Yet another protest movement has caught the nation's attention, this time, low teachers pay in conservative states. Teachers went on strike in West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma and threaten to spread to other states where teacher are poorly paid.
Better paid teachers in liberal states are also threatened by a Supreme Court case, Janus v. AFSCME, which threatens to weaken teachers unions, by making it unconstitutional for unions to charge fees to nonunion teachers. Hearings for this case has concluded and the ruling is expected this summer.
Federal support for education in general is being cut by the Trump administration. The effort is being led by DOE Secretary Betsey DeVos, who is possibly the most criticized member of Trump's cabinet. In a recent 60 Minutes interviews, DeVos tried to explain her actions, but performed poorly.
Here are the videos for the meeting:
Better paid teachers in liberal states are also threatened by a Supreme Court case, Janus v. AFSCME, which threatens to weaken teachers unions, by making it unconstitutional for unions to charge fees to nonunion teachers. Hearings for this case has concluded and the ruling is expected this summer.
Federal support for education in general is being cut by the Trump administration. The effort is being led by DOE Secretary Betsey DeVos, who is possibly the most criticized member of Trump's cabinet. In a recent 60 Minutes interviews, DeVos tried to explain her actions, but performed poorly.
Here are the videos for the meeting:
- Teacher Strikes Spread Across the US
- What's next after Janus v. AFSCME
- Betsy DeVos pushes back against criticism over 60 Minutes interview
Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:
- Teacher: I make more money mowing lawns
- Teacher protests for better pay gains momentum across the country
- Stossel: Supreme Court Ruling May Crush Unions
- Who is behind the court case, Janus vs. AFSCME?
- Madigan on Janus v. AFSCME
- Weekend Update Betsy DeVos
- DeVos' relationship with employees is crumbling
- The MSM'S Attack On Betsy DeVos
1. I have heard that after WW2 there were some public school teachers that had PhDs - they chose to teach at that level. (I didn't know any of them, though.) I don't think there are very many today. . . .
ReplyDelete2. I had a union job in Minnesota during grad school but didn't want to join the union. I still had to pay union dues (don't recall if my dues were as high as union members). However, if they managed to raise our salaries, my salary was raised too so I didn't complain. Don't know what would have happened if I needed union representation for a case, though. (The job was in a hospital.)
I deplore the fact that public schools have to compete for public funds with charter schools, private schools, and even religious schools.
ReplyDeleteOne very expensive part of public education if for transportation. Now, not only do buses transport children to public schools, but also to charters, private, and religious, which can entail long expensive-to-the-taxpayer rides outside the student's neighborhood (this money could be spent better elsewhere).
Schools and teachers should not be required to address social problems which they are not equipped to deal with. They cannot take the place of a loving stable family, whose support is crucial to the child's being interested in getting an education.
I think that teachers should be respected and well-paid, but I don't think that throwing money at this problem is the answer.
Ms. De Vos is certainly easy on the eyes but has she ever listened to herself? She reminds me of Sarah Palin. I looked her up in Wikipedia and she seems to have had many leadership/board positions however it appears that ‘school choice’ is not for everyone – only those who can afford it have a choice. Or perhaps it’s another oxymoron?
ReplyDeleteBetsy DeVos is the ultimate enemy of our public schools. She'd be extremely happy if such schools did not exist and all children were left to attend charter or religious schools or none at all. Many advocates of non-public school funding talk as if "choice" did not exist. It does and it's just a matter of them being willing to pay for their nonpublic schooling themselves or requiring the government (and the rest of us taxpayers) to do it for them. I will continue to resist being forced to pay for their selfish exclusivity, bigotry, or whatever. If they want something that they think is "better" for their kids than what can be gotten at our open to all and non-discriminatory public schools, they shouldn't expect the rest of us to pay for it.
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