Teachers Union Hikes Dues To Fight Choice


The Pennsylvania State Education Association — the union which represents public school teachers, school nurses, guidance counselors, librarians and such — has announced it will raise the dues of its 190,000 members by 11 percent according to Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania . 

The new revenue is apparently aimed at fighting the pending school choice legislation .

The PSEA already gets about $90 million from dues which it uses to pay for 230 employees, including eight full-time lobbyists who make about $150,000 a year apiece.

The dues hike is expected to bring in about $9 million more.

All public school teachers (librarians, nurses etc.) must contribute to this very anti-child union whether they want to or not. The money ultimately comes from the taxpayer anyway.

Hat tip Bob Guzzardi.


 

Would SB 1 Have Helped Nadin Khoury?


A nationally publicized incident of teenage cruelty in Upper Darby, Pa. has driven the 13-year-old victim from the public schools and placed the unplanned burden of home school on his parents.

Seven gangsta wannabees brutalized the slight Nadin Khoury Jan. 11 outside the school district’s “Opportunity Center” which is the school district’s facility for behavioral problems.

Nadin said he was targeted because he was small and his mother was from Africa. One of the wannabees posted a video of the attack on YouTube.

Six of the attackers were arrested Jan. 31 with the seventh being brought in the next day They are charged with kidnapping, criminal restraint, recklessly endangering another person,
aggravated assault conspiracy and making terroristic threats.


Despite the arrests, Nadin was terrified of returning to class fearing retaliation from the wannabees’ friends hence the home schooling.

Would the recently introduced school choice bill, SB 1 , help Nadin if it were to become law?  Maybe not, and certainly not with regard to the first two years it would take effect. Leaving aside the financial circumstance of Nadin’s family, the only Upper Darby school that  falls into the category of  “persistently lowest achieving school” as per eligibility for vouchers for years 1 and 2 is Charles Kelly Elementary School , which Nadin does not attend.

SB 1 is a good bill and if it should pass it would one day  deliver thousands of Pennsylvania children from the despair and terror of corrupt and unaccountable failed institutions.

But school choice is a good idea for suburban middle class parents too. Parents who are as happy as clams with their school district until they find their child assigned to crazy Ms. X for a year would be a bit grateful to have a voucher as a parachute. Vouchers would have the additional benefit of communicating to the educational powers-that-be that Ms. X shouldn’t be teaching as parent after parent bailed out on her.

Regardless, for those wishing to expand the benefits of SB 1 to more students more quickly, Nadin’s story makes a compelling case.


Freind Wants To Swing For The Fence On Vouchers


Conservative columnist Chris Freind sent me a note in response to yesterday’s item in which I took issue with his opposition to SB 1, the school choice bill recently introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate.

Chris sent me this link to a follow-up column, “Some School Choicers Have Defeatist  Attitude” he wrote on his blog at The Philly Post to clarify his position. The Philly Post is  affiliated with Philadelphia magazine.

The follow-up makes it clear that what Chris is advocating is that all Pennsylvania children should have access to vouchers, not just the poor as would be the case with SB 1 .

Chris wants to swing for the fence which is admirable but to swing for the fence one must be in the game and the only school choice player in the game right now is SB 1, and there is nothing wrong with bunting for a base hit either.

Those who have issues with SB 1 should, rather than attack it, find a legislator willing to introduce a competing bill.

Vouchers for all Pennsylvania children is a wonderfully radical idea. You won’t find any objection to it here.

With that said, Pennsylvania would be much improved if SB 1 should pass and this includes the burden on suburban taxpayers. Not only would less of their money be wasted in incompetent pits of corruption like The School District of Philadelphia, they might actually find an unexpected windfall when the refugees — most of whom would come from loving families eager for them to learn — flock to vacancies in their successful districts carrying that $9,000 in state money with them. Note, vacancy  means no new teachers to hire and no new classrooms to build.

In other words it means found money.

So those with concerns about SB 1, please be careful about attacking it. Be especially careful about giving ammunition to the self-proclaimed “liberal, tolerant, caring, sensitive” crowd who will certainly play the race card in mounting opposition to the bill.

Further, one would not want to alienate allies like state senators Anthony H. Williams and  LeAnna Washington as we do seek to expand choice to all children.


Conservative Takes Fire For Opposing School Choice Step


Conservative columnist Chris Freind is taking heat for opposing the school choice bill recently introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate.

The bill, S.B. 1 , sponsored by Republican Jeff Piccola of the 15th District and Democrat Anthony H. Williams of the 8th District, which includes a large section of Delaware County, would, among other good things,
eventually allow the parents of any needy child in the state to take the
state subsidy — about $9,000 — that would have gone to their home
school district and apply to the public, private or parochial school of
their choice.

This would, for many children, break the chains shackling them to incompetent cesspools of corruption falsely flying the flag of education, and save taxpayers from being forced to throw money into these rat holes.

Freind, however, wrote on his Philadelphia Magazine blog, Jan. 27 , that the bill is merely “legislation stuck in the past, once again pandering to the wrong crowd — the Black Caucus” and said it would be almost impossible to pass comparing it to the failed attempts to bring school choice to Pennsylvania in the 1990s.

He repeated the claims albeit a bit more gently, yesterday, on Philly.Com .

For this he is appropriately being taken to the woodshed by other conservative leaders. Tea Party activist Bob Guzzardi tells Freind and others who live in safe suburban school to re-read the fable of the Dog and The Manger in which the dog would not let the horse eat to the detriment of all.

Further, Guzzardi notes that there has been a “paradigm shift” among the coalitions that support the Pennsylvania Democrat Party. Black legislators such as LeAnna Washington who opposed vouchers during the Ridge years are now 100 percent behind them.

Vouchers would likely not have failed then with the support of Philadelphia Democrats.

In a response to Freind’s Inquirer column, Nathan Benefield of Commonwealth Foundation notes that he is dead wrong with the bill only benefiting the poor. Benefield points out that the bill almost doubles the amount of money available for Educational Improvement Tax Credit scholarships to $75 million. The eligibility for EITC scholarships is $60,000 plus $10,000 per child.

Still, Freind’s reaction brings to light one thing that will be done by defenders of the educrat establishment. The race card will be played.

But that’s nothing new. I have a strong recollection of a certain self-thought sophisticated, tolerant, sensitive suburban school superintendent slickly warning the parents of his district back in the ’90s that their high school will “have a great basketball team” if the choice plan wasn’t defeated.

School Choice To Be S.B. 1 In Pa.

A bi-partisan school choice bill will be the first order of business in the Pennsylvania Senate.

S.B. 1 , will soon be introduced by Education Committee Chairman Jeffrey E. Piccola, the Republican  who represents the 15th District which consists of parts of Dauphin and York counties, and Anthony H. Williams, the respected Democrat who represents the 8th District which consists of parts of Philadelphia and Delaware counties.

The bill would eventually allow the parents of any needy child in the state to take the state subsidy — about $9,000 — that would have gone to their home school district and apply to the public, private or parochial school of their choice.

The plan would be implemented over three years with only low-income students currently attending persistently failing schools eligible the first year; low-income students residing in the attendance boundary of those schools but currently attending private schools becoming eligible in the second year; and all low income students becoming eligible in the third year.

Low income will be defined as families whose incomes are at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level so a family of four would qualify at $28,665.

The bill would also add $25 million to the Educational Improvement Tax Credit program bringing the total tax credits available under it to $100 million.

Gov-Elect Tom Corbett is a supporter of school choice but expect the teacher unions to shriek like banshees if it should be signed into law and mount a state constitutional challenge citing Article III Section 15 .

Hat tip Bob Guzzardi

Christie Waves Bye To 7 Educrats

Christie Waves Bye To 7 Educrats — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has declined to renew the contracts of seven county school superintendents whose mission it is is  to see that local districts follow state Education Department policies.

Their salaries were $120,000 and their contracts expired Monday. They will be replaced by Christie appointees who will presumably not meet the NJEA’s seal of approval.

The seven who will be joining the ranks of the unemployed were the superintendents of  Burlington, Cape May, Hunterdon, Monmouth, Ocean, Somerset  and Middlesex counties. The Middlesex superintendent  was also acting superintendent for Bergen County.

Tom Corbett are you taking notes?

 

Christie Waves Bye To 7 Educrats

Pa Continues To Top Nation In Teacher Strikes

Obviously, Pennsylvania teachers are not in it “for the children.”

The Keystone State, as always, led the nation in teachers strikes last year with eight matching the ’08-’09 total and up one from ’07-’08. And we are not talking close contests here. More than half the school strikes in the nation occur annually in Pennsylvania.

And for what? The average salary for a Pennsylvania teacher in 2007 was then $54,970 for 190 days work, which was behind six states that prohibited such a child-hating practice.

Gov-elect Corbett has said he might support banning teacher strikes and adopt a mandate for binding arbitration to solve disputes. Binding arbitration for teachers, however, would be against the state Constitution as StopTeacherStrikes.Org clearly points out.

And considering those who would likely do the picking for the arbiters, the problem could conceivably be made worse.

So what to do? It’s not complicated. Teachers acquired their right to strike in 1970 with the passing of Act 195 .

Section 401 reads It shall be lawful for public employees to organize, form, join or assist
in employee organizations or to engage in lawful concerted activities
for the purpose of collective bargaining . . .

Change the first four words to read It shall be unlawful. Repeal articles VI, VII, VIII and IX.

Problem is solved. Taxes drop and schools improve. Win-win for everyone but the child-haters.

Pileggi Stays To End In Lions’ Den

Pileggi Stays To End In Lions' DenPileggi Stays To End In Lions’ Den — Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Domenic Pileggi (R-9) entered the den that was Avondale Presbyterian Church, Dec. 2, to face about 130 lions associated with Chester County Tea Party groups. He answered generally unfriendly questions without getting flustered then stayed long after the event ended to field more.

The event was sponsored by Coalition for Advancing Freedom .

That’s not to say the questions were always answered completely or clearly.

Pileggi began with a description of what to expect in the next legislative session in which the Republicans will control the state house, senate and governor’s office.  He touched on redistricting which would apply to congressional seats and reapportionment which would pertain to state legislative seats. He noted that Pennsylvania is going to lose one congressman. He then went to describe the budget problems the state faces namely that it spends $28 billion while taking in $23 billion in revenue. He noted that Tom Corbett won the governor’s office on a no-tax pledge which was also taken by many winning legislators.

Expect cuts in spending.

Pileggi said that while Gov. Rendell was a major opponent of school choice Gov. Corbett will be a big supporter. He said to expect a major expansion of school choice, charter schools and related programs.

Pileggi said that the privatization of the state stores will be discussed. He said  Marcellus shale drilling will be a big part of the agenda.

Then came questions.

Several involved principles relating to state constitutional matters. Pileggi, in addressing one of them, said that when he votes it’s with the presumption that what he is voting for is in accordance with the state constitution. He noted that he receives few constituent comments regarding whether a particular bill is constitutional. Regarding  how the state’s unbalanced budgets don’t jibe with the constitutional requirement to have one, he pointed out that budget is based on projected revenue the projection of which, by law, comes solely from the governor’s office, which has quite a bit of leeway to fudge things. He noted in response to a question regarding how out  37 of the 68 House members who voted to call the pension bailout bill unconstitutional then went on to vote for the same bill, that what they were voting to call unconstitutional was a provision placed by the senate to provide for independent analysis of budget revenue projections.

Gossip wise he said several Republican senators carry a copy of the Constitution with them while in the Capitol citing by name Mike Folmer and John Eichelberger.

Pileggi said he kept his copy in his desk.

He took quite a bit of grief regarding the pension bailout and legislative and staff salaries.

It was noted that pension costs to the taxpayer will be rising from $500 million per year today to $6 billion in 2015 to $10 billion in 2030.

“We are here to tell you there is no institutional support from the taxpayers to support the existing scheme,” one man said.

Pileggi said that in the next legislative session the issue will be readdressed and he expects an attempt to turn the program into one of defined contributions for new hires. He noted that this will not help the present tax problem, and said that nothing could be done regarding the benefit for existing employees.

A man who had experience in dealing with pension issues in the private sector, however, challenged him on the matter. He told Pileggi that what normally happens is that the trouble plans are terminated and their assets are distributed to beneficiaries who are then placed in plans with defined contributions.

Pileggi asked to speak to the man after the meeting.

And he did.

Pileggi was confronted with the fact that there were 2,200 staffers for 203 house members and 900 staffers for 50 senators and more than 70 of them have salaries of over $100,000.

“We will reduce the number of staffers,” Pileggi promised. “Absolutely.”

Pileggi, when challenged, said his salary as majority leader was $110,000. He attempted to figure his pension but could not remember the formula. According to Commonwealth Foundation it would be 3.3 percent of his last year salary times years in office. Pileggi took office in 2002 so his pension would be $29,040 as of now.

“I’m not in the position for the compensation,” he said.

Regarding a question concerning teacher strikes, Pileggi said he was against the right for teachers to strike but thought that ending it might be complicated. It was pointed out that, that would not be case as most states do not grant teachers the right to strike and in Pennsylvania the teachers had no such right before 1970, a fact of which he seemed unaware. Pileggi said he would look into it.

He was asked by a union member if he supported “right to work” laws. These are laws that would prohibit requirements that one must be a union member to work at a plant organized by a union. Pileggi ducked it in a way that would give Sugar Ray Leonard a case of envy.

He said it was unfair to make a person pay union dues but it was wrong that a person not paying the dues should get paid the rate of a contract negotiated by the union.

He was asked what he thought of the Tea Party movement.

“I think the Tea Party is fabulous,” he said.

 

Pileggi Stays To End In Lions’ Den

 

Outlaw Teacher Strikes

Outlaw Teacher Strikes — Today’s Delaware County Daily Times had a tough editorial calling for the abolition of teacher strikes.

The Times points out that teachers in Moon Area School District across the state in Allegheny County went on strike after being offered a 2.88 percent raise. The Times also notes that teachers in the Bethel Park School District, also in Allegheny County are striking. The Bethel Park teachers  get salaries of between $45,700 and $92,548. They are offended, however, by the district’s request that they pay 2 percent of their individual health plans and 4 percent of their family ones. They now pay 0.5 percent and  0.9 percent respectively.

Has it started to dawn on anyone that teachers union really isn’t “for the children”?

And to the Times I say welcome to the club.

In 1990, I won an award for the editorial “Scrap Act 195”.  This was the 1970 law that allowed teachers to strike. The law was scrapped in 1992 and replaced with Act 88 which put some limits on teacher strikes. Ultimately it was nowhere near enough. The appropriate thing to do is to give school districts the power to not rehire teachers when their contracts end. It would require ending the tenure protection as well, but unless you a teacher or married to one, does that  really bother you?

These reforms are not just about money. Considering the cruelty of requiring a widow surviving on Social Security to cough up an extra couple hundred dollars each year — and that’s cumulative remember — just to keep her home, money should be more than reason enough to support banning strikes and tenure.

These reforms, though, really are ultimately about the children.

The  website StopTeachersStrikes.org has excellent background on the issue.

During my own little crusade I published a list of teacher and administrator salaries of some of the districts covered by the newspapers that I edited. It was quite controversial and even got me an interview with the superb Vern Odom of WPVI-TV which is Philadelphia’s ABC affiliate

Well, the web has made things a lot easier for that sort of thing. The salary information for public school employees in Pennsylvania can be found here.


Outlaw Teacher Strikes

Poll Shows Pa. Warming To School Choice

A poll released by Commonwealth Foundation , Nov. 9, shows that 50 percent of Pennsylvanians support using “education vouchers which help parents pay the cost of the school of their choice” with only 30 percent opposed.

If the wording is changed from “education vouchers” to “tax-credit scholarship funds”  the support drops to 46 percent with the opposing remaining the same and those saying “not sure” rising to 24 percent.

The poll of 500 likely voters was conducted Nov. 1 by Public Opinion Research.

Republicans supported the voucher question 63 to 21 percent while independents supported it 38 to 32 percent. Blacks, who overwhelmingly vote Democrat, supported it 69 to 7 percent.

Democrats, in total, supported it 45 to 31 percent.

Men supported vouchers 54 to 27 percent while woman supported it 46 to 32 percent.

Those with children at home supported it 48 to 31 percent percent while those without supported it 51 to 29 percent.

Significantly different results garnered by the “tax-credit” worried included independents expressing opposing to the idea 37 to 34 percent, with support from those with children at home growing to 56 with just 27 percent in opposition.

Hat tip to GrassrootsPa.com