WSWS: Obama education plan boosts privatization, victimizes teachers

[tonysam]

The Obama administration on Monday named Tennessee and Delaware as initial winners in its “Race to the Top” education initiative. The two states, which were granted a combined award of $600 million in federal funds, were those in which local and state union affiliates carried out the greatest collaboration in undermining public education and teachers’ job security.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the Race to the Top program last year as the centerpiece education program of the new administration, offering up to $4.5 billion in federal funds to those states that were the most “innovative” in their policies.

As the World Socialist Web Site warned at the time, this had nothing to do with achieving education excellence or improving conditions in the schools, and everything to do with promoting a political agenda of privatization (charter schools) and destruction of wages, jobs and working conditions for teachers and other school workers (“accountability”).

Only 16 of the 50 states were selected as finalists. Tennessee will get $502 million and Delaware, a much smaller state, $107 million. Both states have Democratic governors who were better able to make deals with the unions and insure their support for the bid for additional federal funds.

Both states have merit pay plans for teachers, which allow principals to award pay raises based on alleged “performance,” which means, in practice, discriminating against teachers who defend working conditions and job security against management demands.

WSWS


Since principals are the ones awarding "merit pay," corruption necessarily follows. That's one of the reasons "step pay" was instituted.

[NJmaverick]

1. Shame that that WSWS "forgot" to mention the unions are on board with the

plans in TN and Delaware, that's why the won the grants

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. What unions?

There aren't a lot of union teachers in these states.

[Hannah Bell]

6. Unions are on board with a lot of things they shouldn't be -- so what?

Being on board with this one is going to sink them. Who wants to pay union dues when you're an at-will employee?

[progressoid]

7. Unions were mostly on board the Obama Presidential Campaign too.

Not so much now.

[Catshrink]

8. Nope...

That hopey-changey thing backfired on us.

[tonysam]

2. More unrec'ing by the anti-public education, anti-democracy crowd. n/t

[tonysam]

3. Keep up with the unrecs, you anti-democracy people, you. n/t

[Starry Messenger]

5. Damn, this is a great article

It deserved to be on the Greatest Page. x(

edit: it is now! Thanks people!

[maryf]

9. hmm, Delaware

is Biden's state and has sooo many credit card banks...just a comment, Thanks! K&R