Teachers Enemies are in BOTH Major Parties
As we watch, with excitement and some trepidation, how our Hero-BAT Love Light is being given national exposure because of her campaign trail encounter with Republican Gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, let us remember that there are two other Presidential aspirants in the New York Metropolitan area- both of them Democrats-whose positions on education issues are indistinguishable from that of Christie: New Jersey Senator elect Cory Booker, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. They may not engage in the kind of theatrical display of teacher bullying that Governor Cristie gave us, but attacks on teachers and teachers unions are integral part of the political formula they hope will elevate them to the White House and they draw funds and advisors from Astro Turf school reform groups the same way Cristie's does.
The lesson here- BATS must not let what happened to Love Light be spun into a partisan political message that makes it seem as though the major threat to teachers stems from the Republican Party. There are awful education policies being pushed by Republican governors in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina, to name a few, but let us