Day two of the RA is a short one. At least in terms of formal meetings.
I’m just back from the two-hour Illinois Caucus meeting. And that’s it for the day. The first general session isn’t until tomorrow at 10:30 AM.
Apparently the big dogs have met to revisit what Dennis Van Roekel speechwriter Melinda Anderson calls the “intended messaging.”
When the NEA Board of Directors’ member from New Jersey (why New Jersey?) addressed our caucus this morning, she was there to push for the $3 Quality Tax on members called Bylaw Amendment #1.
But she began her talk with an added bullet point – How the NEA stood firmly for collective bargaining.
She must have mentioned collective bargaining a half dozen more times before getting into the real business of asking for support for Bylaw Amendment #1, the Quality Tax.
When Caucus support for Bylaw Amendment #1 was moved, I went to the mic.
“I’m glad to see our colleague from New Jersey is talking about collective bargaining,” I said. “But I don’t think the strategy this proposal represents is part of the reality on the ground. Our NEA stands for quality instruction. But in Philadelphia 4,000 educational employees have been fired. In Chicago, even though it’s not an NEA local, 50 schools have been closed. Everyone here knows what the state is trying to do to our pensions in Illinois. Why is there not a $3 fund to fight the attacks on our profession, our tenure, our seniority, our schools, our right to organize?”
Interestingly, IEA President Cinda Klickna seemed to feel this argument needed a personal rebuttal by her. So she left her place at the podium and took to a floor mic and pleaded for Caucus support.
Which she got.
Narrowly.
Fred Klonsky 
Exactly–why isn’t there a $3 fund “to fight the attacks on our profession, our tenure, our seniority, our schools, and our right to organize?” When does the IEA or NEA share in the sacrifice by freezing or reducing their benefits and expenditures? So far, NEVER. Instead, they ask for an increase in dues/spending for some new project/idea–quality tax. Thank you Fred for standing up and advocating for “the reality on the ground.” Basic issues a union is supposed to stand for and protect are under fire! The leadership should be listening to “the reality on the ground” and addressing/fighting for these issues.
Thanks for pushing our shared struggle, Fred. We won’t win every vote, but we can always educate toward victory!
Thanks for going to the mic.. wondering. Is NEA asking for the $3 to do what they generally do? Cinda came to a region meeting with many IEA staff to ask us not to split even though our region is large enough by bylaw standards to request a split. The split would have to be approved by the Board of Directors, who seem to be against it. Is the $3 maybe a way to get all states behind a common cause, which then gives them more $$ to hire staff, for marketing, to maybe bus US to Springfield to rally etc? Interesting that special Il session/committee is happening while IEA leaders, region leaders and others are all in Atlanta.
Just wondering if they know a $3 hike will not pass unless all state delegates see a common reason. Seniority is just about gone. My contract has no mention of seniority leading to positions, but the new evaluation claims that you will not get top scores (which of course gets you pink sipped) if you are in a new grade level. I’m near the top of my seniority list, and have been assigned 3 different grade levels (first jump was 5 years higher) in the past 3 years.
Keep the fight for collective bargaining, pensions, common core based judgement of teachers…tell them one of our 3rd graders died 2 weeks before ISAT testing one year. Think any teaching was done the next two weeks in a small school where all kids know each other? All teachers now with common core would have bad evaluations because they are now tied to test scores. I also had a student with cp whose seizures, surgery, days off and meds. made her go down by the end of the end in vocabulary level, so technically her learning disabilities and speech/language teachers could be fired as they have small case loads.
We also see the trend of RTI keeping students out of special education, which made most schools “not meeting expectations” and if you did not meet in every bracket “you are a failing school” so they keep students in regular education and let their scores be averaged in with the students who are doing really well.
Good luck.
If passed the $3 per member quality tax would be placed in a fund and given out to leadership approved projects on a grant basis. Ironically it sounds a great deal like a race to the top grant process.
DVR probably got the idea from Duncan.
Who’s to say the $3 dollar Quality tax will even go to where it should? All the years of increased dues hasn’t helped IL or probably other states’ teachers much. I don’t see or hear strong forceful NEA/IEA ads/commercials debunking the myths regarding why our state’s pension fund is in such dire straits. Instead I’ve heard that the regional IEA representative cry poor when it comes to IEA coming to our rescue. I think that NEA/IEA needs a forensic audit along with IL to find out where all the money we put in went to.
Victor, I so agree with your audit idea. When I went to Springfield last year & asked why IEA wasn’t doing more PR RE: the pension situation, I was told by a high-ranking staff person that,”We don’t have the money for it.” When I probed further, telling him that the NJEA (New Jersey Ed. Assn. {I am in NJ numerous times throughout the year}) is ALWAYS running ads–TV, newspaper, radio, he stated, “Well, their members pay more. We tried to raise the dues for PR, but the members wouldn’t go for it.” Say what?! I smell an audit too, Victor.
Great letter from a child related to taking standardized tests. http://dianeravitch.net/2013/07/02/letter-from-a-pennsylvania-student-stop-the-keystones/
Thanks Fred!
As divergent interest groups exhaust themselves bouncing old ideas off the inside walls of a box looking for solutions to the state’s massive debt and deficit, perhaps their growing frustrations will tear through the fabric of the box to a wider understanding that the box itself contains no solutions, only compromises pitting austerity measures against misleading promises in an atmosphere of confusion charged with inadequate information and outright lies. Real solutions exist only outside the box.
One possible solution is to establish a public Bank of Illinois. Then, instead of paying interest, the state would collect it. Such a bank could provide low-interest loans to rebuild the state’s vital infrastructure, provide adequate funding for schools, health care, pensions, and inner-city renewal projects. Does this sound too far outside the box? Actually it is already operating in North Dakota. North Dakota does not have budget deficits. Information concerning the function, the purpose, and the success of The National Bank of North Dakota is readily available on the Internet. Extensive information on public banking is also available from Ellen Brown, a research attorney and financial expert on public banking. In our advanced age of information technology, ignorance is no longer an excuse for inaction. Another possible solution is to establish state-owned corporations to handle the special needs of local communities, such as water treatment, transportation, energy, and housing. Such corporations could be financed by the Bank of Illinois.
If these suggestions conjure thoughts of evil decadent unworkable socialism, just compare them to current practices of large banks and corporate cartels getting hand-outs from the public treasury as citizens are losing their jobs, their homes, and their pensions. What should we call that? American enterprise? There is no end in sight to our current predicament. The American economy is not going to recover; wages, jobs, and security are not going to be restored; health care costs will continue to rise; and inflation will eventually wipe us all out unless we unlock our minds and break outside the box that is crushing in on us.
Look on the positive side, Fred. At least you got Cinda to move on something…
Typical! The union’s purpose is for the rights & benefits of the members. Any additional dues should be for that purpose–not for political correctness! You are correct in stating that NEA stands for the education of all students but should not be “charging” its members for these issues. As I have said and now believe–our union no longer fights for our rights that we believer in but only for those things that would look good to the public. They continue to ignore the what we want & convince a slight majority to see it their way. Please let us know how it goes on the main floor when it is brought up.
I am truly sick of it all–especially having to fight THEM along with those who wish to do us harm. Thanks, Fred, for trying–wish I was there to repeat your attempt to educate the delegates. They sound like a bunch of lemmings following the “leaders” who also have been misled. Thanks again.
HAWKS WIN!!!! Sent from my iPhone