The Washington Education Association (WEA) is launching a full-scale attack on the Republican-controlled state Senate. The money-grabbing teachers union admits as much in a recent tweet that claims teachers are voting to strike against the Senate Republicans — not the House Democrats —education-funding approach.
Last month, the WEA launched a highly deceptive radio ad that attacked Senate Republicans for their no-new-taxes, balanced budget. Emails by the WEA and local teachers unions attempt to justify the illegal teachers strikes by… attacking Senate Republicans.
The “attack Republicans exclusively” strategy reveals quite a lot about the WEA’s true intentions. The WEA claims the illegal teachers strikes are about “the children” and bettering our state’s education system. If that were true—if the WEA truly believes that the $2.7 billion increase in education funding proposed by Senate Republicans does not do enough for “the children”—it would not exclusively attack Republicans.
The House Democrats provide just as much—or just as little, in the eyes of the WEA—funding to education in their budget. And, just like the Republican budget, Democrats restrict funding for the WEA’s “smaller class sizes” initiative (I-1351) to Kindergarten through the 3rd grade, where studies show a difference could be seen.
The WEA is not, in fact, concerned with “the children.” It’s concerned about what it’s always been concerned about: itself. That’s why the WEA is making a political point with its highly partisan attack strategy. The WEA knows that Democrats will bend to its will with a show of political force—it donates millions to Democrat candidates every election cycle to preserve its influence. Democrats have placed the WEA’s demands ahead of their constituents’ needs before, and the WEA knows that—with a little push—they’ll do it again. Republicans, on the other hand, present the real problem to the WEA growing its forced-dues donor base, hence the ridiculous attacks.
The WEA’s influence is already visible among the top ranks of our state’s Democrats. Earlier this week, Jay Inslee adopted the union’s messaging strategy by refusing to call the recent illegal teachers’ strikes for what they are… strikes. Rather, our green governor chose to use wording that was likely provided to him in talking points from the union, claiming that the strikes are not strikes, but “protests.” Of course, this isn’t the first time Inslee has catered to teachers unions at the expense of working families and children, and—as the WEA knows—it won’t be the last.
You can check out the tweet below.
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