^{The Latest} Senior Fellow Don Nielsen in The Seattle Times: Washington’s Education System Should Serve Parents Over Unions

Donald Nielsen, Senior Fellow of Discovery Institute’s newly-launched American Center for Transforming Education, thinks it’s time Washington state puts the needs of the parents—and, by extension, the children and taxpayers—first.

Looking at the Seattle teacher’s strike that took 53,000 children out of school (and with an aside to the recent WA Supreme Court ruling against charter schools) Nielsen writes:

“Ultimately, the union won much of what it had sought — and the kids have returned to school and the financial condition of the district will further deteriorate . . . [a]ll that changed is that teachers make more money, but there will be little extra money for other needs. Academic achievement will not improve, schools will not get better and we will see the teacher’s union demand more money in three years when the contract comes up for renewal. Isn’t it time to fix our education system to one that focuses on the needs of its customers? Those customers are the parents.”

You can read this article in its entirety at the Seattle Times website. Don Nielsen prescribes his solution to the fundamental problems in public education in his book, Every School.