A reader writes in response to the post about New Jersey Governor Christie:
When you solve this mystery please come and help us in Ohio to uncover why Gov. Kascich has made teachers public enemy number one. We may have defeated his infamous House Bill 5, but he and his cronies are managing to slip in most of the laws and regulations in the back door .
Are there any Republican governors who are not at war with the teachers in their state? If so, please let me know. Maybe something happened at the Republican Governors’ conference in 2011.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Perry in TX? Alaska? SC?
I’m not 100% sure about that, but didn’t they reject all of the strings associated with Common Core?
I also think we need to separate the financial burden these states face when it comes to the retirement/pension system and the evaluation system.
Many states are in a financial crisis and reworking their pay structure and pension system for ALL public employees. I would not consider that an attack on teachers as much as a fiscal matter.
I do consider the new evaluation system imposed on teachers by foolish Governors as an attack on the teachers. However is this limited to Republican Governors only? I didn’t think so since in order to get the Race to the Top Funding, all Governors were to comply?
(hoping those responding will stick to the issues and leave the “attack” moms argument out of this discussion)
“Many states are in a financial crisis and reworking their pay structure and pension system for ALL public employees. I would not consider that an attack on teachers as much as a fiscal matter.”
That may be true in places like Florida. Though I did not vote for Rick Scott in 2010 and will not do so in 2014, I at least respect him for being fair and balanced with his pension reform.
I believe the drama in Wisconsin was the result of firefighters and police officers being EXEMPT from the pension contribution changes. It has been reported that the firefighters and police officers unions contributed to his campaign and that may be the reason. If I remember correctly, firefighters and police were also exempt in New Jersey as well.
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When it comes to the new evaluation systems, some states may just be trying to conform to get RTTT money while other states have been trying to push similar plans years before RTTT.
Governor Quinn, a Democrat in Illinois, is not a lot better. The Democrats in Illinois seem to have forgotten traditional democratic values. Our speaker of the House, Mike Madigan, has been the chief architect in attacking teachers, pensions, and pushing state funding responsibilities back onto the local taxpayers.
While you are at it check out a few mayors who seem to be swallowing the same pill! As a Chicago teacher I can tell you tough talking Rahm has the same talking points!
Dannel Malloy, democratic governor of CT, is as belligerent towards teachers as any of them. He has famously stated that all a teacher has to do is “show up for four years” and that he “is fine with teaching to the test as long as the scores go up.” He and his education commissioner have close ties with Vallas, TFA, and the whole cavalcade of rheeformers. I think that party affiliation is increasingly meaningless, since both are now so heavily controlled by plutocratic corporatists.
Jonathon Pelto’s blog catalogs these relationships exhaustively:
http://jonathanpelto.com/
Malloy knows nothing about education. He memorized the SIX talking
points given to him by Stefan Pryor, who has no prior teaching experience. He started a charter school, Amistad and a charter management company, Achievement First. What he didn’t get in the reform bill he is trying to get though the backdoor. He used a secret slush fund (SERC, a quasi state education agency) to pay consultants (Leeds Global, sound familiar NJ?) to write an anti-union, anti-teacher reform bill). He is a Yale lawyer and the smartest guy in the room. He is not to be trusted….he is trying to chip away at the teaching profession in CT and the state BOE hails to the self-appointed savior and supreme BS artist. Malloy worships him and he is clueless.
Mom with a brain,
They are indeed attacks! How does taking away collective bargaining rights of public sector employees Relate to fiscal concerns? Busting public sector unions and privatizing/eliminating pensions aren’t just about saving money. These are the unions that stand up to privatization schemes in education, health care, and other traditionally public services. Workers in both private and public sectors have worked to ensure we have a voice in the work place and some say about our work conditions. It is anti-democratic to strip the voice of millions of workers away. Why are we trying to balance and solve financial crisis on the backs of police, firefighters, teachers and nurses? What about the millions/billions in subsidies and tax cuts to corporations who end up leaving our states and not creating the promised jobs?
Chris Christie has said hideous things against teachers. He pretends that it is only the NJEA that he hates not the teachers, as if that is a good thing. He regularly refers to the NJEA as thugs and bullies. That’s so ironic coming from someone like Christie. He has accused one group of teachers of using their pupils like drug mules. When he was addressing a group of students, he said that their teachers don’t really care about them. Another time he stated that teachers were selfish and greedy. A good source of NJ specific information is the Jersey Jazzman web site. http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/
Chrisitie is repulsive!
Every time I read how Christie hates the NJEA, not the teachers. I have to laugh at the stupidity of his remark. Who does he think the NJEA is? Has he ever answered that question?
I’m not happy to do this, but welcome to the club. Teacher bashing is an integral part of the reform movement. It’s almost as if these republican governors were coached or told that this was the plan. Here in Louisiana it was as if the teacher bashing began almost as soon as Jindal was elected and made education reform his focus. Teachers are the only people in the school beurocracies that have a direct contact and influence on the students. Why disenfranchise this group? Why tear them down instead of build them up? I’m no businessman, but if your employees are constantly looking over their shoulder, in constant fear, it can not help productivity. Even if these reformers are correct that schools should be run as businesses, well, this is a terrible way to run a business.
As an aside, I find it telling that he decided to ruin public education during his final term in office and just in time to position himself as a possible VP.
It’s tough, I know, but we’ve got to keep our chins up, remain proud, and focus. Ignore the “adults” and focus on the kids. They still love and respect us. They are great judges of character. I’m not saying be silent or not to concern ourselves with these outside influences that effect us, but when I close the door to my classroom, I am in my element. It’s still where I belong. It’s my happy place. Teacher bashes throw out terms like lazy, entitled, union thuggery, but all that gets drowned out in my noisy classroom (yes, my class is noisy, learning is not silent). I still can’t wait for the school year to start. No, I’m not a wide eyed optimist, I’m not a green teacher (10th year of service), I love my job, bust my tail doing it and dare anyone that knows me or sees me teach or had me as a student tell me I’m lazy or entitled. Those that say those things just don’t know. They’ve obviously never tried to teach. Their comments prove their ignorance, not my incompetence.
Ms. Ravitch, thank you for fighting for the children. To those that are ignorant it may seem as though you are fighting for teachers, and yes that may have truth to it, but I sense that you really want what’s best for children. What is best for the teachers often goes hand in hand with what’s best for the student. I believe this is where unions and teacher advocates dropped the ball. Here in Louisiana, teacher groups complained about the loss of tenure and how it effects teachers, but no one said how it effects students. Pick nearly any issue and it was us against them with little to no mention on the effects it has on kids.
(sorry for the rambling response)
This is not just Republican problem. The president’s Race to the Top is just as bad, if not worse, than NCLB. Rahm Emmanuel in Chicago went on the attack immediately. Our Democratic mayor in Philadelphia has been as pro-privatization as anyone, although he does not attack teachers overtly. Democrats are just as active in changing the educational landscape as Republicans.
Let’s not forget the mayors of Newark and LA – both Democrats. And let’s not forget the President of the United States – RTTT is indeed worse than NCLB. The labels of Democrat and Republican are meaningless in this age of “education deform”.
There is an all out war against regular public school teachers and especially their unions. The GOP politicians are the worst but the Democrats are not far behind. Both parties are identical in their support for charter schools and school vouchers. The overall unionization rate in the US is down to 11.8% after 30 years of agressive union busting. Now the focus is on eliminating public sector unions, especially the teacher unions. This will not improve education but it will disempower teachers and that is the goal of the deformers. Finland has an overall unionization rate well above 80%, all their teachers are unionized.
Unfortunately, it is not only Republican governors who are at war with teachers. Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy of Connecticut has waged a war not only on teachers but also on public schools and elected boards of education- two vital public institutions that form the basis of our democracy.
This is not about education, in Louisiana Jindal is allowing anyone to teach anything in charter schools and fundalmental Christians are buying in to it big time. This is about privatization and paying back the corporations who put these boys and girls in power. If you think Louisiana has a problem with under educated people now, just wait. The sad thing is that we will lose the minds of our young people who will be brain washed by those pulling in our tax dollars.
Arne Duncan, along with a consultant from Bain and OECD’s Andres Schleicher manned a panel at the prior Winter Meeting of the National Governors Association. They laid it all out there. C-span got it, if you can find it. Gov. Daniels appeared to be the patron saint of privatization, but many were enthusiastic.