Education: September 2010 Archives

While at breakfast yesterday morning, I saw a very well done TV ad with a sarcastic take on how the Washington, D.C., teachers' unions impede educational progress:

Mom: "I think it's great how they put politics above my child's education." Student: "It's cool how the union makes it almost impossible to fire bad teachers." Teacher: "It's impressive how my dues money supports politicians I don't even like."

I'm glad they included that last point. Many teachers join the union because they want liability coverage or representation in local negotiations. That doesn't mean they also want their dues going to support every left-wing cause under the sun. My mom founded the classroom teachers' organization at Catoosa Public Schools (affiliated with the OEA and NEA) and served many years on negotiating teams. One of the reasons she quit OEA and joined Professional Oklahoma Educators was because of the OEA and NEA's support for liberal causes and candidates.

I couldn't find a way to embed the commercial here, but you can view the 30 second TV spot and related print and video ads at teachersunionexposed.com/DC.

In Oklahoma the teachers' union wants to hold Oklahoma's budget priorities hostage to the decisions of the legislatures of our surrounding states. The idea behind SQ 744 is that more money will solve the problems with public education in Oklahoma. The reality is that over 40 years the cost of a K-12 public education (the national average) has almost quadrupled (that's adjusting for inflation) while performance has remained flat or actually declined. In Oklahoma over the last twenty years, education funding has increased by 40%, while ACT scores have only gone up 4%.

Money is not the problem with public education; it's how we're spending the money we have.