“My argument is with the union who collects $730 per year from every teacher and school employee in the union in mandatory dues. And if you don’t want to join the union, here’s your option, you pay 85% of $730 to be out… That raisese for the teachers union $130 million per year for an army of lobbyists in the state house – every time there’s a bill that affects public education there’s five lobbyists from the union sitting there staring down those legislators in case they dare to disagree.”
“The teachers union is about the accumulation and exercise of raw power. The fight is about who is going to run public education in New Jersey – the parents and the people the elect, or the mindless faceless union leaders who decide that they’re going to be the ones who run it because they have the money and the authority to bully around school boards and local councils.”
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Having worked in urban public education for 31 year, I agree with some of what the governor says about teacher unions. However, I do find his his analysis to lack balance and a wider perspective. Urban education is a political football, favoritism is king, and promotions are often based on whom one knows. The flawed union provided me with protection from political cronyism. Take a stratified random sample of the of the teachers and support staff of our urban area and you will see that my opinion is not a minority one.
So long as public education remains a political football, you will always have a need for a teachers union. And this, is the pink elephant in the room that neither the governor nor the union will address.