Anthony Krinsky lays out what's REALLY going on in LA (and nationally):

The teacher unions are doing what they do best: manipulating public opinion.  They are channeling economic anxiety to keep focus on recession-driven cut-backs instead of allowing us to talk about how well (not well) we're spending $6.5 billion per year on operations at the LAUSD.  Remember, because of the UTLA contract, you can't fire bad teachers or pay young talented teachers more money.  Whether you want higher or lower taxes, if you're talking about raising taxes instead of reforming the contract, they got you: hook, line and sinker. 

Let's consider the questions that the UTLA doesn't want us discussing.  Why are we laying off young teachers?  Why are we laying off great teachers?   Why is nobody asking about the quality of the teachers that we're laying off?  Why does the LAUSD set quota limits on high-powered TFA teachers from Ivy League schools?  Why did we hire so many teachers over the last 20 years?  Is LAUSD any better because there are twice as many teachers?  Is it really "for our students" or is it "for our dues-payers" that the UTLA wants to "fully fund" schools?  Is there such a thing as "full funding" when there is no limit to the number of members and benefits the UTLA desires? 

Tax the rich campaigns may be popular in down-times but they don't improve school quality.  They are a distraction from the real problems, which is why the teacher unions champion them.

…The UTLA raises and spends $30 million/year protecting their monopoly; statewide teacher unions spend over $300 million -- per year.  Nationally, the number is over $2.5 billion, three times more every year than President Obama raised in 2008.  Parents Union, a state-wide reform organization, won't pull in $2 million this year.  Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) in Los Angeles won't break a million.  Do you see the problem?

The UTLA doesn't want you to know that philanthropic giving to educational advocacy is a rounding error on their balance sheets.  They want you to think this is a fair fight and to think of the billionaires as bad guys.  And they don't want the billionaires to start spending real money.  A million or two in Los Angeles doesn't bother them, but $50 million does.  If they can make giving $1 million hard enough, perhaps Gates won't risk the $50 million.

…The UTLA is occupying the LAUSD for sure.  They have for five decades, four decades semi-officially as the exclusive collective bargaining agent.  The only difference is that today they are using the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement as a smokescreen for doing what corrupt business people do: stifling competition and promoting their interests at the expense of the public.  All of their talk about "democratic" processes producing fair outcomes for children is a cruel hoax.  The "democratic" rules they favor protect their labor monopoly.  The protests they favor are those that fool the public while increasing teacher loyalty to their union.  Protesting alleged injustices against teachers does that.

…Union-teachers will strike, play the victims, and shut down the LAUSD.  And they will call this, "negotiation."  The "barons" of Wall Street will be "green" with envy; they will never have as much power to stop and destroy our lives, as the teacher unions. 

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LAUSD Occupation -- Big Business for the UTLA

 

Posted on October 24, 2011 at 10:31am  Print

 

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