{"id":15294,"date":"2012-08-01T13:44:18","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T17:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=15294"},"modified":"2012-08-01T13:44:18","modified_gmt":"2012-08-01T17:44:18","slug":"louisiana-teachers-unions-fight-a-desperate-rearguard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/15294\/louisiana-teachers-unions-fight-a-desperate-rearguard\/","title":{"rendered":"Louisiana Teachers Unions Fight a Desperate Rearguard"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few months ago, I authored a column here<\/a> touting the extraordinary accomplishments of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal in enacting perhaps the most sweeping piece of education reform in the country. Part of what made the reform possible, I noted at the time, was the relative weakness of teacher unions in the Pelican State:<\/p>\n

The laws passed by the Louisiana legislature last week read like a conservative education reformer\u2019s wish list. Teacher tenure, which previously required three years of employment, will now be contingent on educators receiving a \u201chighly effective\u201d rating in five out of six consecutive years. Back-to-back \u201cineffective\u201d ratings will be a firing offense. Seniority will no longer be a dominant factor in layoff decisions. Decisions about teacher employment and pay will largely devolve to principals and superintendents (they had previously been dominated by local school boards), allowing them to act with the dispatch becoming of an executive.<\/p>\n

The reforms go well beyond personnel matters, however. They open up opportunities for charter schools, allowing new providers to enter the market. They offer vouchers that will allow poor and middle-income children in Louisiana\u2019s worst schools to attend private or parochial institutions. They even expand opportunities for online learning.<\/p>\n

Had Jindal tried something nearly as audacious in a union-dominated state like California, Illinois or New York, the proposal surely would have been stillborn in committee. But in right-to-work Louisiana, where the unions aren\u2019t subsidized by compulsory membership, the best that organized labor can do is flail in anger after the fact. And flail they have.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, the flailing is now reaching a crescendo. As is the tendency of unions that can’t win arguments at the ballot box, organized labor is now taking the fight to the courts. From the Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a> (subscription required):<\/p>\n

On Thursday, lawyers representing the unions faxed letters to about 100 of the 119 schools that are participating in the voucher program. “Our clients have directed us to take whatever means necessary,” the letter reads. Unless the school agrees to turn away voucher students, “we will have no alternative other than to institute litigation.” The letter demanded an answer in writing by the next day.<\/p>\n

Louisiana’s voucher program is adjusted for family income and is intended above all to give a shot at a decent education to underprivileged minorities, who are more likely to be relegated to the worst public schools. Forty-four percent of Louisiana public schools received a D or F ranking under the state’s grading system, and some 84% of the kids in the program come from one of those low-performing schools.<\/p>\n

Demand for vouchers has been overwhelming: There were 10,300 applications for 5,600 slots. Despite claims to the contrary by school-choice opponents, low-income parents can and do act rationally when it comes to the education of their children.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That last sentence, I think, says it all. Liberals — who reflexively bay about the plight of the underclass — are actively complicit in keeping them “under”; that is, in denying them both opportunity and aspiration. They are there for the poor only to the extent that it does not conflict with the interests of one of their client groups. In this instance, they have chosen the pecuniary interests of the unions over the future of Louisiana’s children. There is much shame in that. Citizens of Louisiana would do well to make them bear it.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few months ago, I authored a column here touting the extraordinary accomplishments of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal in enacting perhaps the most sweeping piece of education reform in the country. Part of what made the reform possible, I noted at the time, was the relative weakness of teacher unions in the Pelican State: The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1448,64,376,526,172,3354,419,174],"class_list":["post-15294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-bobby-jindal","tag-education","tag-education-reform","tag-louisiana","tag-school-choice","tag-teacher-unions","tag-unions","tag-vouchers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15294"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15313,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15294\/revisions\/15313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}