Once again the New York state teachers’ union (New York State United Teachers, or NYSUT) insults quality teachers. Its New York City chapter just watered down evaluations of teachers. That was a concession it won in its new contract. In other words, it moved to protect poor performers. That insults the good teachers.

The State Education Department wants incoming teachers to show they can read at a 12th grade level — in order to be certified to teach your kids and grandkids. Seems sensible to you, right? Not to the state teachers’ union. The NYSUT is fighting this. The union doesn’t mind if new teachers cannot read the certification that allows them to teach. This insults the good teachers. They don’t welcome unfit newcomers. And if you cannot read at a 12th grade level, you are unfit to teach.

Principals want to see lesson plans from teachers. Mostly to make sure they do prepare plans and don’t wing it. Nope, says the teachers’ union. Unfair. Of course this protects teachers who make zero preparation for classes. It insults teachers who take their work more seriously.

Teachers’ unions have long thwarted efforts to fire lousy teachers. And to fire those involved in nefarious affairs. Ask school superintendents how much time and money it costs to fire horrible teachers. They roll their eyes. They admit they are often forced to avoid the battle that unions wage to protect those teachers.

Many quality teachers hate these efforts by their union. But they don’t rise against it because they fear retaliation. Big unions know how to make disgruntled members shut up.

You may have noticed the absence of the word “students” in this column. It seems obvious that the genuine wellbeing of students is too often ignored in union negotiations and contracts. The unions give lip service to students. But their contracts give the lie to this. A union that endlessly protects horrible teachers and low-quality teachers cannot claim to have the welfare of students in mind.

It goes without saying that teachers’ unions fight against charter schools. Against parochial schools. Against home schooling. Such schools produce some of the best-performing students in the state. But they don’t employ unionized teachers. So the union undermines them at every turn.

The governor has managed to do some fancy tap-dancing on this issue. He has pledged support for charter schools. He has supported them in the state budget. Yet he recently managed to get the endorsement of the Working Families Party. That party opposes charter schools.

I don’t know how he managed that. Maybe he convinced party leaders the writing is on the wall. The writing that says charter schools are too good to be ignored much longer.
Here is a concept that would make teachers’ union leaders gag. Let the state and federal governments attach their aid to students. Each student gets so many dollars per year. Their parents choose their schools. The schools get the money that comes with the kids.

This would empower the parents. The teachers’ unions cannot have that. They will come up with any number of other reasons. But the real issue would be loss of their power. Or, specifically, power going to the people — the parents.

This concept is hardly revolutionary. It is the equivalent of vouchers. It works well in a number of countries. Their governments trust the judgment of parents. They trust free markets. 

As a result, they have fewer of the problems we have in our ghetto schools, our inner-city nightmares. Parents have the power to move their kids to better schools where they have better chances. And they exercise it. They move toward quality and quality teachers.

From Tom…as in Morgan.

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows and TV show. For more information about him, visit his website at www.tomasinmorgan.com

The 2013-14 state legislative session is in its final month. The governor, legislators, and advocacy groups are all jockeying in an attempt to get their favored legislation passed and signed into law before the legislative session concludes. The Assembly majority, which is dominated by downstate Democrats, is pushing a number of agenda items including medical marijuana, publicly financed campaigns, and an expansion of abortion rights, to name a few. Unfortunately, there has been little or no discussion of passing legislation that will improve the business climate and create jobs in upstate New York.

One measure that passed in the Assembly in these waning days of the session was what has been euphemistically titled the Dream Act. This legislation would, if enacted, make illegal immigrants eligible for the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). In some respects, the fact that we, as a state, are dealing with this issue illustrates the failure of the federal government to enact comprehensive immigration reform. Nevertheless, I think it is troubling that we are providing state benefits to those who are in our country illegally. Accordingly, I voted against this bill as I have done in the past.

The central tenet of the American dream is that all citizens have the opportunity to seek a better life. Often, the opportunity to attend college is a pathway to that better life. To that end, in effort to help New York students who come from families who may not otherwise be able to afford college, we have the TAP program, which this year provided $976.7 million in tuition assistance.

While this is a lot of money, because of the increasing pool of applicants and because of the increased cost of college, there is a constant need, year after year, to increase funding for the program. Indeed, over the last 14 years, TAP funding has increased from $636 million in 2000 to $976.7 million this year. If the Dream Act were to become law, it would place an additional burden on the TAP program by expanding the pool of applicants to those who are not legally residing in the United States. By some estimates, this could cost the state as much as $20 million in additional TAP funding. This is money that could otherwise be spent on other priorities like health care, public schools, and infrastructure.

While the Assembly has now passed the Dream Act twice, earlier this year, the measure narrowly failed in the state Senate. As part of his efforts to secure the liberal Working Families Party line on the ballot, the governor made a commitment to use his influence to get the Dream Act enacted. Time will tell whether the governor honors this commitment, and he indeed has the influence to get the measure passed. In our state, where we continue to struggle economically, rather than spending political capital to get the Dream Act passed, I would rather see our focus at the end of this session be placed on reducing the burden of government on our lives and businesses. That will be my focus during these last two weeks of session.

William (Will) A. Barclay is the Republican representative of the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact him at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us, or (315) 598-5185.