In a meeting with editorial writers last week, Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo critiqued the role of powerful teachers unions in our public education system. He said teachers unions represent themselves, not students.
The New York Daily News reports, “Cuomo referred to the teacher unions and the entrenched education establishment as an ‘industry’ that is more interested in protecting the rights of its members than improving the system for the kids it is supposed to be serving.”
Cuomo said, “Somewhere along the way, I believe we flipped the purpose of this. This was never a teacher employment program and this was never an industry to hire superintendents and teachers. This was a program to educate kids.”
Responding to a union member who said he represents students, Cuomo said, “No you don’t. You represent the teachers. Teacher salaries, teacher pensions, teacher tenure, teacher vacation rights. I respect that. But don’t say you represent the students.”
Many parents are concerned about the undue influence of powerful WEA union in Washington’s public schools. Teachers must pay about $1,000 a year to the union or be fired. Low-performing teachers with seniority are retained, while high-performing younger teachers are let go during layoffs. Each fall, children are denied access to public schools because of local strikes, as happened in communities like Tacoma, Kent, Bellevue, Marysville, Bellingham, and a recently-threatened strike in Seattle. The role of unions has become so problematic it has prompted the concern of even prominent liberal leaders like Governor Cuomo of New York.
As Governor Cuomo said, we will not improve education for children until the public fully understands the role of unions in public education.
