I've written here before about California's AB 5, the proposed law that the all-powerful California Teachers Association is attempting to use as a vessel for union control of teacher evaluations. With the Golden State coming up against its deadline to pass legislation tomorrow, there is a mad dash to get the bill to Jerry Brown's desk in time. If that happens, the consequences for California's schoolchildren will be dire.
Per the Sacramento Bee:
Exactly right. And that's one more reason to hope that AB 5 dies under the capitol dome. The current system of no accountability for teachers is awful. But the only thing worse would be a union-driven system that allows the state's worst schools to claim a patina of reform.... [The] bill would evaluate teachers more often, using more yardsticks to probe more points of expertise, but collective bargaining would determine which measurements to use and how much weight to give them...AB 5 opponents counter that teachers will thwart any program with teeth.
"It's not rocket science to figure out what's going to happen at the bargaining table - it's going to wind up not being a strong evaluation system," said Tim Melton of StudentsFirst, an education reform group led by Michelle Rhee, wife of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.
