student problem concept and stress
student problem concept and stress
Licensed from Adobe Stock
Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

The Bottom Line Unions are Unfulfilled. So are Children.

EducationWeek recently published an article on labor contracts for school districts in three states: California, Colorado, and Washington. All three have struggled with recent teacher strikes and now “will have to lay off hundreds of teachers and central office staff, increase class sizes, shutter after-school programs, and take other actions they warn will have devastating academic effects for years to come.”

Everyone in Washington knew this problem was coming. That includes the Washington Education Association (WEA), a union supported by education funding. Yet, the WEA still pushed for a massive pay increase that caused these problems.

To understand how we got here, one needs to step back a couple years. During the 2017 legislative session, in response to the McCleary court case, Washington State implemented an increase in state wide property taxes while capping local taxation. The intent was to keep poor districts from being left behind. However, this session, Senate Bill 5313 (which is sitting on the Governor’s desk) breaks the promises made by the legislature to keep local taxation low and reintroduces inequities in education funding. It does this by removing the cap on local levies.

Who gets hurt in this situation are the children, hard-working tax payers, and many new teachers and other school staff who may lose their jobs. The WEA union backs SB 5313 because it supports seniority pay raises and reassures lifetime job security. The union is fond of trumpeting how the bill will benefit children and families. But as Don Nielsen, senior fellow to Discovery Institute’s American Center for Transforming Education and author of Every School, states, “the mission of [a] union [is] to maximize member compensation, improve member working conditions, [and] to secure and protect member employment.” This isn’t just Nielsen’s opinion. It comes from a conversation he had with the WEA president years ago. These controlling interests will never be content with the great influx of money Washington has received. Washington State teachers earned double digit pay raises but this is never enough. They are back to playing the classic bait and switch game once again – protecting their self-interests while arguing “It’s for the children!”

Bailey Takacs

Development Program Coordinator, American Center for Transforming Education
Bailey Takacs served as development program coordinator to Discovery Institutes' American Center for Transforming Education and Development team. Bailey has experiences which also include: campaign management and administrative roles with elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels of the government. He holds a B.A. in Politics and Government from Pacific Lutheran University.
Are you concerned about educating the next generation?
The American Center for Transforming Education is a program of Discovery Institute, a non-profit organization fueled by its supporters. Will you help us advance the timely and vital work of transforming our K-12 education system so that it better serves students and their families?