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Dear Friend,

Are we in Russia??

I thought the strike was bad enough. Thousands of children out of
school who are already 2-3 years behind on average, if not 5 or
6! Parents with no power, staff at failing schools who continue
to get paid in spite of it all.

But the contract outline prepared by the Chicago Teachers Union
really takes the cake:

"Our brothers and sisters throughout the country have been told
that corporate 'school reform' was unstoppable, that merit pay
had to be accepted and that the public would never support us if
we decided to fight. Cities everywhere have been forced to adopt
performance pay. Not here in Chicago! Months ago, CTU members won
a strike authorization vote that our enemies thought would be
impossible-now we have stopped the Board from imposing merit pay!
We preserved our lanes and steps when the politicians and press
predicted they were history. We held the line on healthcare
costs. We have tremendous victories in this contract; however, it
is by no means perfect. While we did not win on every front and
will need to continue our struggle into the future."

Their struggle? For what? To ensure that they always come first
over kids? That they control the education system and not the
results?

They might as well have said "Dear Comrades!"

Pity the highly successful teacher who was on the picket line due
to no fault of her own. Becoming a teacher in most public school
systems today comes with mandatory membership in the union. Oh
sure, technically you can choose not to join the union, but
making that choice will mean getting harassed by the leadership
and still paying agency fees for the bargaining they do on your
behalf.

That bargaining resulted in the strike that ended last night. Not
only did the union not want to accept some very basic, and hardly
substantive evaluation components, but they were aghast at the
notion that their members should work longer days or weeks and
accept more professional development. You can read it for
yourself, as well as background on the strike and various
opinions on our Unions & Education Establishment page. I just
wanted to touch base with each and every one of our followers
directly on this issue and remind you of three key things that
should guide your every decision on education reform going
forward:

1) You can't work with the unions. Anyone who tells you otherwise
- be they Secretary Duncan, President Obama or Governor Christie
- is either wrong or misinformed. Besides the modest gains made
in Washington, DC, there is no current law or contract today
that, across the board, treats teachers like professionals and
ensures that children come first.

2) The unions have co-opted the language of reform. Too many
reformers have bought into the notion that the union leaders are
finally coming around. When they speak on Morning Joe or at
conferences and express agreement with teacher evaluation, they
always qualify their remarks. Still, some reformers get giddy and
think they've succeeded when they exact such "concessions" from
union representatives. They haven't.

3) The national leadership walks in lockstep with the locals and
visa versa. Sure the language may be different and the locals may
be less sophisticated, but whether the nationals agreed a Chicago
strike was a good idea or not, there is no union leadership in
this nation that would work to ensure that student success be the
leading factor in their evaluations. That, my friends, is the
truth.

Best Regards,


Jeanne Allen
President

P.S. During times like these it's more vital than ever that the
real education reformers don't back down in the face of the
current assault on reform. Visit the all-new Parent Power
Index to see how much power parents in your state have to
effect real change and bring about real reform for their kids.


The Center for Education Reform
(tel) 800-521-2118; 301-986-8088; (fax) 301-986-1826
cer@edreform.com; www.edreform.com

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