Irrational Exuberence

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One of the stories in education this week has been the final settlement of the WEA v. Evergreen Freedom Foundation lawsuit regarding union dues being spent on politics; the releavant press release from the EFF here and here. They spent a lot of time and effort on this effort, and I don't begrudge them their satisfaction, but the case is being a bit overstated. For example, from an email that I received this morning:

But the $1.2 million in penalties and restitution was the least of the union’s losses. The union also suffered a major blow to its reputation as the entity that claims it's "all about the kids." Few people, policy folks, or members of the media believe that any longer. Over the last ten years the number of teachers who voluntarily give to the union's PAC has plummeted and remains very low.

Truth is, over the last 5 years the number of teachers who voluntarily give to the union's PAC has increased dramatically. We're now at about 25,000 WEA-PAC members statewide. A scant few of years ago, it was less than 10,000. Given that one of the bigger membership drives is the time right up to Rep Assembly next month, WEAPAC could be tickling 30,000 members right soon. I'm betting there are more than a few groups around the state who would love to have that kind of membership.

In the years since Davenport was decided in January of 2007, the WEA was at the front lines of getting the simple majority for school levies passed, did quite well in the 2008 elections, got absolutely creamed in the 2009 legislative session, and recovered nicely this year to win legislative battles on levy equalization and school reform. It's very hard to look at what they have accomplished and declare that their reputation is damaged beyond the veil; the current Race to the Top fad is constructed for union input, much to the consternation of some.

The beat goes on.

Read more here, if any.

The EFF Tries a Podcast

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation recently put out their first ever podcast, which is pretty good for a first effort. They also have a new video channel, like the WEA does, and if this was a different decade where a man could get away with saying such things I'd go so far as to call their host strikingly beautiful.

(Factcheck on the podcast: very few locals charge $1000 a year total in dues. There are also many locals that don't charge a percentage of the paycheck. This I know, because I've been studying how locals charge their dues for a project I'm working on)

I'm not a member--when it comes to their "free market will solve anything!" tripe I'm not even a fan--but as an observer of the education system I think it needs to be understood that the EFF is a part of the chorus, and they have a message that resonates with many. I'll be adding the podcast to my RSS feeder.

Read more here, if any.

Ain't No Publicity Like Bad Publicity!

I'm unabashedly a union guy, but I've also been pretty honest about the fact that there are things that go on at the state level that drive me bat*hit crazy. This time, though, it's not the WEA that's making us all look bad, but the Vancouver Education Association. From The Columbian:

It's bad enough that public schoolteachers are required to pay union dues as a condition of their employment in Washington state. It's bad enough that educators' mandatory union dues end up funding ideological stances that some dues-payers abhor and that often have nothing to do with education or kids.

But enough is never enough when it comes to unions that are allowed to gather compulsory dues from teachers. And when a Vancouver middle school teacher, Susan Wiggs, went to the lengths of declaring a religious objection with the union -- which at least allows her dues to be diverted to a nonreligious charity -- union leaders still insisted on dictating how her money would be spent.

It's not right. And we hope the Public Employment Relations Commission helps Wiggs when her case is heard next month. Better yet, the union standing in her way should step aside and offer an apology for being so stubborn.

Background from the EFF here, another take here. The general gist is that the VEA didn't want Ms. Wiggs' money to go to this particular charity because of it's association with arch-conservative Linda Smith; if that's the real story, then this is one of the stupidest moves I've seen an association make in quite some time.

Read more here, if any.

Union Dues and Union Don’ts

Got a flyer in the mail last week from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation relating to the union dues lawsuit that will be argued before SCOTUS January 10th which I’ve previously blogged about here. It’s got quotes from newspapers around the country (DC, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas) supporting the EFF’s position; I think it would perhaps be a more effective flyer for Washington State residents if they had quoted more Washington State papers. They did get the Seattle Times, but the Spokane Spokesman-Review, Tacoma News-Tribune, and Seattle Post-Intelligencer are notable omissions.

One area where the EFF is definitely outmaneuvering the WEA is in getting their case out on this issue. The EFF has set up a dedicated website and a blog to go with it; you have to do some mining to find anything on the WEA’s homepage about the issue. Advantage EFF, but it’s not the court of public opinion that matters here.

Read more here, if any.