Politicians, especially Democratic politicians, generally do what unions want. The unions, in turn, are very clear about what that is: They want happy members so that those who run the unions get re-elected and they want more members, so that their power, money and influence grow.
It’s because of union power that it’s so hard to fire bad teachers or make any substantial reforms in education.
Look at how different Texas and California are in educational performance. The two states have very similar demographics yet Texas outperforms California on all four national tests — across demographic groups — despite spending less money per pupil. The gap amounts to about a year’s worth of learning. That’s big.
Individual schools are breathtakingly different. New York Harlem Success’s black students outperform white students at more than 700 schools across the state. Overall, Harlem Success now performs at the same level as the gifted-and-talented schools in New York City all of which have demanding admission requirements. Harlem Success, by contrast, selects its students mostly poor and minority m by random lottery.
One great school, Pacific Collegiate, is in California. So we can educate California school children and do so quite successfully. We need more success stories like Pacific Collegiate and Harlem Success Academy.
How? Give parents real choice through vouchers combined with more charter schools. A voucher costing roughly one-third the cost of current public school can provide better education at substantially lower cost to taxpayers.
And it’s time that teachers and other government workers have choice to opt out of unions. No employee should be forced to join a union in order to work. DrCameronJackson@gmail.com
