Dear Colleague,
The big news for teachers and other public employees is the
Supreme Court’s agreement to hear the Friedrichs
v CTA case. This lawsuit, which could make all public employee union
dues-paying voluntary, will be decided by June 2016. Needless to say, the
unions were not happy with the turn of events, and five of them issued a joint
announcement:
We are disappointed
that at a time when big corporations and the wealthy few are rewriting the
rules in their favor, knocking American families and our entire economy
off-balance, the Supreme Court has chosen to take a case that threatens the
fundamental promise of America--that if you work hard and play by the rules you
should be able to provide for your family and live a decent life.
To
read the rest their statement, go here - http://www.seiu.org/2015/06/public-service-workers-on-grant-of-writ-of-certior.php Beyond that commentary, the unions’ most
appealing sounding contention is their
free rider argument. They claim that since
they are forced to represent all workers, that those who don’t pay their “fair
share” are “freeloaders” or “free riders.” The unions would have a point if they
were being forced to represent all workers. But the forced
representation claim is not true. As teacher union watchdog Mike Antonucci explains,
The very first thing
any new union wants is exclusivity. No other unions are allowed to negotiate on
behalf of people in the bargaining unit. Unit members cannot hire their own
agent, nor can they represent themselves. Making people pay for services
they neither asked for nor want is a ‘privilege’ we reserve for government, not
for private organizations. Unions are freeloading on those additional dues.
To read more on the
subject, go to http://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2012/12/12/who-are-the-freeloaders/
The 2015 National
Education Association convention wrapped up earlier this month but the yearly
shindig didn’t provide many scintillating moments. NEA Executive Director John
Stocks did give a rather interesting 25 minute address in which partisan
politics was up front and center. He railed against “white skin privilege,”
“institutional racism” and “income inequality.” The class warfare jab was
particularly perplexing since Mr. Stocks is clearly a one-percenter himself,
making over $500,000 grand in total compensation according to the latest NEA
tax filing. To see Stock’s speech or to read the text version, go here - http://ra.nea.org/speech/nea-executive-director-address-delegates-nea-representative-assembly/ Additionally, Jose Lara’s brief speech after
receiving NEA’s “Social
Justice” award is eye-opening. To watch it, go to http://ra.nea.org/speech/2015-social-justice-activist-award-winner-jose-lara-at-the-2015-representative-assembly/
The subject of
teacher pensions has been a staple for some time now. Our friends at the
National Council for Teacher Quality have provided us with “Teacher Pensions
Mythbusters” in which some of the most common myths around teacher pensions are
dispelled. For example, Myth #7 reads, “All teachers prefer a traditional,
defined benefit retirement plan.” But as NCTQ points out,
·
A
recent nationally representative survey found the vast majority of teachers
want a retirement plan that is fair, flexible, and offers stability regardless
of its structure.
·
Over
40% of new teachers are career changers who need flexibility in their pensions,
so it makes sense that nearly a third would opt out of traditional, defined
benefit retirement plans for more flexible options.
·
In
fact, a recent case study in Florida found that 30% of teachers entering the
system between 2003-04 and 2008-09 selected a defined contribution option over
the traditional defined benefit retirement plan.
At the end of June,
the Friedman Foundation released the results of a poll concerning the progress of K–12
education in the United States.
Some of their key findings:
- One out of six people rank education as the No. 1 issue facing America.
- Americans give low ratings to the federal government’s performance in K–12 education
- Very few Americans know how much we spend per pupil on K–12 education.
- A significant number of public school parents give low grades to their public schools.
- Actual enrollment numbers do not reflect American’s school type preferences.
- About twice as many Americans support school vouchers than oppose them.
To view a brief
slide show and learn more about the poll, go to http://www.edchoice.org/Blog/June-2015/Breaking-Down-the--2015-Schooling-in-America-Surve
The school choice
bus has hit a bump in the road in Colorado’s Douglas County, where its voucher
program was knocked out by the Colorado Supreme Court citing the state’s
Blaine Amendment. The court wrote:
"... this stark constitutional provision makes one thing clear: A school
district may not aid religious schools."
That, the court held, is precisely what the
voucher program does. Chief Justice Nancy Rice wrote in the court's opinion
that it ‘essentially functions as a recruitment program, teaming with various
religious schools’ to seek scholarship candidates.
This would seem to
fly in the face of Zelman v.
Simmons-Harris, a case decided by SCOTUS in 2002, which maintains that
because voucher money goes to the parents, not the religious institution,
it in no way breaches the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. To read
more about the Colorado decision, go here - http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28401042/colorado-supreme-court-rejects-douglas-county-voucher-program To learn more about Zelman, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelman_v._Simmons-Harris
Release time, a
practice that allows public employees to conduct union business during working
hours without loss of pay, has been
getting a lot of press attention of late. These activities include
negotiating contracts, lobbying, processing grievances, and attending union
meetings and conferences. According to Trey Kovacs, a policy analyst at the
Competitive Enterprise Institute, this racket has cost the
federal government about $1 billion since 1998. Between 2008 and
2011, the fraud has increased from 2.9 million hours at a cost of $121 million
to 3.4 million hours at a cost of $155 million. To learn more, go to http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=22873 If any of you have release time abuses at
your school and are disturbed by it, ask your local school board president how
the district deals with this policy. Go to school board meetings and ask
questions about the contract wording and ask for verification that that
district actually lives up to the contract. Write letters and talk to the media
about it, if necessary.
And finally, as you well know, information is
frequently used to score political points and make cases for various causes. To
that end, CTEN has a “cheat sheet” on our website – with original sources. To
see it, go to http://www.ctenhome.org/cheatsheet.html If you
have information that counters what’s there or would like to see something
added, please let us know.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to CTEN can do so very
simply through a personal check or PayPal - http://www.ctenhome.org/donate.html As a non-profit, we exist and operate only
through the generosity and support of others. Many thanks to CTENers who have
already donated and a special shout-out to those of you who do so on a regular
basis.
In any event, I hope your summer has been going well!
Sincerely,
Larry Sand
CTEN President