Paul Peterson, William Howell, and Martin West have some bad news for the Left. In a poll conducted by Harvard University’s Program on Education Policy and Governance and the journal Education Next, positive view of unions dropped to 22% in 2012 from 29% in 2011. For proponents of organized labor, it gets worse. The authors point out,
The survey’s most striking finding comes from its nationally representative sample of teachers. Whereas 58% of teachers took a positive view of unions in 2011, only 43% do in 2012. The number of teachers holding negative views of unions nearly doubled to 32% from 17% last year. Perhaps this helps explain why, according to education journalist and union watchdog Mike Antonucci, top officials of the National Education Association are reporting a decline of 150,000 members over the past two years and project that they will lose 200,000 more members by 2014, as several states have recently passed laws ending the automatic deduction of union dues from teachers’ paychecks.
North Carolina does not have teachers unions, per se. The NC Association of Educators (NCAE) is the state affiliate of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union.
Speaking of the state’s teachers association, NCAE Education Wednesdays are back. I particularly like this line from the flyer:
Appointments made with your legislators prior to your visit is optional, but not required. Brian will explain how to effectively stake out your legislator in committee meetings and hallways. Even if you do not know who your legislators are, NCAE will get you that information at the 9:00 am briefing.
In my experience, nobody is better at staking out legislators in committee meetings and hallways than NCAE Government Relations Manager Brian Lewis.
