The National Education
Association has called for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s
head on a platter. It appears as though the Obama administration is
declining to oblige.
From Politico:
The NEA adopted the resolution last week at its representative
assembly in Denver, where the air was charged with anger and
members buzzed with frustration at Duncan and other education
reformers — especially their emphasis on high-stakes testing.The resolution blamed Duncan for a “failed education agenda”
consisting of policies that “undermine public schools and colleges,
the teaching education professionals, and education unions.”
Beyond the typical teacher union efforts to try to block
performance evaluations that are tied to testing scores,
Politico notes that the origins for the call to Duncan to
resign originated from the California Teachers Association and
Duncan’s response to the recent Vergara v. California
ruling. Reason’s Brian Doherty
noted this decision back in June. A California Superior Court
ruled that the state’s absurd tenure system—where teachers become
pretty much impossible to get rid of after less than two years on
the job—damages students’ state constitutional right to an
education.
Duncan supported the decision as a chance for education
reform:
Duncan said the Vergara v. California ruling
in June presents an opportunity to set a meaningful bar for teacher
tenure. CTA said his stance shows “disrespect for the hard-working
educators in our schools” and a “lack of understanding of education
law and policy.”“Since the beginning, Duncan’s department has been led by
graduates of the Broad Academy, Education Trust-West and other
organizations determined to scapegoat teachers and their unions,”
the California group wrote. “Most recently, some of these former
Obama administration staffers announced a national campaign
attacking educators’ rights.”
There does seem to be a growing fracture between leading
Democrats and teachers unions, which Politico also
took note of in June. I interviewed former California
legislator
Gloria Romero about it in 2013, and the cracks are visible in
large urban environments where poorer communities are discovering
that entrenched unions are more concerned about protecting their
own interests and getting a bigger piece of the budget pie for
themselves, while actual students languish in classrooms full of
indifferent teachers that can’t be removed.
Will this eventually result in a Tea Party-style split on the
left between the establishment and Democratic politicians who see
where the populist winds are blowing in the actual grassroots? Is
it already happening?
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