Right on Cue
Yesterday I noted the Oakland Education Association’s opposition to a tax hike for teacher pay. The union objects to some of the money going to charter schools. But I also wrote:
“To be fair, the Oakland Education Association is really ‘out there,’ even for an NEA affiliate. Most would not let their distaste for charter schools stand in the way of $10 million.”
This morning, we get this, from the Los Angeles Daily News:
“State funding to build new charter schools would increase sixfold in four years – to more than $100 million – under a clause tucked into a larger bill that has won strong support from traditional charter-school opponents….
“The provision for charter funds was added to legislation to provide more funding for multitrack year-round schools. An earlier version of the bill was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who pushed for the plan to instead include more charter funding.
“So bill author Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, added as much as $115 million in state funding to build new charters.
“And that means United Teachers Los Angeles, which has fought against charters, now finds itself a supporter of giving them more funding because it favors the bill’s other goals.
“‘Am I happy the money is going to charters? No, not at all, but sometimes if you’re going to help your kids, you have to make a compromise here and there,’ said UTLA president A.J. Duffy.”
