What a surprise to read that my union cut food stamps. What a hateful lie.

Arne Duncan — Duncan's idea but teachers blamed for cutting food stamps. What a hateful lie.

All during the campaign to pass a federal bill to fund the rehiring of pink-slipped teachers, the two teacher unions mobilized the membership to write, email and call their senators and house representatives.

Originally it was hoped that the dollars would come, as Congressman Obey had suggested, from Race to the Top money. But that was not to be. USDE head Arne Duncan and the congressional leadership in both parties insisted that the money come from cuts in some other domestic program. It was Duncan himself who suggested the eventual source: $12 billion in food stamp aid.

What a shock to read in the Huffington Post that it was the teachers unions who were responsible for the food stamp cuts.

Katie Haycock of the Education Trust, a group funded by union haters Eli Broad and Bill Gates, does exactly that.

Most shockingly of all, the education community–particularly those who assert that it’s all but impossible to teach impoverished children who come to school hungry or overwhelmed by family stress–is cheering the passage of this bill with its hateful trade-off. We’d all do well to remember this proposal and those who supported it the next time teacher union bosses assert that they are fighting for what’s best for our nation’s poor kids.

What a hateful lie. Who in our community says we can’t teach poor kids? When did union teachers or leaders call for cuts in food stamps?

Now teachers and their unions get blamed for what the administration does, even when we oppose it.