Old Songs From Nowhere

I’m not sure where I stand on this issue and I’m not going to get into it here – I want to focus on teaching, not on politics.  That said, I think The Chalkboard’s article on the situation at the Niagara Charter School is a very important issue that should be at the front of the unionization debate:

What’s more is that after the legislature cut next year’s charter school funding at the behest of NYSUT, it is more evident than ever before that the Charter Schools Act imposes a blatant conflict of interest upon employees of charter schools. This is because it forces them in these circumstances to be members of the same union representing like positions in the district where the charter school is located. As a result, the same union represents employees in seperate organizations directly competing for students and public dollars tied to the those students, and sides with one over the other when their interests conflict in state government policymaking.

So the teachers at KIPP and other unionized charter schools are subsidizing an organization that is lobbying against them.