It’s a fight over one word – “must” student tests be a part of a teacher’s evaluation, or “can” such statewide tests be considered at the school district’s discretion?
The union leaders representing teachers are fighting hard against the word “must”, even at a cost of control over about $40 million for our public schools. As Washington Policy Center education expert Liv Finne points out, this is not the first time that the union has led the fight against money for schools.
Perhaps even more incredulously, a lobbyist for the WEA of the union said schools have “a huge amount of money” from federal grants that they could use to cover the loss of control over the $38 million.
It remains to be seen, as the legislature stumbles towards its scheduled adjournment tomorrow, whether Democrat legislators will stand up to one of their biggest campaign contributors and cast a common-sense vote. As The New Tribune opined, failure would be hard to explain to voters:
“Lawmakers can find excuses, run out the clock, stay on the good side of the teachers union – and throw away those millions of dollars. But for the local schools they’d be putting at risk, the consequences may be greater than anyone realizes.”
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