Weingarten Calls for ‘Common Ground’ Solutions to Brunt Impact of Financial Crisis on Schools

by Mike Hall, Nov 18, 2008

Jobs, home foreclosures, failing banks and falling stocks are often the focus of today’s economic discussions. But as AFT President Randi Weingarten reminds us, an often overlooked impact of the nation’s financial crisis is its effect on education.

Faced with declining tax revenues, state and local governments are cutting back on their most essential investment—educating the next generation. This disinvestment in education may help states and local government’s bottom lines this year. But it places our economy in a race to the bottom for years to come.

Speaking before an audience of lawmakers, education policy experts and union leaders at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., yesterday (see video), Weingarten outlined proposals to improve public education that would also make a long-term investment in the nation’s lagging economy. She signaled a willingness to find solutions on several long-standing controversial issues.

Among those in attendance were Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt, mentioned in news reports as a possible secretary of education in the new Obama administration, and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who introduced Weingarten.

Offering what she called the “first step” in finding common ground among parents, teachers, school administrators, lawmakers and business leaders, Weingarten said:

With the exception of vouchers, which siphon scarce resources from public schools, no issue should be off the table, provided it is good for children and fair to teachers.

Some of the issues that long have been flash points in negotiations but are on the table are tenure, differential pay and teacher assignments. But she also warned that scapegoating teachers and their unions for shortcomings in the nation’s education system—as many patricians and commentators do,

won’t improve one more school, educate one more child, or recruit and retain one more outstanding teacher. When education reform is done without teachers’ input, it is doomed to failure. When education reform is done with teachers, it is destined for success.

Think of a teacher who is staying up past midnight to prepare her lesson plan…a teacher who is paying for equipment out of his own pocket so his students can conduct science experiments….These are the people the AFT represents. Make no mistake about it—when you attack us, you attack them.

Weingarten called for full funding of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which the Bush administration has failed to do for eight years. But she also said it has “served as stand-in” for real discussions about state and national education policies needed to prepare and equip students with the ever-increasing skills, knowledge and adaptability for the 21st century.

She outlined a 10 Point Smart Investment in Education proposal that lawmakers and school districts can act on immediately.

1. Provide universal early childhood education, starting with low-income children.
2. Prepare young people for high-skill, high-demand “green jobs.
3. Provide a boost to high-achieving students from low-income households.
4. Offer high-quality educational choices within the public school system.
5. Focus intensely on improving low-performing schools.
6. Establish community schools that serve the neediest children by bringing together services that they and their families need.
7. Ensure that every school facility is a place where teachers can teach and students can learn.
8. Expand teacher induction so that new teachers are not left to sink or swim.
9. Create an online teacher resource network with information on curriculum, lesson plans and source documents to enhance teaching.
10. Offer every student a well-rounded education that would stand in stark contrast to the “standardized test score competition” that has resulted from NCLB.

Many of theses AFT initiatives are already showing results in schools across the country, where AFT and school officials have implemented them.

In Los Angeles County’s ABC Unified School District, the local teachers union in partnership with the school district implemented an intensive literacy program at the district’s six most underperforming schools. The six are also the schools with the highest percentage of students from poverty and are 97 percent Latino and 65 percent are English language learners. Not only have reading and overall scores risen dramatically, but three schools won the Governor’s Performance Award for growth in reading skills.

Click here to read more success stories from Boston, Chicago, New York City, St. Paul, Minn., and Toledo, Ohio.

Click here to read Weingarten’s entire speech.

		Become a Fan on Facebook			Follow Us on Twitter			Subscribe to YouTube			Subscribe to Blog RSS

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (1)