Teachers perform miracles every day and their impact on generations of children can be profound. It\u2019s easy to\u00a0understand why they are so loved and respected.<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t confuse teachers with teachers’ unions. In concept, teachers uniting together to negotiate on behalf of their colleagues over issues of salary, benefits, and conditions in the classroom makes sense. However, there is a dark underside to these unions.<\/p>\n
Full-time teachers pay about a thousand dollars per year in dues. Extrapolate those fees and California teachers\u2019 unions at all levels \u2014 local, state and federal \u2014 rake in between $200 to $300 million dollars a year for advocacy, lobbying and political campaigns.<\/p>\n
That is a lot of cash that doesn\u2019t go to academics.<\/p>\n
Futurist Jerry Pournelle described our conundrum in what he dubbed \u201cThe Iron Law of Bureaucracy\u201d: Those \u201cdevoted to the goals of the organization,\u201d such as dedicated classroom teachers, are eventually overtaken by \u201cthose dedicated to the organization itself\u201d \u2014\u00a0like entrenched administrators in the education system or teachers’ union officials.<\/p>\n
In this way, teachers\u2019 unions have captured California\u2019s public schools.<\/p>\n
While many teachers go into the noble profession to enlighten young minds and mold them into engaged civic beings, the union undercuts the best teachers and protects the worst. Add short tenure laws and a convoluted dismissal process to the mix and it\u2019s nearly impossible to dismiss problematic teachers because of how vigorously the union defends them.<\/p>\n
And when budgets need to be cut, the state\u2019s last-in, first-out policy sends new, bright, and innovative teachers to the curb regardless of how well they perform in the classroom.<\/p>\n
Despite the U.S.\u00a0Supreme Court ruling in the 2018\u00a0Janus<\/em>\u00a0case that\u00a0liberated union members\u00a0from being obligated to pay dues, many teachers keep paying them.<\/p>\n Why do decent teachers keep paying the thousand dollars per year in membership dues when they know it could be spent in other places and represents a significant amount of money over a 30-year career?<\/p>\n Fear of retaliation.<\/p>\n As any public school teacher can tell you, the place teachers dread the most is the teachers\u2019 lounges. Most teachers are agreeable people and try to avoid sensationalism and conflict in the teachers\u2019 lounge. Fewer still want anything to do with the organizing that regularly comes around the time that a contract is up for renewal and they are going to be forced to strike against their own wishes.<\/p>\n Teachers\u00a0know that strikes hurt the poorest and neediest kids the most and that collective bargaining agreements are not for the benefit of students.<\/p>\n If we want schools to succeed, let’s take a short hiatus from talking about teacher salaries, classroom sizes, and the latest teaching fads. Instead, let\u2019s focus on deposing the teachers’ union leaders who highlight these issues but can never seem to improve the education of their students despite hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into their political coffers every year.<\/p>\n In fact, go one step further \u2014 let\u2019s help our forlorn and intimidated teachers out of their union so they can stop paying an organization to work against their beliefs.<\/p>\n Read the\u00a0f<\/a>ull article<\/a>\u00a0by Lance Christensen, CPC\u2019s Vice President of Education Policy and Government Affairs, in The Epoch Times. To learn more about leaving your union, visit\u00a0mypaymysay.com.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Teachers perform miracles every day and their impact on generations of children can be profound. It\u2019s easy to\u00a0understand why they are so loved and respected. But don\u2019t confuse teachers with teachers’ unions. In concept, teachers uniting together to negotiate on behalf of their colleagues over issues of salary, benefits, and conditions in the classroom makes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"yoast_head":"\n