Okay, so the Albany Times Union search engine is not perfect ? it did not turn up Rick Karlin's story on Arne Duncan's odd visit to one of the nation's premiere charter school cities? to?parlay with one of the nation's most?racalitrant school reformers, the New York State?United Teachers?(NYSUT) ?union.
Karlin, a longtime columnist for the paper, has not been a big supporter of charters or the reform movement, but he, like the union folks gathering in kumbaya fest, have gotten some RTTT religion:
So what brought unions, politicians and others together for RTTP's second round?
Primarily, the realization that the federal government was serious about the need to embrace reforms in areas like charter schools and teacher evaluations, leaders said.
?Losing the first round was the wake-up call,? said [NYSUT chief Richard] ?Iannuzzi. He explained that all the parties involved knew they needed to cooperate on the state's grant application.
Others said that teachers unions and politicians realized the times were changing. A reflexive opposition to privately run charter schools and changes in teacher evaluations, for example, was starting to look obsolete.
?The leadership of both unions (NYSUT and the New York City-based United Federation of Teachers) looked at the situation and said ?We've got to do this,' ? said one observer who was close to the negotiations over RTTP applications.
Additionally, lawmakers, including traditional teacher union allies such as Assembly Democrats, led by Majority Speaker Sheldon Silver, didn't want the election year embarrassment of losing out on federal dollars when the state is so strapped for cash.
Money talks (but does it educate?)
And then there's the other side of the coin, from my friend Jason Brooks, director of research ?at the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability, one of the smartest reform research groups (after TBF, of course) in the country.
Arne Duncan's decision to appear at the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) headquarters yesterday during his Race to the Top victory lap around the Northeast was a shock to many in education-reform circles.? It was, after all, the teachers union that had successfully fought against using student achievement data when evaluating teachers and opposed expanding the number of high-quality public charter schools ? moves that cost New York a grant in the round-one awards made in January, well before the deadline for a 2010-11 state budget.
Rather than get behind these reforms, NYSUT assumed New York's senior U.S. Senator, Chuck Schumer, could flex enough political muscle in Washington so that the state would win a grant without instituting any genuine reforms?
Well, we know where that went.? Obviously, this being politics and Duncan being from Chicago, we can count on some bare-knuckled negotiating in the Obama reform era.? (Does anyone even talk about No Child Left Behind any more?)
But we need to remember Brooks' warning:
Now that New York is cashing in what turned out to be a strong round two application, few seem to remember that NYSUT was the primary force in getting a state law passed in 2008 that banned the use of student test scores as one of the multiple factors used for evaluating teachers for life-long tenure.
As Brooks points out, at one point not so long ago NYSUT, in it own words, claimed a ?leading role in securing language that bars the use of student test scores as a yardstick for tenure? while its president?Dick Iannuzzi was claiming that ?student assessments are designed to assess students, not teachers.?
So much for principle!? And as ?Brooks continues:
When the debate to lift the cap on the number of public charter schools heated up to make the state more competitive for a round two Race to the Top grant, NYSUT struck a new tune, claiming that it hadn't opposed charter schools.? One only has to see their public comments dating back to 1998 that demonstrates their opposition to the implementation and expansion of these high-quality public schools and union leaders' routinely mischaracterizing them to turn public opinion against them.
These are all very important cautionary tales.? I agree with Brooks, that ?one can only hope that NYSUT is now truly serious about getting behind these reforms,? but as we all know, ?doveryai, no proveryai? ? trust but verify.??What's that big gift horse doing in the yard?? Get me Spartacus.
?Peter Meyer
