Comments on: Teacher Contracts: Blame States, Too

By: Pajamas Media » Candidates Flip-Flop on Education

Pajamas Media » Candidates Flip-Flop on Education — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:52:49 +0000

[...] your pay depends on what kind of assignment you take on and how well you perform. One of the main dysfunctions in the current system is that teachers are paid on a factory-worker scale where they don’t [...]

By: Pajamas Media » When Good Teaching = Higher Salaries

Pajamas Media » When Good Teaching = Higher Salaries — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:08:14 +0000

[...] the government school system is shot through with featherbedding, rewards for mediocrity, and absolute job protection for even the worst teachers, all courtesy of your friendly neighborhood teachers’ union. But in most places these [...]

By: tft

tft — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:23:46 +0000

And look at how well the economy did, and how little income disparity there is, all because of the private sector! Look at that private sector go!

You seem very sure the problem with education is teachers. But then you say teachers deserve higher pay for more responsibility? Huh? Pay us more so you can blame us more righteously?

Why is it that my kid, who goes to an needs-improvement school, does very well? Its because of his parents. I think we need to look at families, and what they need to succeed; we do not need to look at how to make firing teachers easier.

By: Jay P. Greene

Jay P. Greene — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:50:11 +0000

Another problem for the unions with focusing on the statehouse is that the benefits of their efforts would extend to all teachers in the state, regardless of whether those teachers were members and paid dues. Unions aren’t really in the policy business; they are in the dues collection business. Focusing on the statehouse would hurt dues by encouraging free-riders.

On the other side of the equation, placing union desired policies in state law reduces the opportunities for competition between districts to push against their efforts. Just as competition among companies eroded unproductive union policies in the private sector, competition among districts has some of the same effect. There is less competition between states than between districts, so unions are more likley to prevail over time at the state level.