Teacher Unions Rally To Take Over Mayor's Education Forums

You know that when some unions start making the following dire warnings,  something really serious must be going on. Here's the latest from the Alaska Public Employees Association: "There is a concerted effort underway in our state to destroy public education while enriching the bottom lines of for-profit interests." Well, my goodness. What are they talking about? Slashed federal funding? Burning text books? Schools closing their doors?

Not exactly. The "concerted effort to destroy public education" the unions are referencing in their "call to action" emails to members is the Mayor's Education Summit, an event organized by Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan. The event, which is currently inviting residents to sign up for community meetings to discuss education reform, is designed to put all kinds of ideas about how to improve student performance on the table. Teachers, parents, business leaders, students, and anyone else who wants to come is welcome to attend one of the six sessions being held this month.

So, of course the education unions are freaking out. Big time. They are sending emails to their members (read: teachers and others with an ASD paycheck) imploring them to sign up so that public education isn't "destroyed" when normal, everyday citizens have the audacity to (maybe) make recommendations for how local schools could improve and better serve their students.

We don't need to go into the details of why the unions are losing their minds over even the idea of people gathering together as a community to discuss how half of their property taxes are spent. It's so blatantly obvious they fear losing head count if some modicum of performance measures were ever implemented in our local schools (the horror!), that's it's a waste of time even to elaborate. So, let's cut to the chase.

If you are a conservative, or even someone with no political affiliation but who has become increasingly concerned about the exploding growth of the school district budget while producing continually mediocre results, you need to do your civic duty and attend one of the sessions. They start this week, and with six locations from Eagle River to South Anchorage and all spaces in between, everyone should be able to find the time to participate in one of the three-hour sessions.

As you can see from the dramatic, shrill emails being sent by union leaders (while on the clock and on district computers- can they do that?) the "preserve the status quo at all costs" folks will be out in force to make sure their interests are protected from an informed citizenry trying to create a better education for local students. So, do your part. Visit www.muni.org/educationsummit and sign up. Have a voice in how our students can get the best education possible, and make sure the self-serving and disingenuous unions don't drown out calls for real, meaningful education reform.