Posted by
Josh Todd on Thursday, October 04, 2007 8:39:48 AM
Much has been made of Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann’s lawsuit filed against three Dayton-area charter schools. He cites the schools’ poor academic performances as justification.
Charter schools have always held the contempt of teachers’ unions. The Columbus Education Association—the capital’s arm of the OEA and NEA—endorsed incumbent Mayor Michael Coleman in his race against William Todd, who had done work in the past on behalf of charter schools. Todd now proposes a city hall takeover of Columbus schools.
The OEA even issues annual reports excoriating the low ways of private charter schools.
But the OEA-Dann alliance is about more than academic performance. In fact, 182 public schools perform around the same level as the three charter schools Dann has in his sights, yet singles out charter schools. The struggle is really about the hegemony of the OEA/NEA in the public school system.
Private schools constitute a direct challenge to the OEA/NEA control over curriculum, philosophy, pedagogy, and education funding. The latter is relevant in the battle over school choice and vouchers, wherein public schools risk losing funds allocated to a student when he or she moves to a private school.
Now it appears that the OEA-Dann alliance is formal, after all.
The Columbus Dispatch reported that Dann’s suit was the result of a request from an OEA attorney. OEA had previously filed a suit designed to shut down the state’s charter schools. They withdrew that lawsuit after Marc Dann agreed to aggressively pursue the cause himself using the executive arm of the state. Dann’s suit was filed one day after the OEA settled its suit.
As a result, OEA will save valuable funds it would have expended on a costly lawsuit, cash that can be spent on political donations and other OEA activities. Now, the Ohio taxpayers will foot the bill for the union’s vendetta. Presumably, Dann will maintain OEA support when he is up for reelection.
Source(s):
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-03-2006/0004409839&EDATE=,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20071003/pl_usnw/ohio_attorney_general_takes_orders_from_teacher_s_union,
http://daytonian.townhall.com/g/34780775-184a-4fbc-b354-de773d32ed3a