EIA hopes all of you will vote tomorrow, whatever your leanings, and encourages you to pay a little more attention to your local races —  particularly those for school board — than you might otherwise. 

The National Education Association continues to fight the "union" vs. "professional association" battle, with results that often range from confusing to contradictory... even in the same state. With the proposed merger with AFT now on the back burner, NEA President Bob Chase has returned to highlighting new unionism in his speeches and editorials. The latest issue of NEA Today contains a story about the work of the Edmonds Education Association in Washington State. The local union has developed a "trust agreement" with school administrators that includes greater collaboration on decisions and an end to seniority-based transfers for teachers. The Seattle Education Association has similar language in its contract. 

But while all this is going on, the Washington Education Association held an  organizational work session last month that indicates the state union will be working in the direction of old unionism. "As a result of that meeting," reads a short report from the representatives of WEA-Riverside, "there will be one primary focus that occupies the energies of WEA in the near future. That's the compensation of our members." [emphasis in original] 

WEA evidently made its focus quite clear. "For too long we have tried to solve all the problems of education for the entire extended education community," the report explains. "If it isn't necessary or directly related to the attainment of increased compensation, we won't be doing it." 
 
In California, everyone knows about the vast number of full-time teachers working with emergency credentials. Less well-known is that the state now has over 40,000 substitute teachers working on emergency credentials and will soon allow college seniors who are education majors to serve as subs. 

The increased use of Ritalin, a mild stimulant used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder, is beginning to receive equally increased scrutiny. Yesterday, a forum was held in Richmond, Virginia, which included supporters and opponents of the drug. About 2 million children use Ritalin daily. Dr. David Stein, associate professor of psychology at Longwood College, believes the drug is being abused, citing the tenfold increase in Ritalin overdoses in children ages 10 to 14. "Ritalin has become a popular street drug. Teens are smoking and injecting it," said Stein. "A responsible adult would be denied these drugs, but a poor child will be fed these like candy." 

NEA's report on the vast right-wing education conspiracy has filtered down to the state affiliates and has started to appear in their publications. The Iowa State Education Association helpfully provided the web addresses of a number of the evil groups. Now organizations like the Eagle Forum, Heritage Foundation and National Right to Work Committee will be able to indirectly judge the report's effect by counting the number of hits from Iowa education Internet servers. 

Some candidates for the South Orange County (Calif.) Community College board have the unusual distinction of receiving campaign help from both the conservative Education Alliance and the local chapter of the California Teachers Association. The local union's PAC paid for campaign fliers supporting Donald Wagner and Nancy Padberg. Wagner told the Orange County Register he was unaware of the union support. "The teachers' union? I would seriously doubt they would support a conservative Republican like me," said Wagner. 

Local union leaders have not explained their decision, prompting some to see ulterior motives. "It's simple," said Irvine Valley College professor Brenda Borron. "It's the buying and selling of board members. They will do anything to keep control of the board majority." Opponents suggest the union is convinced the endorsed candidates will support union policies, despite ideological rhetoric to the contrary. 

Former California Democratic Party chairman and current host of CNN's Crossfire Bill Press called the religious right "the most dangerous force in America today" in an address to the Wisconsin Education Association Council's convention last week. "It's just that their religion is so narrow and it's so mean and it's so ugly and it's so intolerant and it's so un-Christian. They don't practice what Christ preaches," Press told the assembled delegates at a breakfast event. 

Left at the Altar: The Teachers' Union Merger and the Prospects for Education Reform was the subject of a front-page story in Education Daily last week. NEA and its affiliates tended to pooh-pooh the report's description of pro-merger strong-arm tactics. "We don't send faxes telling our states what to do," NEA spokeswoman Kathleen Lyons told reporter William J. Cahir. "It's not like that and it's never been like that." Copies of the report 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. 

Another non-education story from my past has risen from the dead. Back in March 1995, I wrote a story entitled "The strange career of John Carpenter" about the famous horror film director. In 1978, Carpenter's film "Halloween" grossed $40 million on a $320,000 budget. Since that time, however, his films have consistently failed to draw profits or good reviews. I questioned how Carpenter continued to raise money for his films when his string of flops reached an even dozen with the atrocious "Escape from LA." My conclusion was that it might have something to do with his far-left politics and anti-Catholicism. This weekend, Carpenter has seemingly extended his streak to 13 with "John Carpenter's Vampires." Here are a few adjectives the nation's movie critics used to describe it: overpackaged, tasteless, awful, delusional, styleless, silly, dead, ridiculous, and junk. 

Unsurprising Headline of the Week: "Schools need more money, union official says" — Associated Press, Wisconsin. 

Quote of the Week: "At a time when it is popular to distrust data and adopt the view that statistics can be made to support any stance, we believe that ignoring the hard realities that education statistics often present does a tremendous disservice to our children and our communities." — Gary Hoachlander, Karen Levesque, and David R. Mandel, associates of the Berkeley, California-based think tank mpr Associates Inc., writing in Education Week.