Teachers union fails members

By Jon Ralston

Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Let’s hope that most teachers don’t share the values of the union that represents too many of them.

When it released a so-called report card on state lawmakers last week, the Nevada State Education Association exposed itself as a hypocritical and disingenuous — not to mention thoroughly ineffective — advocacy group. The union failed the Legislature in its bizarre, capricious grading system; but NSEA really failed the members it supposedly represents and the students whose interests it is supposed to care about.

And to what end? To rile up teachers to get more members? Why would any teacher want to be part of an organization that declares a Legislature controlled by the party it is aligned with has acted in ways inimical to their well-being?

They are either the worst, most ineffectual lobbying group in the state or they are advocating for the wrong things. Or — dare I say it? — both.

There are so many aspects of this report card that deserve scorn that it’s hard to know where to begin. So let’s start with the kernel of truth in the report: Yes, the Gang of 63 has serially failed to take education seriously, both in funding and accountability, passing incremental measures that don’t provide enough money or enough reform.

Fine. But for the teachers union to argue, as it does in the report card and accompanying text, that the NSEA folks are “leaders in the education reform debate” is not just laughable but outrageous. And even though it did not intend to in the packet — which can be found here — the union exposed itself.

In criticizing reform efforts that passed — including changes in last-in-first-out policies for layoffs and probationary periods of teachers — the union wrote it would have supported the bills “with a few minor changes.”

Minor changes? Really? If so, we have a larger problem in the public education system than I feared because the teachers don’t know the difference between “minor” and “major”.

How do I know? The union hangs itself in its description of one of the reform bills, saying “NSEA specifically opposed language in the bill which allowed no collective bargaining agreement to supersede the language of the bill….”

You cannot make this stuff up. Indeed, language that allowed the teachers to overrule a state law through contract negotiations was in an early version of the reform package. But even their Democratic friends thought better and excised the inane provision — some friends they turned out to be!

Why not allow every union in the state to have that power — to override state statutes through contract negotiations? Or better yet, allow employers to nullify certain mandates or avoid paying fees through bargaining with regulators?

No organization that advocates such offal deserves to be taken seriously. And if there is any justice, that will be the result.

If the report card was substantively mendacious, it was also politically goofy.

Yes, you expect an unimaginative group such as this to give every Republican an F.

But to downgrade Democrats for voting for reforms, including those who have fought long and hard for more funding, is ludicrous. I guess when these teachers instruct students about that old saw, “Hold your friends close and your enemies closer,” they change it to: “Screw your friends and make your enemies more hostile.”

And if you ever wondered if your son or daughter didn’t do well in school because a teacher didn’t like him or her, NSEA reveals that its report card is “based on voting records and the experience of the NSEA lobbying team.”

What?

One Democratic legislator who did relatively well in the survey lamented how a friend with an identical voting record received a D because of a lack of solicitousness to the union lobbyists. It’s almost inconceivable.

All of this is so beyond the pale that you half expect an announcement will be forthcoming indicating this is parody and that the teachers were just showing us what a great sense of humor they have. It is that loony.

But, from what I can tell, very few lawmakers are chuckling. And even though the union folks deny it, Assembly Democrats are astounded that they are being told no union support will be forthcoming unless they agree to vote against evil reformer Debbie Smith, a ferocious education advocate awarded a D grade, for speaker.

After this abomination of a report card, if these Democrats had any integrity, they would publicly declare they will not accept donations or support from NSEA. And then they should encourage educators who actually care about children and achievement to form a different advocacy group.

That would teach the union a lesson it would never forget.