The Houston Teachers' Union campaign against the bond issue is an I.Q. test for democracy.
The Houston Teachers' Union campaign against the bond issue is an I.Q. test for democracy.
Tuesday night we learn trhe scores.
Election day on the horizon, and The Houston Chronicle is still peddling the story that opposition to the Houston school bond arises naturally from grass roots, with crocheted yarn installations, no less. And what could be more darling?
From the Chronicle:
“Led by members of Community Voices for Public Education and the Houston Federation of Teachers, bond opponents have sold yard signs, crocheted yarn installations, decorated their car windows and set up banners around Houston with their ‘No Trust, No Bond.’”
It’s a bad joke. The opposition working to torpedo the urgently needed bond proposal has some hairy roots, for sure, but they sure as hell ain’t grass. Think more Astroturf.
“Community Voices,” as the newspaper never bothers to explain, is the same thing as the Houston Federation of Teachers, one and the same, headed up by and run from the home of erstwhile HFT staffer Ruth Kravetz, whose only visible activity since Voices was born has been prosecuting the union’s case against school reform.
This is still America, of course, at least for a couple more days, and the union is well within its rights in fighting to defeat and unseat the state-imposed regime running the huge Houston publics school system. The greatest disability suffered by that regime, in spite of bringing about an immediate and stunning turn-around in student achievement, is that it was state-imposed, and the union never fails to bang that drum.
Houston is a blue city. Texas state government is ruby red. A years-long unstinting campaign by the Republican governor to take money out of public schools and give it to church schools pretty well paints the picture for a lot of folks –all they needed to know to decide that the outfit now running the Houston school system lacks legitimacy in Houston.
But legitimacy in this case is kind of an I.Q. test for democracy.
A) Not all legitimacy is local. The state’s got some, too.
B) The local school board in Houston surrendered most of its own legitimacy when, year after year, it produced student outcomes so egregiously unequal on racial and class lines that they managed to violate even Texas law. Violating Texas law along social justice lines takes some doing.
C) If local media in Houston ever put the teachers’ union campaign against school reform in Houston into its true national context, liberals and Democrats would be running away from the union with their feet on fire.
In Chicago, where the teachers’ union has virtually taken over City Hall, Mayor Brandon Johnson, a union organizer before being elevated to his first elective office, has vowed to borrow a sum of money so ruinous that even well-regarded Democratic leaders are questioning the plan. In exchange, the teachers’ union is pumping big money into a public disinformation campaign labeling the doubting Democrats as Trumpies and racists.
The union wants to borrow money in Chicago, and it wants to defeat borrowing in Houston, which might seem like a conflict. But the apparent difference of opinion is superficial, masking a deeper much more important through-line: in both cases, the union wants what it wants – complete dominion over public education – and it will bring down the house, crater the school system or crater the city to get it.
In a voice ringing hard of fascism, the union describes all opposition, even doubting Democrats, as a sinister “other.”
“And If I’m faced with a decision to cut,” Mayor Johnson says, “to take away from families in this city, versus having to keep an option on the table where we might have to borrow some money to help connect us to full transformation, I know what decision I’m going to make. I’m going to make sure we invest in children and invest in the families of this city. I’m not going to cut, and take away, lay off, fire, privatize so that other people can benefit, and the people of Chicago can lose. Not under my watch.”
Johnson’s manifesto shouldn’t be too difficult to unwind. The union’s demands, which include calling on the school district to build 15,000 units of affordable housing, far exceed even the most generous accounting of funds available. So the union wants the people of Chicago to borrow the money that the union wants for what the union wants. This, the union tells the people of Chicago, will be good for them.
The union in Houston wants voters to defeat a bond issue designed to attack an egregious legacy of deferred maintenance. Certainly shabby schools and broken down beater buses are an important reason why the Houston school system has suffered soaring rates of defection in recent years by families leaving to attend charter and private schools.
The union doesn’t give a damn. It wants what it wants. In Houston it wants the state-imposed school reform regime to get the hell out of Dodge and its little dog, too, meaning the hated merit pay system for teachers. If it can’t have its way, it will bring the roof down around its own ears.
In Chicago, the union wants what it wants, and if that means bankruptcy for the entire city, so be it. Don’t look to the union. Blood out of a turnip.
It's truly too bad local media in Houston can’t bring themselves to give Houston voters a better window on Chicago. How long will it be before all those people in Houston who see themselves as the teachers’ best friends, charmed by the crochet, find themselves labeled as the Trumpie “other” because they dared to doubt?
The teachers’ unions are presenting us with an I.Q. test for democracy. Test scores Tuesday.
When *some* employees need to leave, then yes, finding qualified suitable replacements is of course better. But when over 40% of all the “teachers” who have been hired have zero years of experience, that’s harmful (as in Sam Houston ES)—and after 4 years of NES now has a near-failing score of 71. When thousands of high-quality, dedicated teachers have opted to leave for better working conditions and are being replaced by inexperienced, worse teachers, that’s harmful.
I tagged you in the two sources of data on LinkedIn. I’ve also posted them in the Supporters FB group I referenced above. Too much to repeat here. I hope you’re willing to take an objective look at it. The results speak for themselves.
The Chronicle should know this, but there's a very large grassroots push coming from parents and community members, loosely organized on the Supporters for HISD Magnets and Budget Accountability Facebook group page. The admins of that group are parents, who have long been involved in advocating for better governance, financial accountability, and equity and opportunity for every child in HISD. They co-authored this with parents and community members across the district several years ago:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Enough-drama-Here-s-how-HISD-s-board-can-get-13827019.php
At least a couple of those admins were appointed to the HISD District Advisory Committee by Superintendent Miles. They now staunchly oppose most of his methods.
But check out that FB group if you'd like to see the widespread grassroots work--I think there are nearly 9,000 members in it.