Connecticut’s teachers unions have been effective at organizing opposition to speak at Gov. Dannel Malloy’s town halls on education reform.
As Brian Lockhart reports from New Haven, “And while there were rows filled with supporters, the governor spent the hour being heckled by, and attempting to be heard over interruptions from, angry teachers who filled at least one side of the chamber.”
But how much will the unions spend? In New Jersey, Malloy’s archenemy Gov. Chris Christie took almost $11 million in flack from the teachers unions in opposition to his proposals.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the campaign against Christie included “TV ads, radio spots, and a plane that flew up and down the Jersey Shore proclaiming Christie’s love for millionaires.”
It will be interesting to see what kind of opposition turns out for Michelle Rhee’s appearance 3 p.m. today at the Capitol. Rhee is the closest thing the unions have to a bogey-man, er, -woman.
Public sector unions are also a pox on tax bases and a burden working against economic recovery as the out of touch contracts they negotiate not only divert money from the private sector through inflated, tax funded salaries but ensure tepid at best future economic growth through burdensome legacy costs like pensions. The political system currently servicing the unions would have us accept the premise that the only way to improve the educational system is by increasing government intrusion into it and by throwing more tax money at it. The liberal political spots I hear are so blatantly aimed at an audience that is seen as uneducated (ironically enough) in order to accept the simplistic premise on which they seem to be based. The problem is that apparently we keep collectively proving that assumption to be correct as evidenced by the clowns we keep voting in.
The CT teachers unions, and unions nationwide, are a cancer on our educational system. It’s amazing how they hide behind students, while pushing their entirely self-serving agenda. For the unions, the employment of adults takes precedence over the education of children.