“Don’t bow to defenders of status-quo schools”

The Oregonian today has an editorial “Don’t bow to defenders of status-quo schools” that echoes some of my thoughts on education in Oregon. They write (here):

The most important school reforms in a generation are hanging in the balance in the Legislature. And the teachers union has put its heavy thumb on the side of the status quo.

That raises this question: Who determines education policy in this state? Is it the schools-are-fine, just-fine collective of teachers, superintendents and school boards, or the 90 elected legislators and Gov. John Kitzhaber?

Now, I don’t think these school reforms are all that significant (after all, none would strengthen foreign language programs nor send any high school students to China, and the online education expansion component is way too timid), but the editorial does get the right culprits – teachers unions – and shows how difficult it is to make any educational change that the teachers unions do not approve. 

There is more money for education on the table as well. As the editorial further explains:

Lawmakers on Thursday were still negotiating on the education bills. The governor's office and leaders of both parties in the Senate apparently were still behind the package. But in the House, where a fractured committee caused a logjam of education bills, Democratic leaders are unhappy with the package and siding with the OEA. Many Democrats oppose the bills on charter schools and interdistrict transfers, and Majority Leader Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone, is pushing for more school funding, as much as $100 million, as part of the deal.  

There's no point in getting down into the weeds of the negotiations here. But if this Legislature ends without approving all or most of the major education bills, the responsibility will lie with the OEA and the legislators who did its bidding. They will have to explain to Oregon voters why, when the time came to compromise on the most far-reaching school reforms in a generation, they chose to defend a status quo that is clearly holding back this state and its children.

Myself, I’m for most of the reform bills. I’d also insist on allocating at least $30,000 to send five Oregon high school students to China for the 2012-13 school year as a condition of voting for any more educational funding: “Change it first!!!”