It’s Official, Union Rejects Money for Kids
May26A while back we mentioned that the State of Washington was about to refuse a grant of $13.2 million grant being offered to the kids of the state to help them learn math and science. Well now it’s official, Washington State has refused this generous donation.
The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) was started by Bill Gates, Michael Dell and other technology titans concerned about the declining performance of American students in math and science. The public-private partnership funds efforts to increase the number of students taking advanced placement courses in those subjects. But thanks to the Washington Education Association, a teachers union, the initiative’s recent efforts in Washington state have been torpedoed.
This seems crazy, doesn’t it? Why would the state do this?
One word: unions
Earlier this month NMSI announced that a $13.2 million grant slated for Washington state was being scrapped. Why? The contract ran afoul of the union’s collective bargaining agreement. NMSI wanted to compensate teachers directly and include extra pay based on how well students performed on AP exams. But under the teacher contracts, the union is the exclusive agent for negotiating teacher pay and union officials refused to compromise. They were willing to turn away free money for their teacher members rather than abide this kind of merit pay.
State Representative Bill Fromhold, who was helping to administer the grant, told the Seattle Times, “We worked hard to try to find middle ground.” But in the end, he said, “we got caught in the middle of the grant requirements and collective bargaining laws in the state of Washington that have to be followed.”
Yeah, they “worked hard.” Riiight.
So, once again, proving that they could not care less about the kids, a teachers unions actually stands in the way of helping kids learn.
Aren’t you glad we have unions?
