Well, at least the kids weren’t singing – everybody now – “Mmm mmm mmm…Barack Hussein Obama.”  But the latest example of Big Education fawning over Barack Obama isn’t much better.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Cass Elementary School in Livonia, Michigan aired a video of still images of Obama, with a speech by King and – strangely – a Bob Marley song playing in the background.

The students looked about as interested as if they were watching paint dry.

It’s unclear how long the song actually was, as the citizen journalist video is 1:20 long and the song was clearly longer.

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Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis called a press conference yesterday to go on the offensive and attempt to blame our organization, Education Action Group, for the ugly words she recently uttered at a conference for union activists.

On Monday, EAG released a video of three extended excerpts from her October speech, which included her ridicule of U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan over his speech impediment.  It created a media firestorm.

In an attempt to do damage control, Lewis said, “…I implore you to look at the entire 35-minute video and to listen to the entire speech so you can make a decision for yourself without the filter of right-wing pundits and anti-public education, media-savvy operatives.”

We did and it’s just as ugly as what has already been highlighted.

At the 12:31 mark of the original video, she attempts to smear Chicago school board members Henry Bienen and Penny Pritzker. She said Bienen, a former president of Northwestern University, was on the board of Bear Stearns “when it crashed.” She said Pritzker owns Hyatt hotels, a chain she claims “won’t pay her cleaning ladies a living wage.”

“These are the people we’re dealing with,” Lewis said about the board members.

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Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis recently appeared before the Northwest Teaching for Social Justice group and laid it on thick.

Lewis, who is also a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, leveled a cheap personal attack at President Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan.  See it, courtesy of EAGtv.

Speaking with a manufactured speech impediment in order to mock Duncan, Lewis said:

“‘Education is the civil rights issue of our time.’  Now, you know he went to private school ‘cause if he had gone to public school he would have had that lisp fixed.  I know – that was ugly wasn’t it?  I’m sorry.”

I thought we taught children not to mock or make fun of others.  Apparently the teachers are exempt from such lessons.

It is interesting to witness the vitriol from union leaders aimed at Democratic leaders who have proposed tepid, incremental education reform and school choice.

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Unsurprisingly, one of the few interest groups advocating for the “American Jobs Act” is the American Federation of Teachers. Despite claims that “the money is not for us as teachers,” everyone knows that’s a farce. Nobody suggests teachers shouldn’t be paid, but they shouldn’t patronize taxpayers by suggesting that increased spending on government schools isn’t for the teachers.

The unions and Obama administration have been running the full-court press to gin up enough pressure on Congress to act on the bill. Despite the speeches, advertising campaigns and photo ops, they can’t even get enough Democrats in the Senate to kick it out of that chamber.

Joe Biden has been carrying the water for the administration. In a recent conference call with union leaders, he claimed students in a Baltimore school are “dodging falling ceiling tiles” during their school day.

More recently, AFT President Rhonda “Randi” Weingarten visited a Yonkers school and decried the conditions those students are in. A photo published by the union shows students sitting in a basement with paint peeling off the walls and a large air conditioning system looms directly over head.

“We can hear the rats when they run” through the ventilation system, the union quoted a student as saying.

Across the country, unionists infer that the money for public education has simply vanished. It’s absurd. The reality is America is continuing to spend more per student on education than at any other time in history. So where is it all going? Are the rats carrying bags of money away?

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Virtually no state is immune to the red ink found in school budgets, which is a result of routine overspending.  For too long, schools have not kept spending in check.  They’ve given raises they couldn’t afford, they maintained bloated benefit packages that far exceeded their private-sector counterparts, and they haven’t employed much business sense in managing massive, multi-million dollar operations.

Unions, of course, have felt the greatest heat.  They, along with complicit school boards and administrators, were so reckless with school finances, that a course correction was inevitable. The nation’s economy has been slipping for the past several years, forcing school districts everywhere to reacquaint themselves with reality.

Meanwhile, the unions believe they have a restraining order against reality, and have taken to what they do best: protesting.

Back in March, the American Federation of Teachers took to Alabama streets to protest the fact that the legislature there is failing to quench the union’s insatiable thirst for unchecked spending.  The Birmingham News reported at the time:

“About 80 people rallied in front of the Jefferson County Board of Education during rush hour this afternoon to protest state budget cuts in education, which they say is increasing class sizes, drying up school supply money and killing teacher morale in just about every school district.

“The American Federation of Teachers led the rally, accompanied by parents, other labor unions, the NAACP and a few students.”

“The fact is there are some schools that won’t even be able to open their doors this fall,” said Vi Parramore, president of the Jefferson County AFT.

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As President Obama makes his way around the country to gin up support for his latest stimulus efforts, his underlings can’t seem to stay on the same page.

The two national teachers’ unions – the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers – recently hosted a closed-media conference call with Vice President Biden to rally support for Obama’s “American Jobs Act.”

source: nea.org

According to a recording first revealed at PublicSchoolSpending.com, Biden told the audience:

“Nobody is saying this [plan] isn’t positive for the economy.  We’re ready to compromise with the Republicans.  But only compromise on things if they have a better way. …”

But less than 24 hours later, Campaign Manager David Axelrod appeared on Good Morning America and told host George Stephanopolous that “the package works together.”

“So it’s all or nothing,” Stephanopolous stated, attempting to pin Axelrod down.  Not answering the question (shock!), Axelrod responded, “We want them to act now on this package.  We’re not in a negotiation to break up the package – it’s not an ala carte menu.”

In other words, no, they’re not willing to compromise.  Take it or leave it, America.

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Ridiculously false choices and rhetoric ruled the evening when the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers hosted a closed-media conference call with Vice President Joe Biden to inform their members about the latest government school and teachers’ union bailout.

In a recording obtained exclusively by PublicSchoolSpending.com, Biden explained the administration is seeking to spend $30 billion to create a “Teacher Layoff Prevention Fund.”  He also said that many schools today are “deciding whether or not to heat the school or keep a teacher.”

Like school stimuli-past, Biden said schools would not be able to bank the money, but would be required to spend it.  “It’s to be able to keep you at work and even rehire teachers,” he told the unions.  So the Obama administration – yet again – is setting up a situation where the problem will be the same next year and the administration will have to propose another bailout or the school sky will fall in and even more kids will graduate unable to read.

Obama’s proposal includes $10 billion for the 100 “largest, high need public school districts” to use for renovations.  So just prior to the election, the administration is proposing to spend $100 million in communities that traditionally vote for Democrats.  Coincidence?

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When the White House released its latest plan to stimulate – er, improve – the economy, everybody knew there would be a fresh round of spending to bail out government schools.

But there’s another motive too: dues for the teachers unions.

By my estimates, about three quarters of unionized teachers are represented by the National Education Association.  Every member pays dues, including $166 per year that goes to the national union, according to a secret union document posted on PublicSchoolSpending.com.  The White House says up to 285,000 teaching jobs – that is, dues payers – could be saved.

Given these facts, the NEA would be looking at about $35.4 million in “saved” dues.

Similarly, the American Federation of Teachers, which has annual dues of $184.20, according to financial statements found at AFTexposed.com, would have about 71,250 jobs saved.  The dues ramifications?  A little over $13 million.

It pays to have friends in high places.

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First there was the stimulus.  The $787 billion monstrosity was critical to Big Labor because it would save public school teaching jobs, among other unionized positions.

In fact, upon its passage, the News Journal reported on Joe Biden’s appearance before the Delaware teachers’ union:  Citing about $105 billion that is coming to the U.S. Department of Education from the federal stimulus package, Biden said teachers will finally have the means to improve education.

“We’ve been given all the ammunition.  If we shoot and miss, if we squander the opportunity, tell me how long you think it’s going to take for another American president to go and ask for more dollars to correct the education system.”

“You’ve got a president and vice president absolutely committed to having all the tools you need to finally get it right in American public education.”

Then there was the “public education bailout.”  The White House told us the $23 billion bill – mere peanuts by comparison – would stave off a public school employee calamity.

Is there any proof that any of the money spent so far has done anything for student achievement?  I mean, even raised it one single, solitary point on a standardized test?

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When news broke that the American Federation of Teachers is targeting Michelle Rhee’s education reform group, StudentsFirst, through an online website, it was less than surprising.

It wasn’t that long ago that Education Action Group found its own cyber stalker site, a union-organized publication with the ironic title EAG Truth. Virtually every sentence on the website is filled with inaccuracies, distortions or misinformation aimed at discrediting our successful non-profit.

Weingarten's AFT: Purveyor of 'Anonymous' Internet Attacks

In the education reform world, it’s like a badge of honor if the teachers unions hate what you have to say and devote resources to counter your message online. It usually means that the ‘students first, union concerns second’ message is resonating with the public. That’s bad for union business.

The fact that Politico tracked the address of the AFT’s anti-Rhee website back to the union isn’t surprising. Neither is the personal attacks and doctored photos posted on the site. We’ve seen them before, and they aren’t pretty.

When StudentsFirst revealed that the site originated at AFT headquarters, the union barked back in typical fashion, questioning the funding of StudentsFirst. It’s the same response we’ve seen from other unions when we questioned their motives.

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On July 30, 2011, about 8,000 unionists gathered in Washington, DC to protest education reform.

It featured the rapper Notorious PHD, who, rumor has it, moonlights as a teacher, claimed the problems are all manufactured.

For some strange reason, some union activists prefer their organizations be referred to as “associations,” as opposed to unions.  That’s odd, given that the National Education Association has grabbed the union mantle with both hands, and the American Federation of Teachers adopted the slogan “A union of professionals.”  That seems like an oxymoron, but I suppose it makes them feel good when they run the letterhead through their laser printer.

So color me humored when Marc Severson, blogging as the “Tired Tucson Teacher” (that inspires parents to request him for their kids, I’m sure…) attempted to explain, “It’s an association, not a union.”

“Let me start by saying I have been a member of AEA/NEA and my local association since the first hour of my student teaching. I refused to walk into the classroom without being a member. You might say I bleed association red.

“My reasons for belonging are numerous but suffice to say, the most important one is that as a professional I believe it is concomitant upon me to belong to my professional organization.”

It goes on from there.  Strangely, he never actually defines the difference between a union and an association, and I hate to break it to Marc, but he belongs to a brass-tacks, take-no-prisoners union.  He can put as much lipstick and perfume on that pig as he wants, but the thing still oinks and jumps in the mud.

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American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten recently led a delegation of union representatives to Cairo, Egypt to meet with “leaders of Egyptian unions that were instrumental in the recent political and governmental changes there,” according to a news release issued by the union.

Whoa.  Are public sector unions planning a similar “regime change” here in America?

If not, why would Weingarten be cavorting in the Middle East at a time when American public schools are seeing massive dropout rates, budget reductions and reforms that strike at the base of union power?

Details are scant regarding Weingarten’s trip or agenda.  The union didn’t identify her traveling companions, the Egyptian unions they met with, or what action plan may have been devised.

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For the last several months, pension managers, school districts and public officials have been howling about the alarming state of employee pension funds.  They tell us pension systems are dangerously underfunded and taxpayers are on the hook for potentially billions of dollars to make them whole.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey was even floating a bill that would make the federal government the backstop for pension funds – essentially committing to a bailout if the funds ran dry.

But the brain trust at the AFL-CIO and American Federation of Teachers have come up with a new idea: let’s use the billions of pension dollars set aside for union retirees to fund real estate development.

In other words, they want to use massive sums of money sitting in a (albeit evil) bank somewhere to put union members back to work on construction projects. This from people who said former President George W. Bush was crazy for proposing the investment of Social Security funds into the stock market.

Has Rich Trumka or Randi Weingarten looked at the real estate market lately?  It’s kind of not good.

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Now we know why unionists were fighting so hard for a federal “card check” law.  Organizers can unionize private and public employees, forcing them to pay hundreds in union dues, before they even know anything about it.

That’s the situation at the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in Orleans, Massachusetts.

Last week news broke that the reputable charter school was the second in Massachusetts to be organized by the American Federation of Teachers.

Various sources indicated that the unionization effort was somewhat less than forthright. Several teachers complained that they were never informed about the process and were never asked to vote on the issue.

“The union effort was coordinated by group of teachers and staff that did not include all employees,” one teacher wrote. “In fact, a number of employees were not approached at all and found out, quite by accident, that a union had been formed without our input.

“A full vote of the faculty and staff was never taken and plans to unionize went ahead, anyway.”

Unionization without a vote of the staff? That sounds like the nasty little practice of “card check,” which allows pro-union employees to gang up on co-workers and pressure them to sign a union membership card. Once 50 percent of them do so, the union is automatically certified.

There are no private ballots involved in the process. Those who refuse to sign are exposed to all the pressure and intimidation that the union can muster. Under those conditions, it probably doesn’t take very long to gain 50 percent approval.

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During a recent television appearance, former Vermont Gov. and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean said “charter schools are the future” and suggested that the charter school/teacher union “battle is coming to an end.”

Yeah, right. Or, in Howard Dean’s language:  YYYEEEAARRRR, right!

The “battle” may be over, but the teacher unions’ desire to co-opt (and ultimately destroy) charter schools remains.  The tactics have changed.  Instead of the Gatling-gun approach, they’re now resorting to the Boa Constrictor method.

In fact, the unions have been surprisingly candid about their new strategy of infiltration and suffocation.

United Federation of Teachers Vice President Leo Casey considers charter schools competition that will cost teaching jobs in traditional public schools. His goal is to organize the teachers so public support for charters will drop off. He said this at the recent socialist Left Forum:

“If we do not figure out how to organize charter schools and if we are not successful in doing that, we will end up in the same place as the auto workers. So there is no more key question before us as a union and a broader labor movement with regard to education than how we approach charter schools and our ability to organize them.”

This reinforces something Detroit Federation of Teachers President Keith Johnson wrote a year ago:

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A few weeks ago I brought you the story of the California Federation of Teachers passing a resolution “reaffirming” support for convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.  He was convicted of killing, execution-style, Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Despite numerous appeals and efforts by far leftists to spring him from prison, he’s serving a life sentence in an open-and-shut case.

The Fraternal Order of Police issued a strongly-worded letter to American Federation of Teachers’ President Randi Weingarten, parent union to the CFT.

The union’s absurdly radical action is now producing its consequences.

I received an email from a CFT and AFT member resigning his union membership over the kerfuffle.  He wrote in part:

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Just when you think things can’t get any more ridiculous in Madison, Wisconsin…

As we all know by now, in February of this year thousands of public school teachers in Madison, Wisconsin called in sick in order to attend protests at the State Capitol.  They joined thousands of government union employees who gathered to protest Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, which placed limits on the unions’ collective bargaining powers.

We broke the story on how doctors, including many affiliated with the University of Wisconsin, attempted to give many of those teachers fraudulent medical excuses so they could get paid for work they never did for taxpayers. The School District refuses to release a list of teachers who attempted to perpetuate this fraud.

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On Tuesday, across the state of Pennsylvania, unions and other Left-wing organizations will be boarding buses and heading to the state capitol in Harrisburg to engage in a mass rally to fight for economic and social justice and against budget cuts.  The rally, is being organized by the Coalition for Labor Engagement and Accountable Revenues (CLEAR) which is comprised of government unions, such as AFSCME, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), PSEA (part of the NEA), SEIU, as well as the AFL-CIO, IAFF, UFCW and others.

The economic agenda of the rally organizing group CLEAR consists of raising taxes on consumers and retailers,  internet shoppers and vendors, corporations and, of course, the wealthy. CLEAR is clear, they do not want any cuts in spending.

Also in attendance will be a diverse group of other organizations, such as:

• Just Harvest, a community-organizing group that has been “sowing the seeds of economic justice since 1986″
• Pittsburghers for Public Transit
• Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania

In addition, there will be elementary schoolchildren bused in from all over the state.
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