Is it Enough for What?

I've been looking all weekend for a way to mention the recent bit of bad news for the teacher unions in the Wall Street Journal. The Weekend Edition's editorial page highlighted a program called Teach for America, the 1990 brainchild of Princeton undergrad Wendy Kopp who thought inner-city public school students deserved a chance to learn from the best and brightest, rather than from the shift-working teacher-mill grads.

Well, I've found my angle. In the Charles County Cafe blog post wondering whether a 3.5 percent raise is "enough." To regular readers of my blog, the answer to this rhetorical question is clear. No, it is never enough. No matter how high the increase, the teacher unions will always find a way to demand more. It's what a union does.

Well, now it seems that for nearly 20 years many thousands of young, idealistic graduates of America's top colleges have been flocking to Teach for America and I am just hearing about it now. It seems to be the new Peace Corps. They, like their counterparts of decades past, see a way to make a real difference by bringing their newly minted expertise in a variety of fields of learning to disadvantaged public school kids. Like the Peace Corps, they spend a few years usually two or three, then move on to careers in their various professions carrying with them special knowledge and experience gained from such service.

What I couldn't figure out, after scanning about seven pages of Google hits on the subject, is whether they are forced to join the union. From what I could tell, they perform their service at BELOW cost; that is, they are an attractive option for school districts because they do not earn union scale. And recent studies show they are doing a damn good job. It's something about wanting to teach and to reform the education system, without being forced into some featureless, vat of homogeneous Union glop and extruded into the standard public school teacher mold.

The difference is that these people are professionals who happen to want to teach. Their counterparts meanwhile are simply trained union members. Even those who really want to teach are ill-prepared to do so; their training being in the interpretation of arcane school curricula, laws, regulations and yes, politics. Teach for America candidates are giving a few weeks of training and are turned loose to teach.

Well the stories I've been missing have do mention the challenge TFA poses to union power however, no one can seem to get the NEA or the American Federation of Teachers to go on the record. You know NEA's motto: If you can't say something bad about an obvious threat to your existence, don't say anything at all.

Getting Under Their Skin

I think I'm starting to get to them. In response to this post on my Newt.org blog:

This is rich. The Hill on June 8th featured remarks by our Dear Leader on the House floor following the latest record price per gallon:

“Boehner touted the GOP’s plan to reduce the burden at the pump and blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for not bringing it to a vote.”

But Boehner himself campaigned for an incumbent Republican who would vote AGAINST drilling for oil anywhere. He and Newt Gringrich came to MD’s District 1 to campaign for Wayne Gilchrest, whose record on drilling and other attempts to increase the supply of energy to Americans is clear.
Thank God, his and Newt’s attempts were unsuccessful. No thanks to them, Dear Leader Boehner now has another vote he can count on (assuming, of course, that Andy Harris wins in November)..... Oh, hey, Newt, the Club for Growth is targeting Don Young of Alaska. Did you hear? Are you going to stump for him as well? I am sure he was a loyal member of the team when you were Speaker! Yeah, so we need to keep jerk like him in office. And are you stumping for Jeff Flake's primary opponent? I know, you can't be a hypocrite everywhere at the same time, alas.

One of my commenters had this to say:

Please! Enough with the Gilchrest Crud. This must be your 40th Gilchrest post. You are in "By God Socialist Maryland" for God's Sake. Snowe and Collins are Cult Heros there - as well as McCain. Save Yourself - Give it a Break. ********************************************** Feel Free to come to Southwest Ohio and try to find a REAL Conservative challenger to Boehner. Shows How goofy You Really Can Be. Its time you sell that broken record. Save Yourself! Get some professional help.

I'm thinking he's from Ohio. Must've touched a nerve there when I mentioned I was urging Andy Harris to travel to Boehner's district and campaign for his primary opponent, you know, as a way of saying "Thanks, pal."

So? Are we all Socialists here in MD? Are Sens. Snowe and Collins cult heroes for us Republicans? Are you going to take this lying down? Why don't you visit my Newt-blog and offer some friendly advice...here's a link.

Government by Ox-Goring

Recent fallout from the County budget for the next FY would be funny if it weren't so sad. For me it started when (another) former friend thought to include me in plea to help save funds to keep our public libraries open and fully staffed. She wanted us to write to our County Council representatives and express shock and dismay that they would let a little thing like a budget dictate which services can and cannot be funded.

After noticing at least one Anne Arundel County Public School system domain among the e-mail addresses, I knew my response would be easy. The gist was,"You are writing to the wrong people. You should address your concerns to the Teachers Unions of this county because it is they who are in control of the County budget despite what the Charter says." I was referring to the "extra" $13 million the Union extorted from county taxpayers. Call me crazy but I just assumed that some of that money was "found" in the public library budget.

So here we have another panicked parent who faced not only the loss of her son's "favorite" teacher but also of her own job at the library. Was she one of panicky few demanding that the Council save the teachers? Probably. Did it occur to her that by saving the teachers she was dooming her own job? Probably not. And that is the sad part.

Since my short "debate" with her I have read letter after letter in the Annapolis Kapital crying about the inequity of funding the teachers union at the expense of the Libraries. The last one I read was from the chairman of the library association (I guess that's the union) itself!

Now, what moral, what lesson can we draw from all of this? You tell me.

Panicked-Parents Profile #1

The first profile in panicked parents of public school children describes a member of the Anne Arundel County Council. Since the profile is based on an e-mail message not expressly meant for the blog I will make it anonymous.

Panicked Parent No. 1: Anonymous
Occupation: County Coucilmember
Comments:

Mike,

This time you are wrong. We moved money around in the budget to see that the construction and renovation projects that Leopold refused to fund were funded. I am always disturbed when I am told my [child] will have 40 kids in a class that physically and educationally can only handle about 25. Maybe that is OK with you, but not me. Your [Councilmember] held the line on taxes. Your [Councilmember] worked to bring the state in on the conversation so as to better leverage our county dollars and get more construction dollars. The day after the budget amendments made by the council, the state awarded an additional 10k to the County based on their spending commitment.

What would you have rather I did? The students were left out of this budget and the council put them back. I won't apologize for that. Neither should you condemn us for doing what was right. Why is it that if education gets funded, you automatically go on the offensive and seem to indict the council and suggest we are beholding to the teachers. They are mad at us just as often as they are pleased. As it was, they did not get their negotiated 6% raise, they got 5%, but I guess that does not matter.

Issue: Seems to believe that 25 is the magic class size number for teaching. Also seems to believe that tax dollars coming from the State are not also coming from County tax-payers.

Conclusion: Has swallowed hook, line and sinker the Union's single-most effective line of propaganda, that class-size is scientifically linked to effective teaching.

Notes: PP#1, you must disabuse yourself of the notion that TAAAC and the TAAAC-fed public school bureaucracy have your child's education at heart in negotiating for anything. What it has is a body of education law within which it must work to increase its ranks. Basta. That's it.

Did you read my letter to John Leopold? Are you not concerned that what you are saying is exactly what your 4th-grade teacher (and 5th and 6th, etc.) told you was true? And you have done exactly what they have counted on: you have risen to power and influence under the belief that bigger classes are bad and more teachers are good. You probably even wrote to your County Executive, a heartless miser who lived only to see teachers, your teacher, suffer!

But Mike, I believed in Santa Clause, too, and I grew out of that, didn't I? Perhaps. But there is something very tangible about your 4th-grade teacher, more tangible than Santa Clause.

What would I have you do? Make them prove it. Make them work for their $13 million! For that much cash I want to see hard evidence that 26 or 40 students are impossible to teach. I want you to make the hard choices like Baking Class versus Reading; to explain to the panicked parents, that they can't have it all. And If they can't have it all at least they'll have kids who can read and write in English, better than kids from any other County in Maryland.

I DON'T want that money spent on teachers to indoctrinate MY kids in liberal theology! YOU can't guarantee that, now. That means I have to work harder.

I want you to STOP giving these blood-suckers another second of stage time for the Union hacks down at the Annapolis Fish Wrap. Stop giving these public school prima donnas more reasons to keep coming back for more. Stop giving them, on a silver platter, another Democratic campaign slogan they'll use in county and State races: A Vote for a Democrat is a Vote for the Kids!

The Politics of Panic

This is mainly for the edification of our political leaders on the County Council. I read recently where $13 million or so was "found" to add to the teacher union budget for the next fiscal year. The report in the Kapital said the Council "scrounged" for the millions in reaction to "panicked teachers and parents."

Now as many of you know, I am a parent. I was not in a state of panic at the prospect of "losing" 100 union members. Nor was I concerned that the remaining rank and file might have to work harder as a result. In fact, I was positively cheered by the idea. But where is MY representation? Who speaks for those parents who are not panicked and who approve of their County Government's responsible handling of their taxes?

Who are these ready-made gaggle of panicked parents? Even if they do exist, tell me why, for the love of Pete, should I pay more so that their son's "favorite" teacher can be kept on the payroll? Again and again, it seems that a handful of residents whose interests seem to be lovingly tied to the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County, hold sway over the expenditure of millions of taxpayer dollars. These must be powerful people. I should think that a real newspaper with real reporters would want to know more about such power-players among us.

So I will do the job that the Annapolis Union Press Release won't do: I will publish profiles from all the panicked parents who care to visit my blog at: http://mikenetherland.blogspot.com/ and leave a comment.