El Presidente is their man
Posted 09/10/2012 07:07 PM ET
Public Employee Unions: In a city with double-digit unemployment, teachers who can't be fired and who make more than double what their students' parents make, have gone on strike. Anyone for school choice?
Public sector unions reared their burdensome and inefficient head Monday when some 25,000 unionized Chicago Public School teachers went on strike, unhappy with a salary the parents of their students can only envy, leaving 350,000 students and their overtaxed parents struggling in the educational lurch.
The Chicago Teachers Union walked away from a contract offer that amounted to a 16% raise over four years for the average teacher when factoring other increases, an offer made despite the fact that the system faces a $700 million dollar deficit at the end of the school year.
John Tillman of the Illinois Policy Institute notes Chicago's unemployment rate is just under 11% and that the average Chicagoan makes just $30,203 compared with the average teacher's salary of $71,000, even before benefits are included. And unlike parents who go to work each day to be judged on their productivity and who fear each day might be their last, dismissing a bad teacher is harder than spinning straw into gold.
Even comparing CPS teachers to only those with college degrees, they still do well. The median annual wage for persons with a college degree is $48,866. Many would trade their positions with one that pays half again what they make with far greater job security.
We are reminded of the confrontation between New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and teacher Rita Wilson, who objected to a one-year pay freeze and contributing a tiny portion of her salary to buy her medical and retirement benefits while claiming she taught because she "loves the children." Christie's reply got an ovation: "Well, you know what? Then you don't have to do it."
Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, has objected to any objective analysis of teacher performance despite the fact that just 15% of fourth-graders are proficient in reading and four of 10 CPS students do not graduate from high school. She claims standardized tests are unfair since some students are poor or come from violent neighborhoods.
So how about taxing their parents less, using the extra money to hire more cops, or giving the parents vouchers to go to better schools with better teachers of their choice. Leaving them without an education and a place to go is not the answer. Roughly 50,000 Chicago students attend charter schools and have a place to go.
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Chicago Mayor and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel now finds himself battling a key constituency of President Obama — teacher unions. Chicago can't print money or borrow it from China and must face budget realities against entrenched union interests, much like Christie had to do.
Competition breeds excellence and reduces cost in education as in any endeavor. Teachers should be paid according to their excellence and productivity, not based on their resume or length of service. Parents and students, education consumers, should be free to reject poor service and take their business elsewhere.
Let's embrace school choice. Let's do it for the kids.
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