Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, a voucher supporter, called the letter "a new low" and noted similar sentiments had been expressed by the president of the Florida Teaching Profession-NEA (reported last week by EIA) and the leadership of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Such overheated rhetoric, however, is nothing new. As noted in a previous communiqué, David Berliner, dean of Arizona State University’s College of Education, told a joint session of the New Mexico Legislature that "voucher programs could end up resembling the ethnic cleansing now occurring in Kosovo."

Back in 1993, when California had a statewide voucher initiative on the ballot, the official publication of the California Teachers Association claimed vouchers "could make us into just ‘kinder and gentler’ versions of Quebec, Northern Ireland and Lebanon."

+ Tired of paying union dues? Move to Florida, where the new, merged teachers’ union will evidently represent you whether you pay for it or not.

Soon after the merger votes, the Florida Teaching Profession-NEA issued a press release that began: "Florida’s two public education employee unions have completed another step toward merger of the two organizations into one union, representing some 250,000 teachers and school support staff throughout Florida." Pat L. Tornillo Jr., president of Florida Education Association/United, added that the vote "brings together some 250,000 teachers and support personnel in a common struggle..."

The Associated Press and Florida Today repeated the number. EIA found it strange, since FTP-NEA has only 62,000 members and FEA/United claims 76,000 (itself an exaggeration). So where did the other 112,000 members come from? EIA asked representatives from the two unions to explain the discrepancy. FEA/United did not reply. FTP-NEA kicked the request upstairs, to see "if it warrants response." Apparently it didn’t.

EIA has been told through a third party that the merged union meant it represents all 250,000 school employees in the state of Florida, members and non-members alike. Huh? In that case, circulation of the EIA Communiqué has just passed 260 million, including all those who don’t read it.

+ Under pressure from within her own party, California Assemblywoman Carole Migden withdrew her union-sponsored charter school collective bargaining bill. The bill, which would have required charter schools to abide by the contracts of their local districts, was strongly opposed by the state’s charter school advocates. But it wasn’t until Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, who as governor signed the legislation that made public sector collective bargaining a reality in California, came out strongly against the bill that support began to weaken. Last week, Gov. Gray Davis said he would not sign the bill in its current form, prompting Migden to withdraw it from committee.

Migden has authored a substitute bill to allow charter school workers access to the Public Employment Relations Board for arbitration of labor disputes. Brown, among others, said he would fight that bill as well. "It’s just a baldfaced power play to undermine charter schools," Brown said.

+ The Nevada State Education Association announced plans to put an initiative on the ballot to impose a five percent corporate income tax to support education. Nevada is one of only three states (Wyoming and South Dakota are the others) without a business profits tax.

+ Delegates to the Michigan Education Association’s representative assembly voted down a measure that would have increased each member’s dues by $19.30 a year to pay for the MEA Image Program. The Image Program was a vast PR campaign that featured television ads and opinion editorials by the MEA president. The measure would have raised $2.9 million, but fell just 24 votes short of passage.