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We can add the NEA and AFT teachers unions to the blackmailers list. For a president who promised to squash the influence of special interest groups, he sure lets the unions wag his tail quite often.
First, the promise:
Second, the broken promise:
So, Mr. President, talk is cheap. America is waking up to yet another one of your lies. What kind of Messiah lies to his followers?
First, the promise:
Last February President Obama claimed in a weekly radio address that he would fight special interests. "The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long," Obama said. "But I don't. I work for the American people."
One group that won't be bemoaning the voucher programs' end is the teachers' unions. This spring National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel bluntly reminded Senators that "opposition to vouchers is a top priority for NEA," and warned them that the NEA would be paying keen attention to how they vote on vouchers.
"The National Education Association strongly opposes any extension of the District of Columbia private school voucher ('DC Opportunity Scholarship') program," Van Roekel wrote in a March 5, 2009 letter. "We expect that Members of Congress who support public education, and whom we have supported, will stand firm against any proposal to extend the
pilot program. Actions associated with these issues WILL be included in the NEA Legislative Report Card for the 111th Congress."
The Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics recently released data showing that the NEA topped the chart as the number one national donor during the 2007-08 election cycle, shelling out $57.6 million in combined federal and state contributions. The American Federation of Teachers was number 25, with more than $13 million in contributions.
Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency put this in perspective, writing that the NEA's and AFT's 2007-08 contributions meant that "America's two teachers' unions outspent AT&T, Goldman Sachs, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, General Electric, Chevron, Pfizer, Morgan Stanley, Lockheed Martin, FedEx, Boeing, Merrill Lynch, Exxon Mobil, Lehman Brothers, and the Walt Disney Corporation, combined."
The Obama administration--already having trouble explaining why it is doing away with a program its own Department of Education reported has advanced participating children's reading achievement by more than three months--will now have another opportunity to explain to low-income D.C. parents and students why it and the Democrat-led Congress has decided to grant the teachers' unions' wish instead of theirs.
"The National Education Association strongly opposes any extension of the District of Columbia private school voucher ('DC Opportunity Scholarship') program," Van Roekel wrote in a March 5, 2009 letter. "We expect that Members of Congress who support public education, and whom we have supported, will stand firm against any proposal to extend the
pilot program. Actions associated with these issues WILL be included in the NEA Legislative Report Card for the 111th Congress."
The Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics recently released data showing that the NEA topped the chart as the number one national donor during the 2007-08 election cycle, shelling out $57.6 million in combined federal and state contributions. The American Federation of Teachers was number 25, with more than $13 million in contributions.
Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency put this in perspective, writing that the NEA's and AFT's 2007-08 contributions meant that "America's two teachers' unions outspent AT&T, Goldman Sachs, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, General Electric, Chevron, Pfizer, Morgan Stanley, Lockheed Martin, FedEx, Boeing, Merrill Lynch, Exxon Mobil, Lehman Brothers, and the Walt Disney Corporation, combined."
The Obama administration--already having trouble explaining why it is doing away with a program its own Department of Education reported has advanced participating children's reading achievement by more than three months--will now have another opportunity to explain to low-income D.C. parents and students why it and the Democrat-led Congress has decided to grant the teachers' unions' wish instead of theirs.
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