Teachers Union Conventions Reflect Common (Core) Frustrations
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At national conventions of the two major teacher unions this month, controversy flared over the Common Core, a standardized curriculum largely funded by the privatizers at the Gates Foundation.
Motions at the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers proposed to resist the program because of its link to standardized testing.
In the AFT, two militant locals, the Chicago Teachers Union and United Teachers Los Angeles, led the Common Core fight. There were competing motions, with the passage of the weaker one reflecting the position of AFT President Randi Weingarten that Common Core is viable if it’s not connected to standardized testing. While there were not equivalent motions at the NEA Assembly, the debate on Common Core was still very vigorous, especially concerning its funding by the Gates Foundation. (See also A Teacher Decodes Common Core.)
With 3 million members, the NEA is still the nation’s largest union, though its ranks have thinned in recent years because of layoffs and anti-union legislation. It drew 7,100 delegates to mile-high Denver, down from 10,000 a decade ago. The smaller AFT came together the following week in Los Angeles, with half as many delegates.
New NEA officers were selected: Vice President Lily Eskelsen Garcia will replace outgoing President Dennis Van Roekel, reflecting the usual stairway to power. There was only one other candidate on the ballot, and little threat of real competition. No change at the top in AFT, where Weingarten was reelected.
Weingarten also attended the NEA assembly. One reason for her dual attendance is overlapping membership: AFT’s largest local, New York City’s United Federation of Teachers, is in both unions. So are a number of state affiliates, such as Minnesota’s, and locals, including UTLA and United Educators of San Francisco.
Astute NEA members noted the union’s growing links to the Service Employees, which has an increasing number of members in the education sector. SEIU President Mary Kay Henry was the keynote speaker on the assembly’s final day. Photo: Rick Runion/NEA.
Ties to Democrats
Top issues at both conventions included the standardized testing regime, the impact of charter schools, the implementation of No Child Left Behind, and Race to the Top’s funding incentives for restructuring.
Several motions, mainly from California, called for transparency about NEA’s alliances, including teacher training Teachers Union Conventions Reflect Common (Core) Frustrations | PopularResistance.Org: