Teachers Unions

Teachers Unions Against Better Education



By Neal Boortz

There is a little puddin’ storm brewing in New York City right now that will demonstrate the the backwardness of the teachers unions. First of all, New York tops the list when it comes to per pupil spending, spending $18,000 per student in government schools. Perhaps this is because the typical government solution to poor education is to throw more money at the problem. New York City has seen some of the worst government schools. For example, one school in Harlem has only 3% of its students performing at grade level on English and 9% in math. At another school in the Bronx, their four-year graduation rate is 40%. Abysmal, right? So the city has decided to close some of these underperforming government schools. Twenty-two of them, to be exact.

This is where the teachers unions and … the NAACP … get their panties in a wad.

The United Federation of Teachers along with the New York state chapter of the NAACP have filed a lawsuit to prevent these miserable government schools from shutting down. But that’s not all. You see, New York City has also seen the success of several charter schools. A report issued by Stanford University found that charter schools in New York City are demonstrating significantly better results for their students in reading and in math than their government school counterparts. So this lawsuit also seeks to essentially close or limit the 19 public charter schools in New York City by preventing them from sharing facilities with existing government schools. The New York Daily News says that “were the plaintiffs to succeed, these schools would either be unable to enroll new children or could face closure.”

It’s painfully clear why the teacher’s unions are participating in this lawsuit. Most charter schools are not unionized, so closing these schools would preserve the power of the unions – at the expense of quality education, but who really cares? Again, teacher unions care little about educating and a great deal about maintaining teacher job security.

But the NAACP? Why would any organization dedicated to the “advancement” of “colored people” work so hard to hold young black school children back? If you have an answer to that one … please share.