Bad Year for the NEA
From the New York Post:
WELCOME to the National Education Association's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad election year.
What's going wrong for America's largest teachers union? The leash on which it has long held Democratic politicians is beginning to fray.
That's good news for the millions of families in America's public schools who have for too long seen concepts like "accountability" take a back seat to teacher and administrator tenure-for-life.
Despite the NEA's nearly 3 million members — and the millions of dollars it pours into every election cycle — more and more Democratic politicians are willing to risk finding themselves in the union's dog house.
...
The NEA faces one more grave problem, notes Antonucci: stagnant growth. While its membership has increased for 20 years straight, it rose by only 5,000 members this year due to slowing school enrollment. And it's budgeting for next year on a prediction of zero growth.
That means less money, less manpower — less power, period.
Less powerful teachers unions?
It's a tantalizing prospect for those who want to put children first and fix our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad public-school system.
Matt's Chat
One of the things I took out of the Democratic Iowa Caucuses this year is that the power of the union, in general, is withering. I find it personally gratifying that the NEA is facing zero growth next year. And I look forward to them going away altogether, but that might be asking too much.Mark's Remarks
Also, the NEA is facing something that they never thought they would see, being so pompous as to think education programs could mindnumb anyone to brainwash them-- Conservative teachers. There are more and more young teachers, especially at the high school levels, who tend to be conservative. This is good news for students, because finally students as well as teachers will be held accountable for their actions and achievement.
The NEA, and most unions, are some of the most undemocratic bunches of garbage this nation has. Look at union dues. They are spent at the higher level by people who don't care if you don't like John Kerry. For example, every firestation I talk to hates John Kerry, but yet their union spends their union dues on endorsing that blowhard. The NEA takes hard working, underpaid teachers' money and spends it on John Kerry and social experimentation. It is ridiculous. And finally, the chickens are coming home to roost.
