Legislators in the State of Tennessee are taking the first steps to free their taxpayers, and more importantly, their children, from being held hostage to the teachers’ unions. I, for one, hope that all fifty States will follow, and the sooner the better!
If you agree, please contact your own State legislators!
As an aside, I can’t wait to see how the infamous libelblogger Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs will react to this attempt to roll back the progressive assault on our liberties. I am still laughing about his Tennessee Boer delusional moment, in which CJ thought he saw a neo-Nazi flag at a Tea Party rally – which turned out to be the flag of the State of Tennessee. CJ apparently mistook it for the flag of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. Yes, that’s mighty farfetched, but then, malignant narcissists see only what they want to see, not what the rest of us see.
(h/t: Iron Fist)
It looks like the leaders of the Tennessee Education Association are in for some sleepless nights.
But education reformers, taxpayers, parents and many dedicated teachers are celebrating the news that two Tennessee lawmakers have filed the initial paperwork to introduce a bill that would effectively eliminate teacher unions in the Volunteer State.
Even though Tennessee is a “right to work” state, state law gives public school teachers the right to collectively bargain with their local school board over issues such as working conditions, salaries and fringe benefits. No other public sector employees (such as firemen or police officers) have that privilege.
House Bill 130, sponsored by Rep. Debra Maggart, a Republican who represents Hendersonville, Gallatin and portions of Goodlettsville, and Rep. Glen Casada, Republican from College Grove, would prohibit “any local board of education from negotiating with a professional employees’ organization or teachers’ union concerning the terms or conditions of professional service on or after the effective date of this bill.”
In plain English, the bill would put the taxpayers back in charge of public education. Cash-strapped local school boards would be able to make spending decisions based on what’s best for children, instead of what will keep adult employees happy.
[…]
It would also give individual teachers the ability to negotiate directly with their administrators and school board. Teacher unions say that unionization is necessary for educators to be treated as professionals. The exact opposite is true. True professionals want to be rewarded for their individual performance, whereas the union’s fixation on tenure protection and seniority rules have the effect of treating teachers as interchangeable workers, no better and no worse than any other.
It terms of serious education reform, it appears that HB 130 is the tip of a very large iceberg. This group of state legislators also wants to end the practice of withholding union dues from teacher paychecks, and loosen the union’s power to appoint members to state boards.
Read it all.
