Wayne, could not agree with you more. Little has Cowboys and Tea Parties wrote about the National Education Association so far, but they are always in our minds as they are another Union who exists to devise ways to perpetuate their existence, entitlements and power base. The NEA themselves boast that they are a "United States labor union representing teachers, secretaries and educational support personnel" .........hey, here's an idea, what about representing the children?
I think that education in general, with the Federal involvement or control over national education and the NEA's agenda, is a septic tank gobbling up funding and destroying education maing it a major political issue in the 2012 Presidential elections especially if Governor Rick Perry is the Republican nominee.
Some see this as a weakness for Perry, others as a strength. I can tell you that the Department of Education would come closet to being disbanded under a Perry Administration. I would like to see more States stand up to the Federal Government, and the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, like
Perry did when he refused to sell control of the state's education system for any price or bribe from the Federal government. This was of course when Perry, continuing his disdain for the Federal government's role in public education, refused to allow the State of Texas to to accept a common national cirriculum for Federal funding.
The NEA is like any other union, strengthing their control and their entitlements to the detriment of the sector they work in. In his case, it's education and the children suffer.
Rhee instituted accountability for the results from standardized tests. She closed 23 schools, fired 36 principals and cut approximately 121 office jobs.
She took on teacher tenure and pay issues, fighting the union who protected poor teachers,.......after all they pay union dues. She tried to trade higher pay for no tenure rights,...all along fought by the powerful union. Finally, in her final year as Chancellor, Rhee and the unions agreed on a new contract that offered 20% pay raises and bonuses of $20,000 to $30,000 for strong student scores and achievement, in exchange for weakened teachers' seniority protections and the end of teacher tenure for one year. Under this new contract, Rhee was able to fired over 240 poor performing teachers and put over 700 on a type of performance probation.
Maybe the next President, a Republican hopefully, can hire Michelle Rhee as the next, and last, Secretary of Education, tasking her to close down this enormous sink hole for tax payers money and return education to the states where it belongs.
