The president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, accuses us — elsewhere on this page — of “setting up a double standard, championing more charter schools, but refusing to let the union sponsor any.”
That’s an interesting take on the politics surrounding charter schools right now.
It’s also an inaccurate one.
As anyone familiar with the charter-school debate in New York knows, the UFT has stood at every turn against the expansion of choice for poor kids trapped in failing schools.
In 1998, when the Legislature passed the charter-school law after a bitter struggle, it did so over the strenuous objections of the teachers unions.
The union also demanded, and won, a cap — set at 100 — on the number of charters that could be granted statewide.
Now, nearly seven years later, most of those spots have been used up.
More than 80 charters have been granted, with another 12 in the pipeline for approval this fall.
As New York pushes up against its union-imposed cap, however, the UFT stands firm against lifting it.
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If anyone is setting up a “double standard,” it is surely the UFT, which seeks to take up two of the few remaining charters to open its own schools — while denying the same opportunity to dedicated groups across the state.
The UFT under Randi Weingarten is loaded with double-standards.
One of Rudy Giuliani’s major failings was an absolute refusal to negotiate (in good faith or even in mock-good faith) with the UFT while he was in office. As a consequence, teachers went years without a contract. When Mayor Bloomberg took over, he quietly sat Randi Weingarten down, negotiated a very fair contract, and made it effective retroactively to the expiration of the old contract. Large lump-sum checks went out to every teacher. My wife and I were quite pleased!
But it didn’t take long for Randi to bite the only hand that had fed her in 4 years. Since the contract was only meant to address the non-contracted issue left from the previous contract, it was set to expire shortly after it was signed. Immediately, Weingarten began lambasting the Mayor’s office for not negotiating despite the fact that the teachers’ union was the first union Bloomberg implemented a contract for and the fact that he righted wrongs that were not even his fault.
Charter schools are not doing as well as the Post claims, unless they’re only measuring their standards as passing or failing state tests. A story last year went out of the way to point out that most charter schools, despite the smaller class sizes and increased funding per student, weren’t showing the gains that were expected, meaning charter schools are only marginally better than regular schools but cost a bunch more.
However, one thing that has been consistent is Weingarten being against them since day one. Her claim that the Post won’t “let her” open one is ludicrous, considering the Post is not the authority that authorizes them. And for someone who was against them, she sure has her panties in a bunch trying to open one up; an interesting change of heart.
A better strategy for her right now is not to push to increase the cap on the number of charter schools. Chances are if parents are given an opportunity to send their kids to a charter school that’s in the hip-pocket of Randi Weingarten, one thing will surely happen.
They won’t.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. New York City teachers need to get rid of Randi Weingarten as soon as possible. She’s a cancer to the union and devastating to the credibility of the people she’s elected to represent. Teachers need to realize how self-serving she really is, and also need to understand that the fact that they’re two years without a contract is not only a failing on Mayor Bloomberg’s part, but a failing on the part of the person who’s supposed to get those sort of things done.
Source: New York Post