Sam Brownback is now
following the lead of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in trying to strip
teachers unions most of their power. Conservatives in office today want
teachers to feel as if they are expendable and easily replaced commodities.
Teachers are now fighting for their rights and dignity.
Kansas lawmakers have moved against the unions by barring them from using voluntary paycheck deductions for politics. This is actually a clear violation of the teacher’s free speech. In Kansas, Brownback and his flunkies seem to believe that winning elections makes them dictators who have to right and power to do anything they want regardless of anyone’s constitutional rights.
It’s clear that Brownback wants to keep the teacher’s unions out of politics. The main teacher’s union, the KNEA, opposed Brownback in the last election. Brownback has already been hard on Kansas education with massive cuts that have lead to many teachers being fired by school districts who are trying to make up for the funding cuts. Brownback’s present actions prove the KNEA was working in its best interest to oppose him. Of course Brownback doesn’t believe he should have to deal with organized opposition so he is just going to use his political power to kill it.
Our state politicians also try to elicit sympathy for their cause by claiming that they want to maximize the educational outcome for the children. That argument was reported in The Wichita Eagle in a quote by state Rep. Marvin Kleeb, an Overland Park Republican and chairman of the House commerce committee.
The Wichita Eagle also reported a 2011 poll done by Gallup and the education group PDK International revealed that the public thinks teacher unions hurt education. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed said they thought unions hurt the quality of education in the United States while 26 percent said they helped.
Kansas is a right to work state and many people here already hate unions. Kansans are mostly Republicans who believe that the rights of working people are at odds with those same people’s rights as consumers. They believe that teachers, who actually do the most important job in education, are actually an impediment to their children’s educational quality. They seem to believe that teaching is not really that hard.
As a person who works in education and works in a class room I can testify that teaching is difficult and extremely stressful.
The KNEA issued an article "There is a war on teachers in Kansas" on their website;
Kansas lawmakers have moved against the unions by barring them from using voluntary paycheck deductions for politics. This is actually a clear violation of the teacher’s free speech. In Kansas, Brownback and his flunkies seem to believe that winning elections makes them dictators who have to right and power to do anything they want regardless of anyone’s constitutional rights.
It’s clear that Brownback wants to keep the teacher’s unions out of politics. The main teacher’s union, the KNEA, opposed Brownback in the last election. Brownback has already been hard on Kansas education with massive cuts that have lead to many teachers being fired by school districts who are trying to make up for the funding cuts. Brownback’s present actions prove the KNEA was working in its best interest to oppose him. Of course Brownback doesn’t believe he should have to deal with organized opposition so he is just going to use his political power to kill it.
Our state politicians also try to elicit sympathy for their cause by claiming that they want to maximize the educational outcome for the children. That argument was reported in The Wichita Eagle in a quote by state Rep. Marvin Kleeb, an Overland Park Republican and chairman of the House commerce committee.
The Wichita Eagle also reported a 2011 poll done by Gallup and the education group PDK International revealed that the public thinks teacher unions hurt education. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed said they thought unions hurt the quality of education in the United States while 26 percent said they helped.
Kansas is a right to work state and many people here already hate unions. Kansans are mostly Republicans who believe that the rights of working people are at odds with those same people’s rights as consumers. They believe that teachers, who actually do the most important job in education, are actually an impediment to their children’s educational quality. They seem to believe that teaching is not really that hard.
As a person who works in education and works in a class room I can testify that teaching is difficult and extremely stressful.
The KNEA issued an article "There is a war on teachers in Kansas" on their website;
"Claiming that
the school boards speak for the teachers, Rep. Marvin Kleeb tried to justify
his behind closed doors meetings with superintendents and KASB which have
resulted in a unconscionable attack on teachers and their right to a voice in
the workplace.
Kansas Association of School Boards, the Kansas School Superintendents Association, and Rep. Kleeb believe that teachers must be silenced and their beliefs are apparent in Sub for House Bill 2027, rammed through Kleeb's House Committee on Commerce yesterday without any opportunity for input from those most affected by the bill - classroom teachers."
Kansas Association of School Boards, the Kansas School Superintendents Association, and Rep. Kleeb believe that teachers must be silenced and their beliefs are apparent in Sub for House Bill 2027, rammed through Kleeb's House Committee on Commerce yesterday without any opportunity for input from those most affected by the bill - classroom teachers."
Most likely this is
just the first wave of attacks on Kansas teachers. Seniority, decisions on
teaching, classroom assignments, medical benefits and many other attacks on the
rights and benefits of teachers have gone on across the country.
Most likely this is just
the first wave of attacks on Kansas teachers. Seniority, decisions on teaching,
classroom assignments, medical benefits and many other attacks on the rights
and benefits of teachers have gone on across the country.
According to The Wichita Eagle, New Jersey’s governor has branded the teacher’s unions as “political thugs.” They also wrote that a former federal education official has likened them to terrorists. We also have the actions of the main cheer leader for the war against teachers, Governor Scott Walker.
So what kind of a society would attack, belittle and demonize those who do the MAIN work in our children’s schools? We are starting a new century where education is now more important than ever. So our elected leaders in Kansas and elsewhere in the country are making huge budget cuts and trying to balance what money is left on the backs of teachers. The will eventually run off the most experienced teachers. In the end they will get what they are paying for and the voting public better beware.
According to The Wichita Eagle, New Jersey’s governor has branded the teacher’s unions as “political thugs.” They also wrote that a former federal education official has likened them to terrorists. We also have the actions of the main cheer leader for the war against teachers, Governor Scott Walker.
So what kind of a society would attack, belittle and demonize those who do the MAIN work in our children’s schools? We are starting a new century where education is now more important than ever. So our elected leaders in Kansas and elsewhere in the country are making huge budget cuts and trying to balance what money is left on the backs of teachers. The will eventually run off the most experienced teachers. In the end they will get what they are paying for and the voting public better beware.
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