The Tennessee Education Association is all up in arms because yesterday the Tennessee Senate Education Committee passed legislation on to the full Senate that would strip the TEA of its collective bargaining privileges if it is passed. As is predictable, the TEA is crying that their "rights" are being trampled upon, despite the fact that TEA members are public employees in a right-to-work State. Somehow, the TEA doesn't believe that the rules that apply to others should apply to them.
The overwhelming majority of good teachers in Tennessee understand that quality teaching and effort on their part should be rewarded, but the Tennessee Education Association wants to preserve a status quo where the union can demand virtually whatever it likes, the welfare of the children in the district or the good of taxpayers be damned. The TEA does not benefit from a merit system wherein teachers are awarded tenure and gain increased job security merely by being good teachers-its purpose for existence as a union that can siphon wages off of teachers' paychecks in the name of "collective bargaining" would begin to wither on the vine.
Those opposed to this legislation are saying that the bill is "just about politics." It isn't just about politics, but it is certainly political to the Tennessee Education Association. The TEA, for those who may not know, is the State chapter of the National Education Association, or NEA. The NEA is by far the Democratic Party's largest client union and one of its biggest union political donors. Its union bosses are encouraged to spread the word to members to support Democratic candidates while Democrats dutifully support their client union's right to hold schoolchildren and parents hostage in district after district right across our country. Let us be clear, the TEA and NEA believe that they know better than parents and families do about what is good for children-that is why they are so opposed to charter schools and school choice for parents and kids, because they know that if every parent had the ability that many wealthy parents do to send their children to Christian schools, Jewish schools, and some of the very best A-list public and private institutions, the monopoly that the Tennessee and National Education Associations have over our school districts would end-and our public schools would improve for one major reason in that they would have competition. What else would end? A huge funding base for the national Democratic Party.
Oh, education reform is political alright...
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