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1) National Bailout Looms for Indiana
State Teachers Association. There have been a lot
of developments since
last week's story about the Indiana State Teachers Association's (ISTA)
insurance trust going in the toilet.
I won't repeat them all here. Follow the
relevant links below, under "Last Week's Intercepts" for the details.
The important parts are: the FBI and the state of Indiana are investigating
to see if any wrongdoing was involved in the trust's failure; the National
Education Association established a trusteeship over the entire state union;
and ISTA's financial troubles extend well beyond the trust.
Although there are many complicating
factors, the situation boils down to the trust having about $86 million in
liabilities and only $19 million in assets – many of which are difficult to
liquidate. ISTA is itself more than $4.2 million in debt, and cannot cover
the trust's liabilities. Even the union realizes that dropping the bill on
the taxpayers of the local school districts, who would be liable for the
disability payments if the trust goes under, would be an unmitigated
political disaster. So ISTA has resolved to pay its debts, though it cannot.
Enter the NEA.
The trust's problems are too monumental
for ISTA to overcome. The state union only brings in $21 million a year in
revenue. But it is arguable whether the trust's problems required an NEA
takeover of the entire union. I suspect NEA administrator Edward Sullivan
will examine all of ISTA's cost centers in an attempt to solve the state
union's deficit problems, while using the NEA checkbook to deal with the
trust's deficit problems.
This is a delicate little dance for NEA.
Despite its own $346 million budget, the national union doesn't have $67
million in discretionary funding for such an occasion. It is, however,
financially healthy, and it may be enough for NEA to guarantee a loan or
credit to sustain ISTA, the trust, or both.
Revenues from NEA's strong affiliates
have helped keep its weak ones afloat for years, but ISTA has more than
47,000 active members, making it NEA's 17th largest state affiliate. If its
problems are unique, both NEA and ISTA will weather the storm. If other
affiliates develop similar difficulties, there may not be enough bailout to
go around.
2) Who Lost the California Special
Election? To
no one's surprise, five budget initiatives on California's special
election ballot were trounced last week by a nearly two-to-one margin. When
the dust settled, there was no shortage of analysis to explain where
everything had gone wrong.
The Los Angeles Times
blamed the voters for the state's dysfunction, which is akin to blaming
the passengers when a plane crashes.
The San Francisco Chronicle
called the vote
a sharp rebuke to the governor and the legislature.
The Daily Kos claimed
a defeat for bipartisanship and compromise.
The state public employees' unions said
Californians really do want tax increases (yes, they really said that).
Their poll proves it.
The Education Coalition
blamed the results on low turnout.
Who's missing from all this analysis?
Only the folks who put up by far the largest amount of money and provided
the most staff and volunteer support for the initiatives' passage – the
California Teachers Association and the National Education Association.
When the same two organizations were
responsible for the defeat of Gov. Schwarzenegger's education initiatives in
2005, they correctly received the credit. In defeat, they are treated like
innocent bystanders.
Low-turnout elections favor the side
with more money and more organization. If this weren't true, California's
school boards wouldn't be festooned with so many CTA-backed candidates. But
no amount of campaign spending or political craftsmanship could persuade the
voters to buy these magic beans.
Each and every NEA member outside of
California contributed $1 to this fiasco, and each CTA member contributed
nearly $30. If that doesn't seem like a lot of money, head over to the
teachers' lounge in your local school and try to raise $30 from each
educator.
There is plenty of blame to go around
for the failure of such misbegotten measures. The folks who paid for them
shouldn't get off scot-free.
3) I May Be a Cynic, But I Come by It
Honestly. I believe that much of the debate over
education in this country has very little to do with education. It starts
out that way, whether it's about spending, class size, merit pay, charter
schools, vouchers, curriculum, and so on. But it always ends up with two
opposing forces marshalling arguments to support their respective sides. The
sides don't always coincide with political parties, or even political
philosophy, but it's always a zero-sum battle.
I don't pretend to have an "above the
fray" view, or a "why can't we all just get along" attitude, but I don't
think we are arguing honestly – sort of like a troubled married couple
fighting over who should take out the garbage. We wrap labor problems and
turf problems and money problems in education packaging and therefore get
nowhere.
I was nudged along this line of thought
when I stumbled across the 1921 edition of
The Journal of the National Education Association. Of course, back
in those days the NEA was not a labor union, and it was dominated by school
administrators, but reading some of that journal today is enough to make you
weep:
* "The average salary in the United
States is still pitifully inadequate. It is not sufficient to attract enough
high-grade young men and young women into the profession to do the job which
must be done."
* "The false cry that there is no
teacher shortage must not go unchallenged."
* "If the privileges of tenure are
limited to those having adequate educational preparation, coupled with care
in selecting teachers from the probationary group, much of the danger will
be avoided."
Neither side can find it encouraging
that 88 years later we're still hearing the same things. So I feel pretty
justified in believing that 88 years from now, we'll still be hearing them.
Fortunately, I'll be dust by then.
However, I can spare you unrelenting
negativity about the prospects of education reform with this simple axiom
from that same 1921 NEA journal:
"Society cannot insure to every child a
good home, a devoted and intelligent mother, and a wise and provident
father; but society can insure to every child a good school and a competent
teacher."
Even a cynic believes it.
4) Become a Better Teacher… or Street
Mime. The Massachusetts Teachers Association
offers
summer workshops so that teachers can obtain their state-mandated
"professional development points," or PDPs. Jamie Gass of the
Pioneer Institute compiled a
top ten list of MTA's offerings. They include:
* Lessons through Balloon Twisting.
* Easy Tie-Dye.
* Use Your Noodle ("improvisational
theater skills").
* Native American Bead Weaving.
Many of the other seminars involve union
operations and activism, so it seems as though you would be prepared to
either walk a picket line, or entertain those walking a picket line.
5) Contract Hits.
Wherein we highlight a contract provision from the current agreement between
the National Education Association and its largest staff union. This is
Article 16, Section 3, subsection (b):
"If an employee is required to relocate
within the meaning of Section 1 of this Article, NEA guarantees him/her the
current market value of his/her house which is his/her actual and primary
residence and which is located in the metropolitan area which includes the
employee's principal place of assignment. NEA will request that a relocation
service make the employee a full current-market-value offer to purchase the
house. The relocation service will pay to the employee the approximate
equity (difference between purchase price and the balance of liens
outstanding against the property) within 10 calendar days following
acceptance of the offer from the relocation service. The current market
value of the house shall be determined as follows:
"(i) The relocation service shall select
two local appraisers who, where available, will have recognized professional
designations.
"(ii) The house shall be appraised on
the basis of a 120-calendar day selling price.
"(iii) The average of the two appraisals
shall determine the current market value except, if the appraisals vary by
five percent or more, a third appraisal will be made and the offer will be
the average of all three.
"(iv) NEA shall assume all costs and
fees attendant upon selling the house, provided that said house is in
reasonable condition and suitable for resale, and further provided that the
employee shall be responsible for all costs and expenses of maintaining the
house until the employee vacates."
6) Last Week's Intercepts.
EIA's blog,
Intercepts, covered these topics from May 18-26:
*
Indiana State Teachers Association Is More Than $4.2 Million in the Red.
The insurance trust aside, the union itself is bleeding red ink.
*
EIA Exclusive: Indiana NEA Affiliate Has Other Financial Troubles.
Straight from the ISTA president's lips.
*
NEA Assumes Control of Indiana Affiliate. Before things get really out
of hand.
*
Charter School Teachers Picket NYSUT. So much for "teacher voice."
*
First Teacher Lawsuit Filed Against ISTA Trust. Caveat emptor.
*
Bad Rap. Good news for kids is good news, even if the union gains a PR
benefit.
7)
Quote of the Week.
"We know that of the $17 billion the state will have to spend this year,
over $12 billion of it represents employee paychecks, including educators.
The state could cut every single program it runs today and it would still
have a budget deficit." – North Carolina Association of Educators Government
Relations Manager Cecil Banks. (May 19 NCAE Daily Political Briefing) |
