I've Been So Long Without My California Educator Magazine!

I just received the birdcage liner today, and while it has the usual tripe in it, the entire magazine isn't entirely without merit. One of my favorites is a quote from old Si Se Puede himself, the President of the California Teachers Association:

This plan (President Obama's Race To The Top plan) is completely misguided and is not the change that was promised by the new administration. Instead, it is just more of the unfair mandates and one-size-fits-all approach we found with No Child Left Behind.

I'm going to enjoy this fight between the CTA on one side, and the governor, President, and Secretary of Education on the other. I make no predictions as to the outcome.

I was impressed with the article which took up half of page 23. Why the CTA would spend a half a page telling about a major court case a local union lost I don't quite understand, but the article was about as unbiased as one can find in a union rag, and the message was clear: school districts do not have to allow unions to use school mailboxes to distribute political endorsements, but if they allow a union access to the mailboxes, they must allow other groups access to the mailboxes.

And let's close this post by pointing out one of my favorite recurring pieces in California Educator, the CTA-sponsored and co-sponsored legislation for 2009-10 found on p. 36. I like to look at the 7 (why is it always 7?) bills they highlight, and see how many pertain to teacher pay, benefits, and working conditions. By my count, none relates to my pay, benefits, and working conditions; three relate to children (2nd grade testing, immigration investigations, and consequences of dropping out), three relate to community college and their staff, and one relates to socialism (single-payer health insurance in California). Why, exactly, should K-12 teachers fund this organization that, seemingly by own admission of what bills are important, doesn't do a darn thing for such teachers? Because we're together in solidarity, that's why! Gag.

The bird will like this issue.