Consider the following statement:
“The National Education Association’s decision on Friday to begin the formal process of endorsing President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign may be the most vivid demonstration to date of the political benefits of the stimulus package passed by the president.”
That statement came from a reporter at the very left-leaning Huffington Post. Even Arianna Huffington’s people recognize the stimulus package, which provided billions to America’s public schools, which in turn provided millions in dues to the national teachers unions, as “simple politics.”
So we have to ask ourselves: What did we get for the money? Tens of thousands of teachers remain employed, the unions reaped tens of millions in dues, but what was the return on the investment for taxpayers and students.
The answer is very little. As we’ve seen over and over again, government education dollars are for the teachers and their unions, not the kids who are supposed to be learning.
In Feb. 2009, Vice President Biden back told Delaware union leaders they had all the tools – ie. more money – necessary to fix the system. Using gun imagery before it was uncool, Biden told his audience:
“We’ve been given all the ammunition. If we shoot and miss, if we squander the opportunity, tell me how long you think it’s going to take for another American president to go and ask for more dollars to correct the education system.”
More from the News Journal article:
Citing about $105 billion that is coming to the U.S. Department of Education from the federal stimulus package, Biden said teachers will finally have the means to improve education.
“You’ve got a president and vice president absolutely committed to having all the tools you need to finally get it right in American public education.”