In six weeks there will be a little-followed election that could help determine the path for education reform in the United States for a long time to come. At issue is whether a local school board has the authority to tell the government employee union—you know, the forces of darkness that are preventing commonsense education reform in our schools? -- to take a hike.
In July 2012, that’s exactly what Douglas County, Colorado school board decided. After months of negotiations the school board reached an impasse with the union as their contract expired.
Previously the union has demanded that the school district pick up the salaries of the union executives, deduct union dues automatically and force teachers to buy only the union’s professional liability insurance.
“Teacher unions in 20 Colorado school districts have spent more than $5.8 million in taxpayer dollars on union activities in the past five years,” reported Heartland on the basis of an analysis from the Denver Post, “from union presidents’ salaries to paid teacher days off. Collective bargaining agreements between unions and these districts compelled tax funding beyond the dues collected from teacher payrolls.”
Added to the normal union nonsense that one encounters in public schools, the district in Douglas County decided to go on their own without any intermediary between the teachers and district.
The district sent out individual contracts to teachers who almost unanimously signed them and sent them back.
Oh, and the teachers got fairly significant raises.
Yes, at a time when other school districts are laying off teachers and forcing teachers to take pay cuts, Douglas County School District—without a union-- was able to actually increase teacher pay while retaining teachers as well.
In fact, financially the district has never done better. That’s one of the union talking points too. They are miffed that the district’s “fund balance” (think “cash in the bank”) has grown from around $21 million to over $83 million.
Union stooges promise to change the way the school district does business, even including the fact that the district has done a great job building up the fiscal resources of the district as seen in their own flyer above
Bill Hodges, one of the union stooges running to replace a real reformer, promises he "will change the way we do business as a district." Yeah, I bet he does. He'd be happier if the district was in the red.
Hilarious if they weren't serious. And people wonder why government can't seem to get out of its own way.
The district is in the black at a time when other districts are making severe cutbacks. To paraphrase Robert Kennedy "Some people see budget surpluses and ask why? Other people see budget surpluses and ask why the hell every government is not doing the same thing?"
So you can see why the AFL–CIO has been up in arms.
Not only has life gone on without the union, life has gotten substantially better for teachers.
Imagine the consequences for every school district if unions allowed other school districts to kick the unions out of the district without any consequences.
The AFL-CIO, and their progressive allies- the same folks who tried to ban guns in Colorado- have dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Douglas County to try to take over the board.
And quite simply, that makes this the most important election in 2013.
Judging by the four-color postcards that I’ve received in the mail, the flyers that I found on my car, and the door-to-door activity that I witnessed personally, the union certainly thinks this is the most important election in the country in 2013.
And while Douglas County is reliably a Republican county, that doesn’t necessarily mean that reform-minded, conservative candidates will win this election.
School board elections are traditionally “nonpartisan” affairs.
That makes it easy for union stooges from the AFL-CIO to pretend like they are conservative reformers.
In any event, they are pretending they are conservatives.
Gone is the radical language of Barack Obama-inspired progressivism; in are key buzzwords that come from conservative constituencies like transparency, fiscal responsibility and taxes.
Of course it’s all lies. What would liberals be without their delusions, their lies, and their tricks?
Honest, that’s what.
And this is a time they can’t afford honesty.
The Union is at STAKE!
There's a reason why voters across the nation have turned their eyes to Colorado in recent weeks. Colorado is Ground Zero in the battle against Progressives. It's almost inconceivable that we will get this country turned around if we don't first turn around Colorado.
Send help. Now.