Last Saturday, the Washington Education Association's (WEA) political action committee voted to withhold support for Terry Bergeson, a former WEA president, now running for a third term as the state's school chief. According to the Seattle Times, the snub was "part of a tough-nosed new strategy of withholding its blessings from longtime allies who don't toe the party line on key issues." In the case of Bergeson, this punishment is being doled out for her support for the state's newly enacted charter school legislation (see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=139#1720), the suspension of teacher pay and class-size initiatives, and the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), the state's graduation test. Though WEA president Charles Hasse insists that the move was an attempt to "express the frustration many school employees feel," he admits that Bergeson is popular with teachers and will likely win reelection. So much for union non-support.
"Bergeson smarts after WEA snubs her," by David Ammons, Seattle Times, April 20, 2004