Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, August 12, 2016

Why Unionizing Charter School Teachers is STILL a Bad Idea

Why Unionizing Charter School Teachers is STILL a Bad Idea:

Why Unionizing Charter School Teachers is STILL a Bad Idea

Little red school house with colorful numbers

There is a growing call for teachers in charter schools to get union representation. I disagree. There are too many charter schools that fail, and many are now designed for online competency-based instruction.
I know that there are some good charters. There are also young people who come from fast-track programs, like Teach for America, who are committed to children. But that doesn’t make charters real public schools, and it doesn’t make these young people real teachers either.
We need strong public schools and real career teachers. We need authentic democratic public schools that are owned by the people. Any good charter school should run as an alternative school with oversight by the school district. The school should be owned by the taxpayers.
Here is an updated post from two years ago when I broached this topic. I welcome Why Unionizing Charter School Teachers is STILL a Bad Idea: