"Just what are the real priorities of the educational establishment, the National Education Association, the administrators, the teachers' unions? Are these groups really interested in getting the best teachers into the classroom and the incompetents out? Will throwing more money at the public schools ensure better education? Teachers' unions are very vocal about higher salaries and job security, and they are right. But when you ask them how they propose to go about rewarding merit and throwing out the dumbbells, the silence is deafening."
--Walker Percy, 1985
As of this writing, another major city still has teachers out on strike. This time it's Denver. But unlike cities in, say, Washington state, Arizona or Kentucky, the reason for Denver's strike caught our eye. Like a fish hook.
The issue, of course, is money. That always seems to be the issue when strikes occur. It's what labor unions are for. When old Mr. Gompers was asked what Labor wanted, he answered, "More!" And in Samuel Gompers' day, laborers needed it.
But according to the papers, the issue with many of Denver's teachers isn't just more money, but what kind of money. The labor union--and half the teachers who are out on strike--want more money distributed across the board. And are fighting "merit pay."
According to the AP story:
"In Denver, the dispute is over the school district's incentive-based pay system. The district gives bonuses ranging from $1,500 to $3,000 a year to teachers who work in schools with students from low-income families, in schools that are designated high priority or in positions that are considered hard to staff, such as special education or speech language pathology. The union is pushing to lower or eliminate some of those bonuses to free up more money that would be added to overall teacher pay."
Our considered editorial opinion: You have got to be kidding.
If you ever needed an example showing that teacher unions--or at least their leaders--have their priorities mixed up, this might be it.
Here we have a school district that gives bonuses to folks who volunteer to teach in the most challenging schools. And in the most challenging of circumstances. And the union wants nothing to do with it. Instead, it wants the money put back into the pool and spread out to all teachers--good, bad or indifferent. After all, teachers sleep-walking to retirement also pay union dues, right?
The public has a natural affection for teachers, for we've all had a favorite one, and we can see the pay tables. But when teachers--or at least their representatives at union headquarters--balk at bonuses paid to teachers at the most troubled schools, and try to eliminate those bonuses for no better reason than . . . what? Resentment? Bitterness? Pique? At that point the public might begin to turn against teachers.
In Arkansas, the state gives bonuses to the best schools, including those schools that make the most improvement from year to year--which, in many cases, means schools that have had the most trouble over the years. Here, in this state, it's considered an unqualified good. We've never even seen a letter to the editor in complaint.
What's happening in Denver is not just a shame. It's unbelievable. And more proof that Walker Percy was ahead of his time.
Editorial on 02/14/2019