A secret poll conducted on behalf of the Pennsylvania Republican Party found that Governor Tom Corbett is highly unpopular and likely to lose to his Democratic challenger.
Corbett’s biggest vulnerability is on education issues, which voters of both parties consider important. The poll recommends that the governor can improve his image on education issues by attacking the teachers’ unions.
Sixty-three percent of voters across the state disapprove of Corbett’s handling of education issues.
Most voters recognize that the problems of Philadelphia’s schools cannot be solved by Philadelphia alone.
91% believe that the Philadelphia public schools face an extremely serious funding problem.
62% of voters say that the state should provide greater funding to Philadelphia, as compared to 24% who say the district should declare bankruptcy, or 7% who say it should sell bonds.
The pollsters say that the governor should insist on such reforms as 1) allowing public schools to assign and transfer employees based on performance, not seniority; 2) allowing principals more say in hiring teachers for their schools; 3) no more automatic pay raises for years of service or degrees or certification. These are very popular with voters, who also believe that new funding should be tied to adopting these changes. Teacher union supporters agree with the first two, but not the third.
Most voters believe (despite the absence of any evidence) that these three reforms will improve education in the Philadelphia public schools while getting costs under control.
Some voters told the pollsters that these reforms would help “get bad teachers out of the classroom.”
Perhaps influenced by Rhee-style propaganda in recent years, voters think that the intense concentration of poverty and segregation in Philadelphia’s schools, as well as years of harsh budget cuts, can be cured by eliminating seniority and curbing the influence of the teachers’ union.
The pollsters conclude that Corbett can substantially improve his image as an “education reformer” and as someone who leads the battle for “change” by fighting the union.
The pollsters say that education is the wedge issue that Corbett can use to reverse his sagging approval ratings.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think the Governor should spend the day in a classroom in a school serving the lowest income neighborhood in Philly before he adopts any of these non-solutions.
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Doubt it would help. He would just use it as a photo-op that he “supports” education.
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TFA scabs spend two or three years “serving” the lowest income neighborhoods and look at the policy disasters they go on to advocate and implement.
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It is time for the three big teachers unions to finally join together in this war. UTLA seems to be getting ready for this, now we need N.Y. also. This covers the entire country. This is the only way to beat them. You can watch Warren Fletcher, President of UTLA and David Lyell, Secretary of UTLA yesterday on important subjects at George1la. David Tokofsky, former LAUSD board member and now with Associated Administrators of L.A. (AALA) is also a great speaker for “Real Public Education.” At the beginning of July Monica Ratliff will be inaugurated onto the Board of Education and a new board president will be elected. No more of Monica Garcia, who is leader of those who hate public education.
Yesterday, in spite of an agreement with me after the last fiasco of line cutting to get into the board of education LAUSD police chief Zipperman ordered his officers to not control the line against the agreement. I ran into Chief Zipperman in the board room. For bringing up this transgression he threatened to arrest me. When I spoke to the board I brought this up. He has just been emailed to correct this transgression of his job responsibilities. Ever since LAPD has run the LAUSD Police they have had a bad attitude. Chief Zipperman is obviously not a man of his word and that is why in the email I requested an answer in writing only. When people break into line all the speakers cards are then taken from those who played by the rules and did not break into line. This happens as a result of the corrupt management of LAUSD who wants to only promote their agenda and this is one of the methodologies.
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The question is this: what Democrat candidate will defend public education and make the point that bad teachers aren’t the problem? This narrative has so much traction that it will take years to change it…
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Wgersen: the narrative changes on September 17, 2013, when my new book is published.
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How very much I am looking forward to that!
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I hope so! We need an echo chamber for YOuR message like the privatizers have for Rhee, Gates, et al
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“The pollsters say that the governor should insist on such reforms as 1) allowing public schools to assign and transfer employees based on performance, not seniority; 2) allowing principals more say in hiring teachers for their schools; 3) no more automatic pay raises for years of service or degrees or certification. These are very popular with voters, who also believe that new funding should be tied to adopting these changes. Teacher union supporters agree with the first two, but not the third.”
I’m nearly blind from reading on LCD screens, but does this article actually say that “teacher union supporters agree” with the first two of these 3 reforms?
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Read the poll.
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I tried, but my sight and brain are failing me. I’ll assume it’s true. Odd, though
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I don’t know if this is the case everywhere, but at least in my state, the union is simply choosing its battles and going after the most egregious violations, since they can see the train heading for them. Not saying I agree with this, but I can see where the union leaders are coming from. They’re trying to at least stay somewhat relevant.
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Honest to God, I don’t understand how in EVERY other profession, advanced degrees and experience are valued, desired, and compensated. How did we get people to believe its not valuable in the people educating our children? I would love a breakdown of that belief among people with and without children. So when I tell my kids to get an advanced degree it’s only good if they are not going to be teachers. Got it.
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I don’t think anyone who’s thinking clearly would ever get an “advanced degree” unless they thought they’d be compensated for it, either financially or by getting access to a career they couldn’t otherwise have. But a lot of young people don’t think far enough ahead or overestimate their future prospects, despite the best advice of others. Talk to some of the people receiving PhDs in English Literature History, Sociology, Philosophy, Cultural Studies, etc., whose search for work largely consists of attending annual job conferences and praying that they’ll be one of the hundreds or more qualified applicants (all willing to move anywhere in the country if necessary) who gets one of the five tenure track positions available in their field. Starting salaries as low as $30,000, heavy teaching loads and intense pressure to publish or perish.
Or “Journalism” degrees — $30,000 a year for the chance to compete for jobs with starting pay lower than a teacher. And with no job security in a rapidly shrinking industry.
Or law degrees — thousands of people graduate each year with as much as $200,000 in student loan debt, with zero chance at any job that will pay them enough to meet their loan repayments (which kick in after a 6-month grace period at over $1,000 a month, who knows, maybe $2,000 a month these days).
I’m an attorney who also has an advanced degree in a humanities field. My compensation for that degree? Zippo. No one cares. I wouldn’t even list it on my resume.
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