Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Layoffs Expose Mind-Set of Education Establishment
In case we needed any more proof of the education establishment—the cabal of teachers, administrators, union officials, and their supporters on school boards—view of power and entitlement, look no further that the reactions of the head of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers and one now unemployed teacher profiled in a newspaper article.
The PFT president said that from his union’s perspective “the only acceptable layoff number is zero”. What a shock. Even though the district’s enrollment has fallen to the point that the board finally approved a school closing plan, the union official would defend his membership to the end. After all, that is his job. Give him credit, though, for attributing the layoffs to the declining enrollment, showing that he remembers his lessons on cause and effect. But don’t expect the PFT to link their union power and pay scale and the resulting high taxes to the decisions of prospective homeowners not to move into the district or of those that have left. That’s always someone else’s fault.
Then we have the profile of a 25-year old teacher who is now out of work. Her plans to purchase a home will have to be put on hold. Think of the countless number of homeowners and wage-earners who have to put their plans on hold when school taxes go up or the teachers decide to stage a work stoppage. She probably won’t empathize. But she should be cognizant of the hierarchical union arrangement that put her out of work. She may well be much better qualified than some of those that were spared because of seniority.
And though she wants to work in the Pittsburgh School District that may not be in the cards. She may have to move south or to another district where there is demand to find work. She may even become a new advocate for performance based pay in education as a result of this episode. But then again, she might already be too steeped in the mediocrity-engendering mind-set of the teachers’ union to break free.
The PFT president said that from his union’s perspective “the only acceptable layoff number is zero”. What a shock. Even though the district’s enrollment has fallen to the point that the board finally approved a school closing plan, the union official would defend his membership to the end. After all, that is his job. Give him credit, though, for attributing the layoffs to the declining enrollment, showing that he remembers his lessons on cause and effect. But don’t expect the PFT to link their union power and pay scale and the resulting high taxes to the decisions of prospective homeowners not to move into the district or of those that have left. That’s always someone else’s fault.
Then we have the profile of a 25-year old teacher who is now out of work. Her plans to purchase a home will have to be put on hold. Think of the countless number of homeowners and wage-earners who have to put their plans on hold when school taxes go up or the teachers decide to stage a work stoppage. She probably won’t empathize. But she should be cognizant of the hierarchical union arrangement that put her out of work. She may well be much better qualified than some of those that were spared because of seniority.
And though she wants to work in the Pittsburgh School District that may not be in the cards. She may have to move south or to another district where there is demand to find work. She may even become a new advocate for performance based pay in education as a result of this episode. But then again, she might already be too steeped in the mediocrity-engendering mind-set of the teachers’ union to break free.
