NEA President Bob Chase and Vice President Reg Weaver will apparently run unopposed for re- election in 1999 — thereby insuring a dull Representative Assembly next July in Orlando.

The California Teachers Association's political spending doesn't seem to have been slowed by the June campaign against Proposition 226, the paycheck protection initiative. To date, the union has donated over $600,000 to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gray Davis and almost $740,000 to Proposition 1A, a $9 billion school bond initiative. Through Oct. 19, the union has donated $5.2 million of the $5.6 million collected by Parents, Teachers, Cops, and Taxpayers Against Prop. 8 (the remaining donors don't seem to include any "cops," and the "parents" and "taxpayers" all seem to work for the public school system). Proposition 8 is a multi-faceted education reform proposal backed by Gov. Pete Wilson. Another $88,500 was donated last week, and the CTA State Council approved $3.5 million in additional spending on 1A and 8. All told, CTA's political spending for 1998 will easily surpass $20 million and may go much higher.

CTA's budget for the 1999-2000 school year will include an $11 dues increase, bringing the total of state dues to $410.

In a speech before NEA-New Mexico's delegate council, NEA President Bob Chase defended his union's political involvement. "These days, we have politicians who want to tell us what we can and cannot teach," Chase said, "politicians who want to cut public school funding, politicians who want tuition vouchers, and politicians who want to privatize public education." Chase explained that the greatest challenge teachers face is from politicians who want to abolish teachers' unions.

Columbus, Ohio, one of the bastions of new unionism, appears to be having trouble filling administrator slots. Furthermore, the problem is likely to get worse as more administrators plan to retire or return to the classroom. This is either very good or very bad news. Either the old guard, unable to handle the new, collaborative approach to administration, is leaving in droves, and will make way for progressive thinkers, or the new, collaborative approach isn't really all that collaborative.

If President Clinton signs the District of Columbia budget bill sent to him by Congress, he will permanently revoke NEA's exemption from property taxes in DC. NEA began paying taxes voluntarily last year after 91 years of living property tax-free due to its Congressional charter. Congress subsequently revoked NEA's tax-exempt status for last year alone. NEA's taxes will likely hit $1.6 million for this year.

Single copies of Left at the Altar: The Teachers' Union Merger and the Prospects for Education Reform are available free by calling The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation's toll-free number 1-888-TBF- 7474. The report is also posted on the foundation's web page www.edexcellence.net.

Quote of the Week: "Seems like you spew out as much propaganda as you claim we are all exposed to. If you were any kind of investigator you would know that the CTA elections manual expressly directs that no candidate should ever handle a ballot, other than their own. If there is any truth in what you say and the election is challenged, it will be overturned. You should do your homework... or do you really care about that? Perhaps you just like to shoot arrows from the woods, hiding in the trees." — Unsigned fax, apparently sent from the Diamond Bar, California, home of Brea Olinda Teachers Association activist John Carr Zoeckler, science (in particular, physics) teacher at Brea Olinda High School and former Teacher of the Year. Zoeckler serves on the California Teachers Association State Council and has since 1989, when he finished out the term of the previous representative. He sits on the council's Budget Committee. He is married.

How's that for homework?