California Teachers Association's (Almost) Million Dollar Race to the Stop
The gutless weasels in the CA Assembly Education Committee killed the reform bill, thanks to massive union lobbying and money, as the Education Intelligence Agency reports:
California Teachers Association's (Almost) Million Dollar Race to the Stop. In an attempt to qualify for some $700 million in federal Race to the Top funds, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called a special session of the legislature to remove some impediments and increase the state's chances. The result was a bill sponsored by Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) that would lift the state's charter school cap, allow children in the lowest-performing schools to transfer to any school in the state or let their parents "force overhauls that could include firing teachers or changing the school into a charter school."
The bill narrowly passed the Senate, but died in the Assembly Education Committee - replaced by a bill sponsored by the committee's chairwoman, Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica). Brownley's bill eliminates the school choice and parental empowerment provisions, and adds new regulations of charter schools, though it does lift the cap. Unsurprisingly, the Romero bill was met with fierce opposition from the California Teachers Association (CTA), while the Brownley bill received union support.
"This was crafted by the education establishment, and they are anti-charter school because, simply put, it threatens their enterprise," said Margaret Fortune, a charter school founder and California State University trustee. Gov. Schwarzenegger says he will veto the Brownley bill if it reaches his desk.
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posted by Whitney Tilson at 9:45 PM
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