You learn not to expect too much from the White House on education issues. There is some good news today. The Washington Post reports that Obama has thrown his support behind Tom Harkin’s education jobs bill. It is a $23 billion measure aimed at averting some of the educational employee lay-offs that are threatened for next year.
The decision by Obama to support the Harkin Bill is important beyond its immediate practical impact. The Reformers like wing-nut Fred Hess of the right-wing American Enterprise Institute, have opposed the Harkin bill, claiming schools are over-staffed, class sizes are too small and is hoping that the present funding crisis has the potential for a Katrina-like impact on union contracts.
Others like Alexander Russo suggest that the threat of teacher lay-offs is overblown. He argues that it is just a ploy to get funding.
And still others like the NY Times, Chicago Tribune and school administrators like NY Chancellor Joel Klein, want to use the present climate to do away with seniority. They would release veteran, skilled and more expensive teachers first in favor of lower paid, younger teachers.
Note that in NY, a hiring freeze is in effect for traditional public schools with the threat of the loss of 6,000 teachers next school year, while privately managed charters are not subject to a freeze.
The Obama administration on Thursday threw its support behind a $23 billion measure intended to avert large-scale teacher layoffs, urging Congress to include the effort in a spending bill lawmakers are drafting to fund wartime costs and other urgent needs.
“We are gravely concerned that ongoing state and local budget challenges are threatening hundreds of thousands of teacher jobs for the upcoming school year,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
A small victory in a wider war.
Fred Klonsky 