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WA State Teachers Union To Seek Voter Veto of New Charter School Law
March 27, 2004
The Seattle Times reports the Washington Education Association will mount a signature-gathering drive for a voter referendum to overturn newly-approved charter-school legislation in The Evergreen State. After a 10-year struggle, the most modest of charter school bills was finally passed here in Washington this month, and signed into law by Governor Gary Locke. There are thousands of charter schools across the country - they are public schools with greater flexibility, a special contract (or charter) with sponsors, strict oversight, and strong emphasis on academic rigor and college preparation. Many minority students who attend charter schools - and their parents - are passionate supporters. Charters will provide a crucial bulwark against the crippling, lowered expectations for African-American, Hispanic, Asian-Pacific Islander and Native-American students in Seattle's public schools. It is utterly pitiable that the teachers union feels so threatened by the charter school bill that it will now seek to overturn the legislation. Charter teachers don't have to belong to the larger state union. This is about hoarding dues, and quashing competition. Again, kids come last for the union. Meanwhile, minority non-profits are already eyeing charters, and a major charter school conference is planned in Seattle April 16-18. One likely charter operator in or near Seattle would be the highly-regarded, San Francisco-based Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP. Even if the WEA wins, they lose. Posted by Matt Rosenberg at March 27, 2004 09:43 AM Trackback Pings TrackBack URL for this entry: Listed below are links to weblogs that reference WA State Teachers Union To Seek Voter Veto of New Charter School Law:
» Towards freedom of choice in education from Gary Manca Tracked on March 28, 2004 11:38 PM Comments:
I've been dating a teacher for a while. One of the things I actually like about her is that she is not a member of the union (it's frowned on in this city, but it isn't a compulsory thing to belong to any union) and has always recognized that the teachers' unions are far more interested in teachers' well-being than they are kids' well-being. She likes magnet schools, charter schools, and isn't even terribly antagonistic towards school vouchers. The thing is, after having met a lot of her friends, she's pretty unusual in all of this. Teacher culture is incredibly resistant to change, especially change that comes from outside the culture. So they might all flock to the latest teaching fad if it comes from an established voice inside their own, but they rally like an army against any attempt to ask them to change that doesn't come from "one of their own." The saddest thing, to me, is that I believe that most of them really do want what's best for kids. They are just completely blind to the fact that what they are doing simply isn't what's best for the children in their classrooms. Posted by: zombyboy at March 27, 2004 11:02 AMIt's disappointing that "public schools" are increasingly being managed less for the "public" and more for the teacher unions. It's tempting to start refering to them as "teacher union schools". Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky at March 28, 2004 01:36 PMPost a comment
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