Intercepts

Click here to read:

1) Nearly One-Third of AFT Employees Earn Six-Figure Salaries
2) Membership Numbers Not Adding Up
3) Adequacy Lawsuit Dismissed in Nebraska
4) Statewide Teachers Contract in Vermont?
5) Nebraska Pipeline
6) Headline of the Year
7) Maine Local Treasurer Charged with Felony Theft
8) Scheduling Note
9) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 14:55 | Permalink | Comments

I don’t make these stories up, friends, I just pass them along.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:11 | Permalink | Comments

* The Visalia Times-Delta in California has some wonderful quotes from local teachers’ union officials about their failure to file PAC disclosure reports for school board races.

"I flat out didn't know I had to file until today," said Pat Twiford, Visalia Unified Teachers Association political action committee chairman. "We are teachers first and all this stuff is on our time. I don't even know where to go about deadlines or filings."

"I never really kept much track of contributions," Twiford said. "I was unaware the contributions had to be reported. I don't deal with this too much."

Teachers union president Karl Kildow said he was unaware if the PAC filed a report with the city clerk's office. "It is my understanding that the committee sent it to the state Elections Office and the state told them to file it with a local entity," Kildow said. "If they did, I'm not sure."

* David Shreve of the National Conference of State Legislatures told a Nevada legislative committee yesterday that "there is no evidence that paying public school teachers more money will lead to better performance by students." He was immediately taken to the woodshed by the local representatives of the education establishment, one of whom -- Teresa Jordan -- said there is a "weak correlation" between teacher pay and improved student performance. She blamed the weak correlation on the fact that teachers' pay is based on level of education and years of teaching experience.

"However, Jordan said, research shows if pay increases are based on other factors -- on which she did not elaborate -- then students will perform better," the Las Vegas Review Journal pointedly reported.

* A little history lesson from West Salem, Wisconsin.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:37 | Permalink | Comments

* The San Dieguito Union High School District is in some hot water for allowing a school literary magazine to publish racy photos of high school junior Monterey Salka -- not only because the magazine didn't get the consent of Ms. Salka's parents, but because the magazine apparently violated the exclusive marketing rights that modeling agency Pulse Management hold over Ms. Salka's image.

"(The students) took pictures of a client that was under exclusive worldwide contract with some of the most prestigious firms on the planet without permission from agents who have exclusive marketing rights," said Stacey Eastman, president of Pulse Management. Ms. Salka has appeared in Vogue, Teen Vogue, Cosmo Girl and Seventeen.

G-rated photos of Ms. Salka appear here and here.

* Headline of the Day: "Coon arrest changes Baldwin-Whitehall school board election dynamics." You think?

* Bulletin board mania in Hackensack. A new Contract Hits is up.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 12:03 | Permalink | Comments

NEA New Mexico released the results of a poll this morning that show state residents want to use a state budget surplus to "improve public schools." Who conducted the poll? Just "a national advocacy group called Communities for Quality Education."

You could do an EIA archives search to learn about CQE, but all you need to know is contained in this March 29, 2004 story, back when the organization was called America Learns. EIA has been outing CQE as a union front ever since.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:32 | Permalink | Comments

A reporter from the Purbalite, the Baldwin High School student newspaper, shows herself ready for a career in print journalism as she provides her take on the Beverly Coon/Ronald Grimm baking bed scandal.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 11:17 | Permalink | Comments

Google "single standardized test" and you'll get a couple hundred scolding comments about how "using a single standardized test as the sole determinant for graduation, promotion,tracking and ability grouping is not fair" and that "test development experts agree that it is not appropriate to use performance on a single standardized test for making high-stakes decisions for individuals," et al.

The Sweetwater Union High School District in southern California has taken these comments to heart, and requires students to "write reflective essays, compile classroom work samples and make their case for graduation before an interview panel to earn their diplomas." District administrators consider the senior portfolio "an in-depth gauge of students' abilities that can't be captured in a fill-in-the-bubble exam."

But there's a constituency that objects to the portfolios: the students. According to a story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune, some students consider the portfolios "a last-minute scavenger hunt to assemble transcripts, letters of recommendation, job applications and work from their high school years." One student testified before the school board and called the portfolio "busywork" that interfered with preparation for Advanced Placement exams.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 10:25 | Permalink | Comments

Yesterday, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley used his discretionary powers to boost teacher salaries in the state by an additional $85 million (about $75 per teacher per month). It's big news all over North Carolina.

But you, dear reader, got wind of this a month ago (second item: "Breaking News").

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:42 | Permalink | Comments

California Teachers Association Web Traffic Ranking (per Alexa.com): 321,788th
Education Intelligence Agency Web Traffic Ranking (per Alexa.com): 316,621st

EIA's traffic now surpasses that of all of NEA's state affiliates. Next target: New York State United Teachers at 315,760th.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 15:04 | Permalink | Comments

Click here for the full story.

We are now beginning to see the first new federal Labor Organization Annual Reports (Form LM-2) submitted by teacher union affiliates. The U.S. Department of Labor changed the format and requirements of the LM-2 late in 2002 (see the January 21, 2003 EIA Communiqué story "Unions to Face Increased Federal Regulation"). The new regulations require a detailed itemization of spending, disaggregated membership numbers and accounting of agency fee payers, plus the percentage of time each union officer and employee worked on various activities, including "political activities and lobbying."

The new report is a vast improvement over the old one, with payment amounts and recipients spelled out in exquisite detail. Previously, such payments could be batched together as contributions or fees, with individual recipients remaining anonymous. The new forms make it very clear who is receiving the union's money (though it's not always clear why).

Where the reports disappoint the most is in their itemizing of the percentage of time each union officer and employee spends on each of the following activities: 1) representational activities; 2) political activities and lobbying; 3) contributions; 4) general overhead; and 5) administration.

It asks union officers to make "good faith estimates" of how they spent their time.

An examination of the AFT reports shows AFT President Ed McElroy spent 6 percent of his time last year on political activities and lobbying. (It bears mentioning that last year was a Presidential election year.) State federation president estimates of their time on political activities and lobbying ranged from 30 percent (John Cole of the Texas Federation of Teachers) to 3 percent (David Hecker of AFT Michigan) to 2 percent (Debbi Covert of AFT Oregon).

The Illinois Education Association report is even more suspect. IEA President Anne Davis spent zero percent of her time on political activities and lobbying, and of the union's 225 employees and executives, 213 reported they spent zero percent of their time on political activities and lobbying.

The new disclosure requirements allow union members and the public to better monitor the activities of these organizations, but there is still some work to be done.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 15:40 | Permalink | Comments

"CTA is in the process of negotiating a necessary $40 million line of credit. The proposed terms for the new line of credit call for the income stream from the $60 dues increase, together with CTA's other ongoing income, to pay back the principal and interest. If the temporary restraining order is granted, it will greatly harm or destroy CTA's ability to get this line of credit. If CTA is unable to get this line of credit, there is a significant risk that an outstanding $20 million line will be called. Millions of CTA's members dues dollars are possibly at stake. Therefore, the temporary restraining order would cause great financial harm to CTA and affect CTA's ability to continue to deliver its current level of services to members over the long term. I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct." -- Carlos Moreno, controller of the California Teachers Association, in a declaration to the U.S. District Court, signed September 30.

"CTA is not on the verge of being bankrupted." -- CTA President Barbara Kerr, in an October 15 open letter to members.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:58 | Permalink | Comments

* United Federation of Teachers (UFT) officials are worried that the contract they negotiated with New York City will not meet the approval of the rank-and-file members. So worried, in fact, that they are become very irked with those who are organized to oppose it.

On UFT's blog, Edwize, Leo Casey lists a great number of reasons why contract opponents are misguided and wrong, but he finishes up with this:

"And if opponents of the contract are the most loyal of teacher unionists, anxious to protect New York City public school teacher from the attacks of Bloomberg and Klein, as they tell us, why do they seek support from the most implacable, far right foes of teacher unionism and public education, such as Michael Antonucci of Intercepts?"

Yes, because I once said something "nice" about ICEUFT, the group opposed to the governing Unity Caucus, they are now infected by my rampant libertarianism and can be disregarded by correct-thinking people everywhere. Sheeesh.

Bad news, Leo. I have written about you twice -- both times favorably:

July 18, 2002 ("Anti-War Resolution Defeated," about the AFT convention's resolution on the war in Afghanistan) -- "Tania Kappner of Oakland argued that this was a 'blank check for Bush' to conduct all future wars. But Leo Casey of the United Federation of Teachers countered: 'If ever there was a just war, this war is just.'"

February 2, 2004 ("Hail to the New Federalists," about the hypocrisy of liberal Democrats opposing NCLB on the basis of states' rights) -- "Casey warned: 'It will be most unfortunate if, in the wake of NCLB, educational progressives myopically and ahistorically wave the banner or join with those waving the banner of states’ rights or local control against the federal government. In time they may well find themselves to have been their own worst enemy.'"

Now that both sides are equally tainted by this blog, perhaps the New York City teachers contract can be voted up or down on its merits.

* If you haven't read the newoldschoolteacher blog, get with it! I've placed a permanent link to it on the blogroll. "A new level of scary" is a must-read.

* Alexander Russo of This Week in Education has once again come up with a novel idea -- the Education BlogMap. Check it out.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 06:56 | Permalink | Comments

* The made-for-TV movie that is developing in the Baldwin-Whitehall school district just gets weirder and weirder. As Intercepts reported on Tuesday, school board member Beverly Coon was arrested for allegedly drugging her estranged lover, Bethel Park Superintendent Ronald Grimm, and then setting his apartment on fire. Details have now emerged that Ms. Coon was reportedly stalking Dr. Grimm and that she watched outside his apartment building as it burned, leaving the scene only after a neighbor asked her for a cell phone to call the fire department.

Oh, and Ms. Coon apparently used the sedative Temazepam baked into some pastries called ladylocks (kind of like cannoli).

This particular detail has led to a great deal of speculation and debate by the locals, some of which you can read here.

* A new Contract Hits is up.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 13:37 | Permalink | Comments

* The balloon finally went up in Sault Ste. Marie. The Michigan Education Association (MEA) filed an unfair labor practices complaint against administrators of the Joseph K. Lumsden Bahweting Anishnabe charter school on the local Chippewa reservation. Neither the tribe nor the school has been subtle in expressing displeasure over the decision of the school's 33 teachers to unionize.

Upon hearing of the union vote, tribal leaders announced they would freeze Bureau of Indian Affairs funding that provides more than half of the school's operating budget, though school officials say Bahweting will remain open even without that money. Tribal Chairman Aaron Payment threatened to let the school's charter expire at the end of the year, and then open a new, non-union charter school next year, in which the teachers would be tribal employees on loan to the school.

"The Sault Tribe's concern is with the union," said school Superintendent Nick Oshelski. "If the union was to go away, so would the problem: that's my feeling."

MEA is understandably upset at this turn of events, and filed charges with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission. MEA organizer David Crim said the situation was reminiscent of "the worst horror stories about anti-union employers from the early days of unionism in our state."

Oshelski was the only individual named in the complaint. Ironically, Oshelski used to be the vice president of the Sault Area Education Association, a local MEA affiliate.

* It's closing in on election day in California, and you're likely to hear a lot of caterwauling about teachers and kids and schools, but very little about the quality of the state's public education system. Nanette Asimov of the San Francisco Chronicle reports today on California’s scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and math tests. She provides an excellent capsulized review of where the state has been, and how years of education reforms and vast quantities of dollars have lifted the state from the bottom of the rankings all the way up to... the bottom of the rankings. A must read.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:18 | Permalink | Comments

In California, as in many other states, teachers who do not wish to join the union must still pay an agency fee. However, fee payers cannot be forced to contribute to the union's political and ideological activities unrelated to collective bargaining. Each year the union's lawyers compute what percentage of the organization's activities are chargeable to fee payers. The non-chargeable percentage is then reimbursed to the fee payer.

This week, the California Teachers Association issued its calculations for the 2005-06 school year to its estimated 30,000 fee payers. The percentages computed by CTA mean that each fee-payer will have at least $315.93 in dues money returned to him or her.

Here's the breakdown:

* NEA dues are $140, 49 percent of which the national union has deemed is for political and ideological activities ($68.60).

* CTA dues are $543, 34.5 percent of which the state union has deemed is for political and ideological activities ($187.33).

* Additionally, CTA will refund the entire $60 special assessment for its campaign against the governor's initiatives.

That equals a minimum of $315.93. But most California teachers also pay dues to a local CTA affiliate. The amount varies from zero to more than $200. In any case, CTA applies the state percentage to its locals as well, meaning fee payers will also get 34.5 percent of their local dues returned to them.

All told, resigning from CTA and accepting fee payer status will bring some teachers close to $400 in rebated dues.

The downside is a loss of union voting rights, liability insurance coverage, and access to member-only benefits the union offers.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation set up a handy web page outlining the procedure for becoming a fee payer for 2005-06. The deadline is November 15.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:31 | Permalink | Comments

* I know many of you think you have the worst school board in the world, and that nothing can match the hijinks you see every day. But I'm betting you can't top the Baldwin-Whitehall School District in Pennsylvania.

Board member Beverly Coon is up for reelection on Nov. 8, but she might have a small campaign problem since being barred from entering any district school or attending any school activity. You see, Ms. Coon was arrested last week on charges of attempted homicide, arson, risking catastrophe, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and stalking. She was released on $100,000 bail.

While Ms. Coon was separated from her husband, she had a two-year-long affair with Dr. Ronald Grimm, the superintendent of the nearby Bethel Park School District. When Dr. Grimm tried to break off the relationship, Ms. Coon allegedly fed him sedative-laced pastries and then set his bed on fire. Dr. Grimm was burned in the fire that destroyed his apartment, but he escaped serious injury. He has not yet returned to work.

Ms. Coon's attorney says the evidence against her is circumstantial.

The school board can ban Ms. Coon from school buildings, but it must continue to allow her to attend school board meetings. Meanwhile, Ms. Coon is running for reelection on a slate that includes Michael Stelmasczyk and Edward Moeller. Mr. Stelmasczyk has spent much of the last week covering the name of Ms. Coon on his lawn signs and campaign posters with purple tape.

"I think the stores are running out of the [purple] tape," he said.

* It's natural to get lost in the predicaments of the present, so it's welcome news to hear an international research group conclude that there has been "a dramatic, but largely unknown, decline in the number of wars, genocides and human rights abuses over the past decade."

The Human Security Report, funded by the governments of Canada, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Britain, credit this happy state of affairs on the fall of the Soviet Union. I feel an odd mix of contentment and shame that U.S. students will soon have blank looks on their faces when the subject of the U.S.S.R. arises.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 11:44 | Permalink | Comments

* EIA reported yesterday on the union representation election at the Joseph K. Lumsden Bahweting Anishnabe charter school in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Thirty-three teachers are now represented by the Michigan Education Association (MEA). The school is located on the reservation of the Chippewa Tribe and is supported by tribal funds.

But my story missed the ongoing drama the union vote caused. Evidently the Chippewa tribal leaders really, really, really don't want a union in their school. And, since they operate under a different set of rules than the state of Michigan, they have laid out a set of options that wouldn't fly elsewhere. It should make for an interesting, if convoluted, legal battle should MEA get booted off the reservation.

* Quote of the Day: "Dwight (Schultz, who played A Team's Howling Mad Murdoch) and I are doing a radio show in Montana. We're calling it 'Dirk and Dwight's one-man show.' I play piano, he sings, we do a few songs and we discuss the politics of The A Team -- how the liberal left went after us, how the National Education Association and teacher's unions tried to get us off the air. Yet all my fans today are 32-year-old guys who watched it with mom and dad. The teachers unions would love to have it back now instead of Paris Hilton having sex." -- actor Dirk Benedict, who played Face on the 1980s TV show The A Team.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:02 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) NEA Readies Plan B for NCLB Lawsuit
2) Merger Noises in Massachusetts
3) Question Still Unanswered: Do Districts React to Competition?
4) Charter for Chippewas Goes Union
5) Will Aramark Charge NJEA an Eatery Fee?
6) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 15:17 | Permalink | Comments

* Here's a story you won’t see too often. The Grossmont Union High School District is involved in a bitter contract dispute with the local teachers' union. But the district contains the Helix Charter High School, run by an independent board of directors, whose teachers are also represented by the local teachers' union.

The district's regular teachers appear to be headed for a strike, but the charter school teachers have already settled a contract with Helix's board of directors. Now Helix's parents are demanding that the Grossmont district release the funds to pay for the new contract. They fear their settlement will be held hostage by the poor relationship between the district and the union.

Maybe that vaunted charter school flexibility also oozes into labor relations. Wouldn't that be ironic?

* Last week, Intercepts noted that the Cleveland public schools seemed to have made a tiny little error in counting their excused student absences for the year. Yesterday, a Cleveland school official acknowledged that the correct number of absences was not 620, but 519,000. This is an error roughly equivalent to inviting the Members of Congress, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court to a charity event and having the entire population of Washington, DC show up.

* Outpost of the Odd: A college student has sued her school under the Americans with Disabilities Act because it won’t let her keep her pet ferret in the dormitory. University officials can avoid the suit by claiming the Endangered Species Act requires them to keep one of these in the dormitory as well.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 12:31 | Permalink | Comments

* Our neighbors to the north are dealing with an illegal teacher strike in an intriguing way. The British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that the 40,000 member British Columbia Teachers Federation (BCTF) can no longer issue strike pay, or spend any union funds in support of the strike. That means no spending on communications, signs or any other method to further the job action. The court appointed a monitor to oversee the BCTF books to enforce the ruling.

This was actually a half-measure, as the court decided not to freeze the union's operating funds, or send anyone to jail for contempt of court. The BCTF web site hasn't addressed the ruling, but the page is still loaded with strike news and information, so we'll see if there is a showdown brewing.

Washington Education Association President Charles Hasse addressed BCTF rallies in Sooke and Vancouver Island earlier this week. EIA is reminded of the near-strike in Issaquah in 2002 and wonders if WEA is still giving the same advice (see "Why ‘No Strike’ Laws Are a Waste of Paper").

* The Liberty Counsel, a Christian conservative law firm, and the Christian Educators Association International are teaming up on an education and litigation campaign to see to it that Christmas celebrations are permitted in public schools and government offices and buildings. This isn't a new battle. These folks, among others, have been trying to put Christ back in Christmas for years. Adeste fideles!

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:10 | Permalink | Comments

* The editors of the Sacramento Bee have announced their opposition to Proposition 75, California's paycheck protection initiative. This is not very surprising. But there's a sentence in their editorial that just blows me away:

"Proponents of this measure claim it protects individual rights - which is arguably in the public interest - by requiring that public employee unions gain the explicit permission of members before spending their money for political purposes."

Protecting individual rights is arguably in the public interest?

EIA performed some deep and extensive research this morning, and discovered this document, which I'm not sure the Bee editors have heard of, but it does have something to do with protecting individual rights.

* Here's a shocker: Some people are wondering if Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kenaan actually committed suicide, even though the Syrian authorities insist he did. Syria's foreign minister blames Kenaan's death on the Lebanese media, while Syria's attorney general wrapped up his one-day investigation just in time for Kenaan's rather rapid funeral.

Let's put it this way: if you believe the man who ruled Lebanon with an iron fist for 20 years was so overwrought by Lebanese press reports and a United Nations investigation that he shot himself, then you also have to believe that this guy will hang himself after a bad editorial in the New York Post and a harshly worded letter from the General Accounting Office.

* A new Contract Hits is up.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 11:55 | Permalink | Comments

The unions beat the Bush Administration about the head and shoulders for waiving the Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage provisions for post-Katrina construction and renovation projects. "For the president to drive down wages further at a time when so many are in need of a paycheck is both exploitative and cruel," said AFT President Ed McElroy.

Mickey Kaus did something the media failed to do: ask people involved exactly what effect Davis-Bacon provisions would have on a massive reconstruction like that facing us in the Katrina states. His conclusion: "Preserving Davis-Bacon may endear Democrats to the AFL-CIO's construction unions, but it's a slightly trickier case to make to voters--'Hey, this will really slow rebuilding and make it way more expensive for taxpayers!'"

Check out the Kaus entries on the topic here and here.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:27 | Permalink | Comments

* Kansas Board of Education President Steve Abrams wants the board to consider opting out of the No Child Left Behind Act. "I'm trying to get to the bottom line to see what's required, to see if there's a benefit," he told the Associated Press. Unlike other opponents of the law, Abrams would ask the state to simply forgo the federal Title I funds to free itself from the NCLB regulations.

* Want to make a killing in the real estate market? Sell to a school district.

* Syria's Interior Minister Brig. Gen. Ghazi Kenaan committed “suicide” in his office... probably by failing to duck.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 11:27 | Permalink | Comments

* Everyone agrees that the delegate assembly of the United Federation of Teachers approved the tentative contract agreement with the City of New York. But what was the margin?

Virtually all union assemblies are governed by Robert's Rules of Order, which allow voice votes. If the voice vote is in dispute, a standing vote can be called for, and if that is in dispute, a roll call. How you move from one to the next is a judgment call. Roll calls are rare.

The contract vote was equivalent to a standing vote, with the delegates raising cards to signify their vote on one side or the other. The various claims about the margin illustrate its limitations. The UFT press release states "more than 80 percent" approved the contract. The New York Daily News reported "a 3-to-1 ratio." The ICEUFT blog, opponents of the contract, said "60% in favor and 40% against."

Fortunately, in this case the rank-and-file will get to vote by secret ballot. But most union policies are approved or defeated by unknown margins in anonymous fashion (voice vote) or without a permanent record of who voted how (standing vote).

* You can argue until the cows come home about whether charter schools are good or bad, but at least in California, the market is already deciding. And deciding.

* Unions protect workers against profit-hungry corporations. Unless, of course, they are one.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:43 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) NEA's Glowing Membership Numbers Dim a Little
2) California Dues Increase Is Already Spent
3) CQE Update
4) Holes in the Web
5) NEA Wants to Trim the Fat
6) Negotiations Are Confidential, Unless We Want to Tell Everyone
7) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 14:36 | Permalink | Comments

The Sacramento Bee published a piece this morning that explains in layman's terms what an agency fee is and how it works. It includes info about Hudson notices, objection deadlines, and all that other tedious stuff that tends to bog down news stories so it usually gets left out. If you've never quite understood the details, this is the story for you. Besides, it saves me from having to do it.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Tasini over at Working Life is so worried that paycheck protection will pass in California, he's trying to flog the private sector unions to join the battle.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:32 | Permalink | Comments

I spent the weekend in Denver courtesy of the kind people at the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, along with several dozen newspaper reporters -- not one of whom had horns, cloven hooves or a barbed tail. So when you come into contact with these folks, I encourage you to treat them like the normal, red-blooded Americans they are. They do a difficult job trying to ferret out the truth in a field where most everyone they talk to is trying to sell them something.

Enjoy Columbus Day. The EIA Communiqué will be issued tomorrow afternoon.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:09 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read The NEA Pyramid, EIA's report on NEA's member and local president surveys. (Adobe Acrobat required)

* The National Education Association and its allies have filed suit against the No Child Left Behind Act on the grounds that the law is an unfunded federal mandate. The union applauded the National Conference of State Legislatures when it concluded that NCLB is unconstitutional "under the 10th Amendment, because there is no reference to public education in the U.S. Constitution."

These "fair weather federalists" have a way to show their true support for the 10th Amendment. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Arizona) introduced in the 109th Congress (as he has in previous Congresses) the Enumerated Powers Act. The brief addition to Title I of the U.S. Code states simply, "Each Act of Congress shall contain a concise and definite statement of the constitutional authority relied upon for the enactment of each portion of that Act. The failure to comply with this section shall give rise to a point of order in either House of Congress. The availability of this point of order does not affect any other available relief."

Stephen M. Lilienthal of the Free Congress Foundation tells us what might ensue.

* The Anti-Defamation League is sending an observer to a teacher workshop on the Middle East to be held at the headquarters of United Teachers Los Angeles next week amid concerns the presenters hold a pro-Palestinian bias. The 16-hour course was approved by the Los Angeles Unified School District and is funded by the Middle East Teacher Resource Project.

* Mayor of Los Angeles, sitcom star, and teacher union sweetheart Antonio Villaraigosa is making a renewed pitch for mayoral takeover of the school system. "Look, we have a major problem with our schools," Villaraigosa said. "If we don't fix our schools, this city is going to hell in a handbasket. We need to turn out a work force that can do the jobs of this century. We need to have workers who can support our system."

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:49 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read The NEA Pyramid, EIA's report on NEA's member and local president surveys. (Adobe Acrobat required)

* A new Contract Hits is up.

* Apparently the Cleveland public schools are so wonderful that kids will brave bad weather, illnesses and family turmoil just to be there. At least, that's one interpretation of the district's attendance reporting. The district claimed only 620 excused absences for 63,000 students last year. The similarly sized Columbus school district had 303,550 excused absences. "Ohio school districts must report at least a 93 percent attendance rate to meet the state's standard," reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

* Kudos to the Albuquerque Teachers Federation for refusing to use its representatives to distribute anti-military recruiting material on district campuses. A group called Another Side wanted the union to do it because "they were having trouble getting into the schools,"according to ATF President Ellen Bernstein. The union's representative council rejected the idea. The "no" vote did not reflect an evaluation of Another Side's program, Bernstein told the Albuquerque Tribune. Nevertheless, a sharp salute from EIA.

* If you haven't been following the details of a massive theft of school district funds in Roslyn, the New York Times has a good catch-up story here. (registration required)

* Outpost of the Odd: "Cause of gamma ray bursts found." That's good news for this guy.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 13:05 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read The NEA Pyramid, EIA's report on NEA's member and local president surveys. (Adobe Acrobat required)

The headline above is a quote from yesterday's Wall Street Journal about Proposition 75, California's payroll protection initiative. Not to be outdone, National Education Association Vice President Dennis Van Roekel spoke at a rally in Temecula yesterday and said, "This is the most important election California has faced."

Of course it's the campaign hyperbole pinned to every election. But let's be honest. Similar measures became law in Utah, Idaho, Michigan and Washington, and I haven't heard that the public employees' unions were brought to their knees in those states (and I don't think I would have overlooked that news).

The substance of the initiatives is secondary to the fact that on the one side you have the governor, who is the only conduit for the GOP agenda and, like it or not, a symbol for an electorate who wanted something different. And the other side you have the public employees' unions, who are the backbone of the Democratic Party in this state and have already supplanted the party when it comes to an education agenda. The unions are perfectly happy with the current system (although more funding is always desired).

So the election is about the future direction of the state government, which makes it, in fact, one of the "most important elections California has faced." But most Californians don't agree, and it would be a shame if the results turn on the GOP Orange County turnout vs. the work of union ward-heelers.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:43 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read The NEA Pyramid, EIA's report on NEA's member and local president surveys. (Adobe Acrobat required)

* In 1998, the paycheck protection measure Prop 226 began with a 3-1 lead that slowly deteriorated until it lost 53-47 on election day. The polling for this year's Prop 75 began the same way, but with a month until election day, the bottom is certainly not dropping out and there are some indications that its support is holding steady, even among union members.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that unions are finding their jobs a little harder this time around. But no one should get giddy. CTA has no peer when it comes to using the Big Hammer, and it wouldn't surprise me to see anti-75 commercials with starving babies, alien invasions, boiling oceans, and a pale horse.

* The Denver Post has an excellent piece on high achievement at high poverty schools.

* The Washington Times editorializes on NEA's member and local president surveys.

* Thanks to you, in about six weeks Intercepts has risen ten levels from an "Insignificant Microbe" to an "Adorable Little Rodent" in The Truth Laid Bear ecosystem. It's a long climb to the top of the evolutionary ladder, but I appreciate each and every rung. Thanks for reading, linking, and whatever other bloggy things are done that I haven't yet discovered.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:23 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read The NEA Pyramid, EIA's report on NEA's member and local president surveys. (Adobe Acrobat required)

* This picture speaks eloquently, but the Boston Herald story is pretty good, too.

* The Burlington Free Press has an excellent story on a looming teacher strike in Colchester, Vermont. I loved this part: "John Coon, part of the Colchester teachers negotiating team, said he disagrees with those who would compare teachers salaries and benefits with employees in other industries. 'What makes sense is comparing with other people in the same work,' he said. People in the technology industry compare their salaries with others in the same business, so teacher pay ought to be compared with counterparts in nearby districts."

This, of course, is the exact opposite of the argument teachers' unions usually make: that they are underpaid compared to workers in other professions. Local business owner Laurie Pelcher provided her take: "Pelcher said she knows a lot of teachers, likes them, and sympathizes with the struggle to make ends meet, to an extent. 'A lot of these teachers are my friends, and some of them live in the community,' she said. 'They have families, and they have needs, but damn it, so do we.' Pelcher, a small-business owner, said she can afford only relatively limited insurance for herself and employees, and she can't afford to help pay for a more generous plan for teachers. 'These people are getting a benefits package we can only dream of.'"

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 10:27 | Permalink | Comments

* New York City and the United Federation of Teachers came to a contract agreement yesterday. There is saturation coverage in all of the city's newspapers, and there may even be an AP item in the daily paper where you live. For the various union perspectives on this, the best stops are:

Pro-contract: UFT web story

Anti-contract: ICEUFT blog

Wider Big Labor View: Working Life blog

* Former Lawrence Education Association President Wayne Kruse received two years’ probation for stealing $97,000 in dues meant for Kansas NEA. The Kansas City Star reports that Douglas County Court Judge Jack Murphy "was critical of the lax financial safeguards that made the thefts possible."

* Outpost of the Odd: Actor Nicolas Cage and wife Alice name their son Kal-el.

* The NEA hive is buzzing after the release of EIA's report, The NEA Pyramid. Download or read the Adobe Acrobat file at http://www.eiaonline.com/neapyramid.pdf.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 06:32 | Permalink | Comments

Last April 25, EIA reported that the annual NEA member survey would include questions on whether the religious beliefs of members affect their voting on political candidates and issues, and how they feel about private accounts in the Social Security system. That survey was conducted in May by Michigan-based Star Research and delivered to NEA in July. Concurrently, the firm conducted a parallel survey of NEA's local affiliation presidents, completing it in August. The union has nearly 14,000 locals of varying size, and the survey's sample admirably accounts for these variations.

EIA has the results of those surveys, and is now equipped to definitively answer once and for all the question: Does NEA represent the views of its members?

Answer: It depends.

As unsatisfying as that short conclusion may be, the two surveys, examined together, explain clearly how an organization of 2.7 million members of widely divergent political and social views can end up championing a narrowly liberal worldview.

A few highlights:

* About half of NEA's new members are "not at all" involved in the organization at any level.

* The top reason new members join NEA is because they have "no choice."

* Fifty percent of NEA members identify their philosophy as "conservative" or "tend conservative." Only 40 percent identify themselves as "liberal" or "tend liberal."

* As the size of a local affiliate grows, the more likely the local affiliate president will be liberal. Eighty-two percent of the presidents of NEA's largest locals identify themselves as liberal.

* Eighty-nine percent of NEA local affiliate presidents were unopposed in their last election.

EIA's full report is posted on its web site at http://www.eiaonline.com/neapyramid.pdf.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:02 | Permalink | Comments