investigations with public sector unions. The socialism these unions are force feeding the country thru the kids they brainwash is eroding our national interests.
no name| 10.26.11 @ 9:11AM
This reminds me of a movie title, I would suggest renaming this article to 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' as was the movie title with Steve Martin. But better yer I would rename the article ' DIRTY ROTTEN BASTARDS' Seriously someone should make a movie about this robbery and theft of our nation. Perhaps it would awaken the people, that don't have time to read the news of the world around them and get everyone pissed off, not just the few that do care and take time to stay up to date on whats going on.
PCC| 10.26.11 @ 9:17AM
The GOP should run against the education unions (especially since THEY are already running against the GOP). Just ask Chris Christie.
Redstateboy| 10.26.11 @ 9:19AM
The Teachers unions rake in Millions from we the taxpayers and produce dolts for us in return.
Bob K.| 10.26.11 @ 10:33AM
Mr. Biddle,
This was a lazy, easy, thoughtless, simple Union bashing effort on your part without any thought or discussion on your part on how things should be handled to change matters.
All of these things became possible because nothing has been done at the local and state levels to make it more difficult. You should know this but like all the other writers, and the editors too, on this AS website and those of other Conservative magazines of Political Opinion who are enamored by Washington DC you think all change must come from Washington DC.
Just like Obama does.
Teacher's Unions make tons of money because teachers make tons of money. Teacher's contracts in most jurisdictions are negotiated at local levels with local school boards who agree to these fat contracts. The dues are automatically taken out and forwarded to the Unions by the School Districts. That is why the union leadership has all this money to squander. All this is negotiable and can be renegotiated each time the contracts come up for renewal.
There is no reason at all that the employer, in this case the taxpayer, should agree to be an unpaid collector of dues for the Union. They should simply give the dues money to the teachers in their paychecks and let the Union collect it. It will give their membership something to think about how their dues money is spent each time they have to send it in!
This is the greatest perk that ALL public employee unions have! Stop it and let the Union strike over it and see how far they get with the public on this issue! Let them sue over it and see how far it goes.
These negotiations are democratic processes at the basic levels of government and the people representing the taxpayer at these levels should play hardball.
Unlike the AFT the NEA is not a member of the AFL-CIO and chooses to keep it's money to itself rather than pay dues there and in states like Pennsylvania in election years it contributes money generously to members of the state legislature who support it and to the opponents of those who do not. This has worked in electing people who will vote in their interest even if they are not particularly sympathetic to their views.
Pennsylvania even has a number of retired schoolteachers in it's legislature who, in addition to their salaries there, collect generous retirement benefits from their previous employment!
Any control of education costs will have to take place at the local and state levels first!
Jeamar37| 10.26.11 @ 2:57PM
It's already there. So AS reader. When was the last time you went to a local school board meeting? (I don't mean the PTA or boosters' club.) When was the last time you went to the poll or mailed in your ballot with your informed choice for school board member? When was the last time you informed yourself and voted for the county superintendent of schools even when he was on the general ballot that you filled out? When was the last time at your local school board meeting you spoke against your district participating in some federally funded project?
As often as your write a comment to AS?
Bob K.| 10.26.11 @ 7:29PM
Ad hominem attacks like yours have nothing to do with this issue and yours are particularly incoherent. If you have something useful to add to this discussion do so but stop acting like an damn fool or worse, a troll!
I write comments here almost every day and I have been doing it for many years. Where have YOU been?
I vote every time the polls are open for voting. Twice a year most years. I've known quite a few elected school board members and I hardly ever vote for any incumbent. And I tell them why.
Superintendents are hired by the School Board here. They probably are where you live too. Check it out.
And what in the hell does refusing to take back federal funds that you have had to pay for in taxes have to do with negotiating teacher's contracts?
Gary| 10.26.11 @ 11:25AM
Omitted from most discussions is the effect easy student loans have had on college expenses. The cost to attend college has far exceeded the rate of inflation. Colleges have gotten fat and happy with the government providing loans to students and allowing colleges to ignore any market restraints on their spending. It's the same had health insurance which has helped to increase the cost of medical treatment, except the taxpayer is footing the bill on these loans. It's a racket, pure and simple and the academicians who love to knock the private sector are parasites living off tax payer money.
Pat| 10.26.11 @ 12:26PM
Let’s review this logic: Parents eagerly hand the Teachers’ Union their most precious possession to use as a bargaining chip and we’re supposed to be surprised teachers have the most powerful unions in this nation? Who are the children here? Provide a few words of simple praise during a Parent/Teachers’ Conference and parents are aglow for days afterward, their child is “special” just as they’ve always assumed and they’re very grateful his or her teacher is so completely dedicated, so concerned over their child’s future.
Some parents will go completely Patty Hearst – the Teachers’ Union Stockholm Syndrome takes over and parents begin to demand even more money for their school districts to hand over to the union – pass this year’s $75 million School Bond Issue they shout, joining teachers on the picket line, manufacturing heart rending tales of poverty stricken teachers spending 25% of their salaries on school supplies – we’ve all witnessed the Syndrome’s effect within our local school districts.
What should actually surprise us is that the Teachers’ Unions aren’t more politically powerful, more collectively wealthy. Funneling taxpayer money to teachers’ pensions and salaries, providing guaranteed jobs for life laughably described as “tenure” and requiring 18 years of formal education under the Unions’ direction in order to obtain your basic entry level position in corporate America are the visible symbols of their power, the well-deserved fruits of victory. Teaching is an honorable calling in the abstract, but forming powerful labor unions isn’t done to sacrifice everything “for the sake of the children”.
jan| 10.26.11 @ 12:40PM
I forget who the man was, Schenker rings a bell a Union president, He said " We'll start worrying about students when they start pay union dues.
JimH| 10.26.11 @ 2:14PM
It was in the movie Sleeper where Woody Allen after waking in the future talked about when Albert Schanker (then president of the UFT) go the A bomb.
Melvin| 10.26.11 @ 12:48PM
Well, unfortunately for this Country, that is the way Marxism aka Communism works.
Trinacria| 10.26.11 @ 12:53PM
Another uninformative rambling article by this marginal "writer". Twenty paragraphs documenting the shocking finding that teachers' unions are self-serving money laundering operations for the democratic party. Welcome to the party, Mr. Biddle; we're delighted you could join us (though I hasten to note that you're about 2 decades late). What's next? An award winning expose on the ground breaking discovery that muslims were responsible for 911?
Having paid nothing for the opportunity to read this article, I suppose I got what I paid for...
faxmatter| 10.27.11 @ 2:23PM
Sorry Mr. T but there are still plenty of folks that need to be awakened on this matter.
C Smith| 10.26.11 @ 1:05PM
The caption "Teachers Unions Gone Wild" screams for attention. Seems some itinerant journalist "crashed" a New Jersey Education Association's "leadership" conference and video chronicled the event.
Reminds me of an expose I compiled (circa 1992) regarding America's only government funded religion. The intent: to challenge believers to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (cf. Ephesians 5:11). The elder board did not approve distribution.
The following is a facsimile:
The National Education Association (NEA) with 2.1 million members is the most powerful force in education. Although it purports to represent the interest of teachers, many of its members are not in agreement with its policies, have limited awareness of its politics, and are naive about its power and past. William Bennett, former Secretary of Education, in The Devaluing of America, describes the NEA's policies and politics:
In recent years, the union's Representative Assembly went on record in favor of teacher strikes; school- based clinics dispensing contraceptives; a nuclear freeze; gay rights; the Equal Right Amendment; D.C. statehood; and Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, and Michael Dukakis for president. It has voted against merit pay for teachers; parental choice; voluntary school prayer; state takeovers of bad schools; home schooling; English as the official language; drug, alcohol, and AIDS testing; nuclear power plants; aid to the Nicaraguan resistance; the nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court; and Ronald Reagan and George Bush for president...Opposes every common-sense reform measure: competency testing for teachers, opening the teaching profession to knowledgeable individuals who have not graduated from 'schools of education,' performance-based pay, holding educators accountable for how much children learn, an end to tenure, a national examination to find out exactly how much our children know, and parental choice of schools....
Thomas Toch, education correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, "In the Name of Excellence" writes:
In 1989 it [the NEA] spent $7.4 million on such things as a computerized system of mass producing letters to Congress from 300,000 NEA members who "pre-authorized" the use of their names; "Congressional Contact Teams" made up of 2 NEA members in each Congressional district who are specially trained as lobbyists and flown back and forth from Washington to promote the NEA's cause from the local level; a computerized file of NEA's entire membership; a satellite link-up between a television studio in the NEA's Washington headquarters and its state affiliates; and a full-time lobbing staff of 15.... The NEA also has been a major backer of Democratic candidates since 1976, when it played a leading role in the Carter campaign. (Carter signaled the size of the NEA's contributions to his election by pushing through Congress the law that established the U.S. Department of Education - a longtime NEA goal).
The NEA's power in Iowa is of special concern. Again quoting Mr. Toch: "The NEA has sought to gain control of teacher licensing by establishing licensing boards with teacher majorities. Only Minnesota and Iowa have granted this board final authority in teacher certification." Particularly disconcerting for those of us in Iowa where an overwhelming majority of teachers are NEA members." With the NEA in charge, the role of the teacher continues to evolve. The NEA's report, Education for the Seventies, states: "Schools will become clinics whose purpose is to provide individualized psycho-social treatment for the students, and teachers must become psychosocial therapists."
The NEA has encountered little resistance because so little is known of its political expediencies, and according to Mr. Toch, that's the plan. "Though the NEA has fought virtually every educational reform, it has poured millions of dollars into a public relations campaign designed to convince the nation that it is committed to the reform of the public schools, and of teaching in particular." The NEA's publication NEA Today spawns a plethora of glossy images of appreciative students and their obliging teachers, but so little content that it prompted author Samuel Blumenfeld to describe it as having been "written at the intellectual level of the National Enquirer."
No expose on the NEA would be complete without investigating its contention with evangelical Christianity. Blumenfeld in his book NEA: Trojan Horse In American Education describes the organizations long association with secular humanism:
...in 1933 John Dewey and 33 other liberal humanists drew up and signed that extraordinary document known as the Humanist Manifesto. It reflected all of the influences of science, evolution, and the new psychology which were reshaping American education... It was thus Dewey who began to fashion a new materialist religion in which humanity was venerated instead of God. This is basically the religion of Secular Humanism, and this is what has become the official religion of the United States, for it is the only religion permitted in its public schools and totally supported by government funds.... The NEA has remained remarkably faithful to the Humanist Manifesto since 1933. For all practical purposes, the public school has become the parochial school for secular humanism. Its doctrines pervade the curriculum from top to bottom.
Dewey, for his contributions to education, was elected honorary president of the NEA in 1932. He was also issued the American Federation of Teachers' first membership card. With the 1973 signing of Humanistic Manifesto II, humanism became even more culturally entrenched:
As in 1933, humanist still believe that traditional theism, especially faith in the prayer-hearing God, assumed to love and care for persons, to hear and understand their prayers, and to be able to do something about them, is an unproved and outmoded faith. Salvationism, based on mere affirmation, still appears as harmful, diverting people with false hopes of heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds look to other means for survival.... No Deity will save us; we must save ourselves.
Signers of Humanist Manifesto II include Alan F. Guttmacher, president of Planned Parenthood; Betty Friedan, founder of N.O.W; behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner, a horde of Unitarian ministers, and Lester Mondale, former president of the Fellowship of Religious Humanists. Such is the NEA's consanguine "fellowship.
"The NEA's domination of education affects all teachers. It dictates the rules of professional advancement. It pressures teachers to be politically partisan. Its infusion of humanist curriculum places conscionable teachers in a moral dilemma. And its influence over accreditation and other policies is disconcerting for teachers public and private. In summation, the NEA's monopoly on education places teachers, and our children, at risk!
"And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea" (Mark 9:42, cf. Mathew 8:16 & Luke 17:2).
http://popularapostasy.blogspo.....-wild.html
Tina B| 10.27.11 @ 9:32AM
C. Smith,
You write so eloquently and with Biblical wisdom. I have read Mr. Biddle's writings about education for about 6 months now and after reading your post I have decided what is missing from His.
The worldview that God is the center of it all. Mr. Biddle has never said that when God was kicked out of public schools, with the advent of Secular Humanism, along with Him left much of the successes of early education: from the original reading books, which used and taught ancient Scripture to give children an understanding of right and wrong as well as an actual true history of mankind, to the science books which taught that ". . .God created. . . and said that it was good."
This opened the door to Evolution as Fact not theory, and the loss of the value of human life because if we are God's creation, what does it all matter anyway. This lead to abortion and euthanasia which further devalued the lives of children (babies) as well as old or severly handicapped people.
So, Mr. Smith, thank you for your timely analysis, because I am one newly retired teacher, who taught God in my 8th grade public school algebra and math classroom for 20 years.
I kept a Bible on my desk and several on my student bookshelves, always one in Spanish. I bought the latest Christian books for teens, and CDs of contemporary Christian musicians that I had vetted. I bought descrete posters with "quotes: on my walls, amid my beachy themed decor. Sea shells, Florida Shuttle launches (seen from our schools back fields)
and anything else that evolved into deep discussions about the nature of science and man.
Please know that God's work was done beautifully over the years in one public school classroom in Central Florida. My most treasured note is one from an A student now a senior in the IB program in town. She had borrowed my CD copy of the doc
"The Great Global Warming Swindle"
to loan to her mom for a Bible study class, because she was concerned that the science teacher on my team had shown the students the film "An Inconvenient Truth." She did not believe in anthropogenic global warming and she knew that I didn't either because I told my students that. I had kept a copy of ". . .Scandal" handy for kids who wanted to borrow it.
Know that I fought the good fight, as did a few others, far too few, sad to say, and pray for those teachers I left behind to carry the torch along.
Tina B| 10.27.11 @ 9:33AM
oops, that should have read, "if we are NOT all God's creation, what does it matter, anyway."
B. Pascal| 10.28.11 @ 9:52AM
Correct. Take God and the Bible out of the classroom, remove the 10 Commandments from the walls, and what you have is the demise.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Where is this found? The Bible, of course.
God has made us and loves us. He's given us the minds to learn, develop, explore, and reach for the heights.
If you remove God, you usher in Satan. Satan is not interested in anyone fulfilling his or her academic potential.
Know God, know life. No God, no life.
Peppermint Tea| 10.26.11 @ 1:25PM
Twenty years ago, my wife got her first teaching job and declined to join the union because of the $250 dues per year. Although a lifelong democrat, she thought that was steep given our financial situation just starting out. Her brother tried to guilt her into joining by saying that the union had helped her negotiate her salary, but my wife doesn't respond well (at all) to that ploy.
Twenty years later, she has found out the ineffectiveness of the unions at improving schools or teacher conditions, and is a proponent of personal responsibility. She will probably vote for Ron Paul for that reason alone.
Oldefarte| 10.26.11 @ 3:09PM
I'm certainly not against school teachers, but I dislike labor unions and consider them useless and wasteful. Good teachers do not need labor unions to represent their interests. Qualified teachers [and other employees] are protected by their expertise, and labor unions only serve themselves. Adequate laws have been in effect that protect teachers/employees for a long time now, and these unions only protect inept and incompetitent ones within their professions. Labor unions are detrimental to the general public at large due to their protectionists policies and dictates, and the taxpayers pay the bill for same. If these unions could be eliminated by law, the manufacturing base would return their operations to this country and once again provide the well paying jobs necessary to increase employment and consumer demand for products/services domestically produced. Without union's excessive wage scales, manufacturers in this country could compete with foreign ones. We simply must find ways to eliminate/decrease labor union activities in this country if we ever are to regain our status as an economic power within the world!!!!!!!!
elmo| 10.26.11 @ 3:42PM
In addition to unions, we need to re-distribute the wealth of all of the elite universities. I propose a 75% tax on all of their endowments (I think Harvard and Yale endowments are in the billions of dollars) to be re-distributed to a "locked box" for Pell grants. Additionally, all university professors and administrators should participate by re-distributing any portion of their salary and benefits exceeding $100K to the Pell grant fund. After all it's for the children.
J.C.Eaton| 10.26.11 @ 3:44PM
Who is the extremely nasty and angry-looking woman in the picture?
Moe Blotz| 10.26.11 @ 3:51PM
Looks like my friend Chester Keuckalewicz in drag squinting as he does when he forgets to don his spectacles.
cicero| 10.26.11 @ 4:02PM
Expecting local boards to control the unions is simply not realistic. While on a local board in the mid-80's, I was advised by a legal colleague who represented the State NEA affiliate, that the union had been on a decades' long can
mpaign to capture local boards by running their own candidates. I found that to be so.
I took office in the district that had cut art, athletics, and theater, as well as all accelerated programs, because they didn't have thee money. In the 4 years I was there, I negotiated 2 contracts. By breaking a strike, and negotiating more than just the size of the next wage and benefit increase, after the 4 years we had a budget balanced 3 years out; all of the programs back; increased requirements for grades; testing of students that reflected the effectiveness of teachers; and a boost in moral of the teaching staff.
At the end of my term, the union ran 3 candidates against me, thereby flooding the field. They also went door to door, and spent a lot of time and money to make sure that I was not reelected.
As the folks don't pay that much attention to school elections, which are held alone, and isolated from the general election, the unions control.
In addition to the above, the board bargaining committee is usually made up of school administrators - who are usually married to teachers. (One of the first things I did was stop that practice.) I'm afraid that the only way to get control of the schools for the children and their parents is to abolish public sector unions, and make the schools live within a realistic budget geared to results and revenues.
If you revue the majority of teachers' contracts you will see that the schools are run for the benefit of the employees, and that the children are merely incidental to the whole affair. As the results degrade, the standards re lowered. The kids start school in the very early morning hours, so that the employees can vacate the scene in the mioddle of the afternoon. I could go on and on, bu this is not the format.
Bob K.| 10.26.11 @ 8:22PM
Until a couple of years ago there were 501 School Districts in PA. Two of them joined and now there are 500. All these contracts come up of renewal at different times in different years. Some talk has been going on at the state level to have all the contracts expire at the same time and then have the Commonwealth negotiate one contract that would apply to all the School Districts which would effectively remove the elected School Directors from local negotiations and leave them responsible only for the hiring and management and maintenance of the districts. Unions would negotiate for wages, benefits, and working conditions only at the state level but would continue to represent the teachers in the individual districts in matters pertaining to discipline and other specified matters.
This type of negotiation is already being done in the state. The Commonwealth does this with the various Unions which represent the various state employees in different agencies.
In fact, the state does exactly this when it negotiates contracts with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) which consists of 14 colleges in NCAA Division II.
There is no good reason it could not be done with its elementary and high schools too.
faxmatter| 10.27.11 @ 2:38PM
That will not solve the problem of public sector unions owning the politicians. Government employee unions need to be made illegal.
faxmatter| 10.27.11 @ 2:51PM
That's right, the teacher's union generally controls the school board. In most states, board elections are set at times when most people will not vote and they are not publicized, ie: not at the same time as a fall general election for instance. But the unions make sure that their members get out to vote and know who to vote for. Also, it is the unions that have the money and organization to install their favored candidates. If a reformer comes along, they know how to characterize that person as disruptive not a unifier. For the good of our children and the survival of our country, the teacher's unions must be eliminated along with all public employee unions.
Michael| 10.26.11 @ 4:24PM
I work in a corporation for more then 29 years were the newest interns today start out at about $18,000 and the CEO is capped at $172,000. I retired after all those years in 2007 as one of the highest paid teacher/instructor and have a modest retirement of $48,500. But endured many of colleagues and some of my Students suffering long separtion, injuries, loss of limbs and in too many cases their lives.
Oh, my corporation; our US ARMY, my CEO, Chief of Staff; myself, retired Sergeant Major; Drill Sergeant, and vet ran of the Gulf War, Bosnia, Iraq.
Well at least the Education Industry is closer to reality then the Banking Industry where a Teller starts at about $30K but their CEOs retire with Millions
beebop2| 10.27.11 @ 6:09AM
Except that teaching is an education and banking is a business. But you cling to that anger and silliness because envy and class warfare is so productive.
Naturalborn Texicanette| 10.26.11 @ 6:59PM
I am a teacher in Texas. Teachers in Texas are not required to become members of a union.
In my school district, we do not negotiate for salary. We are, generally speaking, on a step program where a teacher gets a small rise for each year he/she is actively teaching..
With all the "new" ideas about HOW to teach, teachers are required to participate in continuing education workshops and seminars, and to learn all the newest techniques and strategies used in teaching. So continuing education is a must. Most teachers participate in continuing education to learn the latest scientific methods for delivering instruction for their student in child friendly ways. That is what many of us we do with our summers...and we often pay for those classes ourselves, though most districts in my state will pay for some.
What I see is troubling. Students must not be allowed to fail. So the student is required to go to tutorials, or summer school, or retake a state test that is mandatory to get to the next grade. And then they are passed on, grade ready or not. It has become all about that child going to the next grade, when at times they are not ready to do so.
Parents are the first line of encouragement for students. If parents DO NOT support and encourage and MONITOR their students progress, if parents are not involved in their child's education, there isn't a lot a teacher can do. Parental motivation and encouragement is of PRIMARY importance if a child is going to be a success. Parents are the first line in encouraging and monitoring their child's academic progress.
Teachers do EVERYTHING they can to engage and keep the attention of their students. Every teacher I know wants their students to be successful, and leave public school well prepared for higher education.
It is often a major battle with some children........
Bob Grant| 10.26.11 @ 8:37PM
I'm sure this results in more class disruptions, which cause a domino effect of lower overall grades. No?
Tina B| 10.27.11 @ 9:58AM
dear NT,
I agree with every word you said, and ALMOST every teacher I know is like every teacher you know. In every field there are slackers who are a danger to others, and this is true of the teaching profession as well. Thanks for speaking out for us so politely.
Parents are the major factor in their own students' learning. I see them 1 hour a day 5 days a week for 180 days, IF they are never absent. Ha.
The parents can reinforce what I do in that 1 hour, or they can undermine it. As the culture goes, so go the children. The culture is in the home, and therefore in the child. Give me a child from a home with a good culture, and watch me work my math-magic. But give me a child from a family with a negative lifestyle and home culture, and odds are that even the children who sit next to that child will have trouble learning in that class.
Brain studies show that the brain must feel safe for optimal learning to take place, so the school comedians, bullies and thugs make it difficult for many kids to learn. The Laws in edication seem to protect these negative influences at the expense of the innocents who are really there to learn.
I remember hearing our admins complain that at expulsion hearings the frustration of trying to get some dangerous children expelled and sent to alternative schools. If one i wasn't dotted properly or one little t wasn't crossed at a right angle, the child was sent back to the classroom with more power than when he or she left. After sitting at home for 4 to six weeks awaiting the hearing, back little boopsie comes to carry on with her 8th grade classwork and homework that wasn't getting done before they were expelled from my room.
What's a teacher to do? As you said:
It is often a major battle with some children........
Crosscut| 10.28.11 @ 10:27AM
A few years ago my job went bust and I had to retool myself. I went back to what I did as a much younger man; I reverted to all the handyman skills I obtained when working 20 years ago.
My home interior fix-it job went well after a few months. I had lots of referrals. So I was inside people's homes every day.
The things lying around a person's home speak volumes. They reveal all. If a project lasted a week in a person's home, I would see all their home literature (magazines, newspapers if any) or what books would be lying about.
When I saw bookshelves I would quickly scan titles. It is obvious if books are gathering dust or actively used.
I'll cut to the chase: Homes with good books and library books were rare. When I encountered good literature on shelves or tables, I usually had fine conversations with the adults and children. The children seemed bright and engaged. Homework was a priority. Learning was an obvious priority. The homes seemed more orderly.
However, there were plenty of homes where the 42" flat screen TV and assorted DVDs, recorders, PlayStation, etc. were the obvious priority. In these homes I would see few books or educational periodicals. The electronic devices were doing most of the babysitting for these children.
The differences were clearcut. It appeared to me that the differences were where parents place time and emphasis.
Isn't there a good saying about "If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail?:
faxmatter| 10.27.11 @ 3:17PM
The schools of education are enamored with the latest fads in education. Much of their studies and their teaching is quite unreliable. They seem to find what they want to find without using valid statistical/scientific methods. A case in point is how reading is taught. For the longest time schools of education insisted on teaching the "look-say" method even though the best studies and experience showed that phonetic methods work best - even look-say oriented learners learn under a phonetic method. In math, schools often insist on using the spiral, Chicago approach to teaching instead of a drill-to-mastery approach which shows better results and is also the traditional approach. Also, we could easily adopt the methods of the educationally most successful countries such as Finland, at least in many upper middle class districts. I fear much of the "continuing education" is not very effective. Anyway if we pare back the education unions and the bloated bureaucracy on all levels, the problems are all solvable.
Jeamar37| 10.26.11 @ 10:04PM
BobK: Ad hominem attacks are usually directed at an individual not used in a collective sense. Perhaps I should have used the impersonal pronoun "one" in place of the personal pronoun "you." Would that have made you feel less under personal attack which was certainly unintended.
Actually, I post on AS sites several times a week but not necessarily on the same subjects. I guess you have found my comments so offensive, boring, or uninformed, you just slid right past them. Are you the gatekeeper here?
Congratulations on voting regularly for school board members and for telling the person why you don't vote for them. If you told him/her at regularly scheduled board members, maybe it would have changed minds and votes to agree with your point-of-view. I am quite surprised you have a choice to vote on issues twice a year. It must cost your locality a small fortune to mount so many elections.
You are right that superintendents are hired by the local school board; however county superintendents which I specifically stated, and state superintendents in this state, are voted into their offices.
Thanks for your feedback. I enjoy the free exchange of ideas here.
Jeamar37| 10.26.11 @ 10:06PM
Sorry this needed a little editing BobK. Don't bother to let me know.
Bob K.| 10.27.11 @ 8:56AM
OK, that's reasonable enough.
We have primary elections in the spring to choose the Party candidates. We have the General Election in the fall. Cross filing is not permitted except in Judicial elections and people registered as independents cannot vote for party candidates in the Primaries. Once elected to the Judiciary for a 6 year term one then runs for re-election with out opposition on a Right to Retain-Yes or No vote for the next 6 years and following.
As you can see, things are set up for the organized parties.
See my other post at 8:22PM above responding to Cicero's comments on local school boards. His analysis is good.
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Merlin| 10.27.11 @ 5:18AM
Good article, RiShawn. Pay no attention to the few soreheads.
Defined pensions were mentioned in passing. It seems to me that defined pensions need to be made illegal, in all places and at all times, just as theft is. Private or public, it is inevitatably a promise that some third party in the future will pay what two other parties agreed to. Any and all benefits, pension or medical need to be defined by law as what is in the damned account and nothing else.
Oldefarte| 10.27.11 @ 1:30PM
Beyond eliminating labor/teacher unions, my prescription for repairing public schools is as follows:
[1] Install a professionally QUALIFIED teacher in the front of ever classroom
[2] Install a 350 pound MONITOR-ENFORCER WITH A LOUISVILLE SLUGGER BASEBALL BAT in the rear of ever classroom
scythe| 10.27.11 @ 7:23PM
Most female teachers of a certain age who taught in New York State earned "tier I" benefits during their tenure. When they retire their portfolio of benefits hovers north of NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. Many have second and third homes to enjoy when they had the summers off. Weingarten and the rest of them think we are all stupid. What they are attempting to do is to distract attention from themselves. Many of them will have earned over a million dollars in benefits and pensions for what?? A lifetime salary because they are so special? And the rest of us will be hitched to a wheel with a ring in our nose working until we drop for these "special" people. DE UNIONIZE ALL PUBLIC "SERVANTS". They have become our masters.
Marc Jeric| 10.28.11 @ 1:00AM
Giventime, every union will kill the industry in which it "works" - see steel, automobile, textile, electronics, apparel, etc. Government employees unions are by the definition itself criminal conspiracies against the people, and should therefore be routinel prosecuted underthe RICO Act laws. After 35 years the teachers unions have brought our education from the first in the world down to the level of Zimbabwe.
In Clark County (Las Vegas) we have 300,000 pupils, 18,000 teachers, and 23,000 other school employees. That should provide an average class size 16 pupils, but in reality the average class size is 40! That means that the number of actual teachers in class is 7,500, thus leaving the other 11,500 doing what exactly? And what about these "other" 23,000 - what exactly are those drones doing?
Marc Jeric| 10.30.11 @ 1:52PM
Given time, every union will eventually fall into the hand of the communists; then they will destroy the industry in which they "work". See Steel, automobile, textile, electronics, apparel, etc. In 40 years teachers unions have brought our education from the first in the world to the level of Zimbabwe while tripling the real costs per pupil. All government employees unions are by definition criminal conspiracies against the people, and should therefore be routinely prosecuted under the RICO Act laws.
Jim| 11.2.11 @ 11:55AM
Everyone of you is dumber than the next. A teachers job is to transfer information to a child, THAT IS ALL. Parents are to blame when kids don't do well or drop out. 61,000 / year is not a lot of money, thanks to unions bargaining, at least teachers are getting that. You are all a part of the same hypocritical group that believes Wall street workers need to 250,000 and above to attract talent, but in the public sector 60,000 is excessive. Your kids are stupid, because YOU are stupid.
aluma wallet | 11.25.11 @ 2:53AM
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<a | 4.24.12 @ 4:15AM
Thanks for your note, Given time, every union will eventually fall into the hand of the communists; then they will destroy the industry in which they "work". See Steel, automobile, textile, electronics, apparel, etc. In 40 years teachers unions have brought our education from the first in the world to the level of Zimbabwe while tripling the real costs per pupil. love it so much!!