The Voucher Wars continue...

Last Tuesday, Milwaukee hosted two rallies on school choice: one pro-voucher, one anti- voucher. U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. addressed the anti-voucher rally, claiming "The crowd who lost the Civil War is now running thefederal government..." (Jefferson Davis and Southern Democrats?) Congressman Jackson's appreciation of public education comes second-hand. He is a graduate of St. Alban's, an elite Protestant prep school in the District of Columbia.

Martin Carnoy, professor of education and economics at Stanford University, wrote an article entitled "Lessons of Chile's Voucher Reform Movement" for Corporate Watch. Carnoy's piece, while slanted against vouchers, is nevertheless reasoned and scholarly. This contrasts sharply with the way the article was promoted by the Pennsylvania State Education Association: "Who supports vouchers? How about former military dictator of Chile, alleged torturer Augusto Pinochet?"

Recent developments in education require us to ask a question that would have seemed self-explanatory years ago: What is a public school? The answer will have enormous ramifications for the future of education in America — with positive and negative consequences for both sides of the choice debate. Is a public school simply a school funded by the public? Would not then public funding (through vouchers) turn private schools into public schools? Is a public school merely a school regulated by the public through its representatives? Does that make a charter school less of a public school?

Or is a public school, as suggested by National Education Association specialist Sheila Simmons, a school that is open to all members of the public? "Public education is all about access," Simmons told the Houston Chronicle. "Our doors are open." But that definition runs into the brick wall of public schools like Brookline High in Massachusetts. Boston Globe columnist Eileen McNamara reported the school hosted a $10,000-a-head alumni cocktail party in an effort to create a $10 million endowment. Attendees included former Gov. Michael Dukakis and TV host Conan O'Brien. Are Brookline High's doors open? Or is it a private school?

The proposed merger between NEA and AFT may seem like yesterday's news, but both sides continue to advance their agendas in an effort to gain an upper hand in the next round. The merging of NEA and AFT state affiliates in Minnesota prompted AFT President Sandra Feldman to laud "a wonderful and important turning point [in] creating a critical mass of people" in support of national merger. NEA's Advisory Committee on Unity met for the fourth time last week and will meet again on January 6 and 7. The committee has reportedly begun work on the state merger guidelines to be presented to next year's Representative Assembly for approval.

Meanwhile, the anti-merger states are not sleeping. At the last NEA Board of Directors meeting, an Indiana director introduced a motion to require NEA publications to "follow the highest standards of journalistic fairness when dealing with issues that are in debate in the association or are to be decided at a Representative Assembly of the National Education Association." Officials from anti-merger states felt that NEA headquarters inappropriately used official publications to promote merger before the vote last July. The Indiana motion was referred to committee.

The NEA Board also passed a motion to have the national headquarters divulge its recruitment and retention plan, with particular emphasis on states "battling organizations other than the AFT." This seems to indicate that alternative teachers' associations (and other unions) are causing heightened concern within some NEA state affiliates. Expect the big guns to surface in states like Georgia, Missouri, Texas, New Jersey and Iowa.

The New Jersey Education Association wants to organize the faculty at Rutgers University, currently represented by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). A mass e-mailing by NJEA to the 4,100 Rutgers faculty members triggered an electronic mess, as many of the professors' replies, both positive and negative, were also sent to the entire list. Spamming complaints turned into spam themselves. "It turned into a rather large-scale community conversation so that a lot of people, including us, were overwhelmed by the volume," explained Christopher Berzinski, NJEA's UniServ director who organized the mailing. "They (NJEA) shot themselves in the foot," said Patricia Reeling, president of Rutgers' AAUP affiliate.

The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, an Ohio think tank featured prominently in NEA's conspiracy report, issued a study that revealed details of the compensation afforded to staffers of the Ohio Education Association. The Buckeye study prompted OEA President Mike Billirakis to send a letter to local affiliate presidents to help them "answer members' questions." After claiming the study was trying to "drive a wedge between members and staff," Billirakis wrote that members "have been willing to provide the compensation necessary to attract and retain highly-skilled, highly-specialized people."

Billirakis' defense of staff perks flies in the face of his views of just a year ago. In bitter negotiations with the OEA staff union, Billirakis reportedly presented a contract offer with 40 "take backs" then walked away from the table. Billirakis offered one-time bonuses (teachers' unions routinely reject one-time bonuses to force permanent increases in the salary structure). "It was the most amazing document I have ever read — considering it was a proposal by a union to its staff," said one Ohio staffer. Another staffer said, "Management's line has been that ‘it's taking back the association from staff.'" The staffers went on a month-long strike, picketing OEA headquarters the entire time and inspiring a series of embarrassing newspaper stories. Sounds like Billirakis is the wedge that's calling the kettle black.

Disturbing Simile of the Week: In the December 9 Los Angeles Times, Richard Lee Colvin described a recent study by David Marsh and Judy Codding. "Their central recommendation is to make high schools less like shopping malls...," Colvin wrote. At the same time, the December 14 issue of Newsweek contained the following remark: "Tomorrow's school, as it turns out, may remind parents more of a sleek shopping mall..."

Quote of the Week: "As far as the government involvement in education is concerned, the first issue that ought to be faced is not the one of vouchers for schools but the issue of compulsory schooling." — Economist Milton Friedman, father of the school voucher concept, in a soon-to-be-published interview in School Reform News.