Legislators, Teachers Need to Think of Kids First

Progressives berate Republicans for being pawns of special interests. And rightly so. But they damage their credibility by not being just as tough on Democrats for kowtowing to teachers' unions which become apoplectic at the mention of vouchers, charter schools, merit pay and other education reforms. Besides, what could be more progressive than the economic freedom to choose your child's school?

Don't get me wrong. I'd love to see education resources quadrupled, with teachers raking in salaries their noble profession deserves. But don't tell me, as unions insist, that simply throwing more money in the same pit will fix public schools. Likewise, proposed reforms and standardized testing are not panaceas for what ails education.

Republican legislators in Tallahassee, yanking back on the reins by tying teacher pay to student performance and making it easier to release teachers by undermining tenure, had best be careful, in their partisan frenzy, to not toss out the baby -- good teachers -- with the bathwater. So too, teachers' unions need to remind themselves they're not the carpenters' or the service employees' unions simply scrabbling for higher benefits and better working conditions. This isn't some pissing contest. These are our kids and grandkids; our country's future!

Much is made by teachers of having to "teach to the test," claiming it diminishes students' creativity and spontaneity. Sure, those are important attributes but without substance to back them up they're nothing more than impulsive twaddle. Everyone agrees there's specific stuff students should know, so what's wrong with finding out if they know it? If standardized testing "gets in the way of learning," it's not the testing that's wrong, it's the wrong test.

However, there's a distinction between standardized tests and standardized consequences. Teachers shouldn't be evaluated and rewarded only on test results but also on a formula that accounts for the particular school's funding and demographics, level of parental participation and overall student performance. Also, the individual teacher's professional development, tested competency, demonstrated classroom skills and peer review (with a built-in appeals process) that ties pay raises to merit and protects teachers and academic freedom from arbitrary abuses.

Several years ago, I wrote the only person who successfully can "jawbone" this issue would be a future Democratic president with impeccable liberal credentials to allay the fears of unions. It would be a Nixon goes to China moment. Thankfully President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have made a good start on that prediction with their $4 billion Race to the Top initiative. It's lamentable for Florida students that their teachers and legislators weren't willing to cooperate with each other as were those in Delaware and Tennessee which were awarded grants. Shame on them.