Like Newsweek?s Jonathan Alter, TIME political columnist Joe Klein sets aside some of his illiberal biases (temporarily) in his latest column on the issue of school reform.
[Race to the Top] established a $4.35 billion fund that Education Secretary Arne Duncan could distribute to states on the basis of their willingness to reform their schools. Duncan’s definition of reform ? a common one these days ? demanded more school choice and competition as well as an emphasis on teacher evaluation and accountability. “Duncan really nailed this,” says New York City Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey. “You can use federal funds to drive a reform agenda. You can buy change, even from state legislatures … although in our case, the opponents were pretty ingenious ? invidious and ingenious.”
Who are the opponents? The teachers? unions, of course:
The teachers are among the most powerful interest groups in New York State (and nationally, in the Democratic Party). The UFT’s slogan is “A Union of Professionals,” but it is quite the opposite: an old-fashioned industrial union that has won for its members a set of work rules more appropriate to factory hands. There are strict seniority rules about pay, school assignment, length of the school day and year. In New York, it is near impossible to fire a teacher ? even one accused of a crime, drug addiction or flagrant misbehavior. The miscreants are stashed in “rubber rooms” at full pay, for years, while the union pleads their cases. In New York, school authorities are forbidden, by state law, to evaluate teachers by using student test results.
Klein flubs much of the rest of the column (especially when he tries to identify the reforms that have worked), but he nails the attack on intransigent union bosses. It?s nice to see Klein displaying some good judgment, even if one suspects the only motivating factor is his urge to promote President Obama.
