Bennett v. ISTA

Public Education Matters

4.30.10

Bennett v. ISTA

I understand that my state (Indiana) is not unique in its decision to not go for the second round of RttT funds. Several states have come to the conclusion, as I did, that the amount of money is just not even worth the bother. Even Arne Duncan in an interview on NPR’s Talk of the Nation more or less stated that the RttT money really is just a drop in the bucket over the entire US education budget. I gather from listening to a portion of the segment on the radio show that Mr. Duncan’s intent with RttT was not to touch existing programs but rather to stimulate the states to start thinking about doing other innovative things on top of what they were already doing. (Which is fine, except for his support for the firings of the Rhode Island teachers.)

Anyway, the rub seems to be that the states seemed to think of RttT either as a way to replace state funds that they were taking away OR they were taking this as license to try and destroy teacher’s unions, who in their eyes, get in the way of what they want to do.

My feeling is that in my state, our state superintendent Tony Bennett was trying to do both those things. Why do I think that? Well, ok, first, my state’s economy is like every other state’s economy --a bit “wonky” right now. Times are tough and well, I’m sure our Governor and Dr. Bennett thought it would be great to have money come in while they were taking money out. (Governor Daniels wishes to cut 300 million of state funds from education.)

Second, there has been this little “back and forth” between Dr. Bennett and the ISTA. Dr. Bennett says that the Union killed the second application because they refused to meet with him. And it’s slightly true, they did refuse to endorse his plan, but the reasons they refused were because he only opted to meet with them a. AFTER he realized that his first attempt where he didn’t even seek to work with the Union was one of the reasons his Fast Forward plan was rejected in the first round competition (before that he never even asked for input.) And b. when Dr. Bennett did realize he needed the Union support, he only offered a superficial “opportunity” to work together. (He invited the ISTA to meet in ONLY 1 work session and with the media present.) Basically, he wanted to them to sign a “blank check” with no time to meaningfully consider what they were signing.

And as I predicted, when the Union refused to be railroaded in this manner, Dr. Bennett played the blame game and said that it was all the Union’s fault that Indiana wouldn’t be applying. Also, as I predicted he had the state’s major media outlets in his back pocket with headlines bashing the ISTA.

I have to tell you that this all rings really hollow to me. I’ll tell you why. In between the time the first application was rejected and the time that Dr. Bennett “offered” his superficial “opportunity” to the ISTA to try to seek the second round application- when his first attempts to coerce the Union into endorsing his plan as written didn’t work- he up and decided to try and take it to the “streets.” He sent out an email to all of the state’s teachers saying he didn’t want to hear what the Ista had to say, he wanted to hear what we teachers had to say. He seemed to think that the ISTA did not in fact represent our thoughts and that we were somehow victims of the ISTA’s dictates.

I responded by sending Dr. Bennett a link to this blog, so that hopefully he could see that while the ISTA doesn’t tell me what to think, they do represent my interests. I very much resent that he seems to think that my thoughts and opinions are controlled by a Union or by anyone for that matter. I wished him to see that independently I personally questioned his Fast Forward Plan. ( You can read about his reactions to that in prior posts on this blog. )

Anyway, his request for our input without the ISTA seemed rather strange to me then when he pitched a fit to the press that the Union wouldn’t cooperate with him. Did he want anyone’s input really? Or did he just want to hear what he wanted to hear and when he didn’t hear it from the ISTA, he thought he’d try another tack? To use a “popular” internet expression- wth?

One of my colleagues in our state responded with a very sincere but “tongue in cheek” letter that is posted below. I applaud her for standing up and calling a “spade a spade.” But before you read that I’d like to cite the words of the 1993 Teacher of the year, Nancy Flanagan. She is from Michigan and she has a blog called “Teacher in a Strange Land.” The particular blog post from which this excerpt is from is called “The Union Label” It is not necessarily complimentary to teachers unions, but even so she does recognize that teachers unions do serve a purpose. I’m inserting this because I would like Dr. Bennett and the public to understand that while the unions may not be perfect, that they are in fact necessary and the solutions to public education’s issues and the solutions to our nation’s economic problems cannot be found by destroying the Unions. Without further ado, Ms. Flanagan…..

“Unions are sometimes the only bulwark between ill-advised policy and the little-understood complexities of good teaching practice. Unions unabashedly insist that teachers' skills and contributions are worth a great deal to society--and should be remunerated in kind. They do serve a purpose. Most of the hackneyed clichés about the evils of teacher unionism are muted by comparing academic outcomes and programs in strong-union states and right-to-work states. A non-union workforce may be more compliant, but they're not necessarily more professional.”

Now before I post the letter I mentioned above, I’d like to emphasize my belief that teachers unions are not the evil that I believe Dr. Bennett believes them to be. I believe that he doesn’t like them because they are not compliant to his or our Governor’s taste. I think Dr. Bennett and Mr. Daniel’s would very much like to operate in a state (or a world) where no one ever questions their ideas or their plans or their motives. I’d like to state how dangerous a world or a state I think that would be.

We can all see how well a lack of checks and balances has worked out for us with the corporate and financial world lately. We can all see from history how well a lack of checks and balances has worked out in many a civilization.

I’d like to remind Dr. Bennett and Governor Daniels that every teaching position cut is also a cut to the state’s economy; that we teachers are also tax payers and consumers. I also want to see that the best and the brightest are in my field, but I’m just not going to accept a system that can’t really even determine who the best and the brightest are and also seems to really just want the most compliant and the cheapest.

I’d like to state that I’d appreciate it if some actual research on effective education and education reform were consulted before state plans were conceived by politicians. I’d also like to proffer that if Dr. Bennett thinks teachers should be judged by standardized test scores as he wanted the ISTA to agree to- that he read the letter below and take a moment to consider what he’s suggesting. Perhaps he’ll see that it’s not quite fair- if he sees the tables turned on him.

My colleague's letter:

“Dear Superintendent Tony Bennett,

I am a special education teacher at Eastern High School in Greentown, Indiana. I am taking time out of my busy schedule to write to you today in response to your e-mail asking for input from educators across the state. It is my understanding my pay and my teaching license may very well depend on how much gain my students make on standardized tests and you, along with Governor Daniels wholeheartedly support this reform. I think it is only fair I have the opportunity to commend you and Governor Daniels for your gains as well.

Since we all agree that circumstances and factors beyond our control have little to no impact on our overall effectiveness, I think you too will be proud of the gains you have made. In fact, in many categories, you have helped Indiana lead the nation.
. Indiana's unemployment rate has increased from 5.3% in 2004 to 10.1% in 2009.
. The amount of children in Indiana under the age of 18 living in poverty has grown from 15.7% in 2004 to 17.9% in 2008.

. Since 2004, 16,330 students have been added to the free/reduced lunch program.
. In 2004, Indiana schools only had 31,956 limited English speaking students, now we have 45,885.

. From 2004 to 2006, Indiana gained 54,267 more individuals receiving food stamp assistance.

. Since 2004, the percent of 12th graders NOT taking the SAT has grown by 4%.

. Indiana has expanded their student enrollment in public school by 46,263 students since 2004.

. In just one short year, 2007 to 2008, Indiana dramatically increased bankruptcy filings by 20.8%.

The gains you and Governor Daniels have made in the state of Indiana are nothing short of remarkable. You have set the standard on how one can be effective regardless of the circumstance. Initially I was skeptical of the impact of tying student performance on tests to teacher pay and retention but now I realize that not only am I an effective teacher, I am also a prime candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction and Governor.

Sincerely,
Crystal Bramel

Crystal Bramel
Special Education Teacher
Eastern High School”

Thank you Crystal for speaking up! I enjoyed your letter immensely. I suspect Dr. Bennett did not. Also. a Thank you to my new “breakfast club” from NMS. Thanks for reading my blog and I hope to see many of you on the 13th!