Not long ago the Maine Education Association — the teachers union — promoted educational excellence in public schools and worked for better pay and benefits for teachers. Certainly, that was the public image the MEA enjoyed.
But times have changed. Today, it has dropped any pretenses and has shown itself to be a well-financed, partisan lobbying group that advocates a progressive ideology.
The MEA’s recent newsletter includes a “scorecard” — “Where do your legislators stand?” — illustrating the group’s partisan political stance. It shows that it no longer takes positions on just education policy and teacher benefits; it has begun to advocate for the Democrats’ party-line positions on a variety of issues including election policy, private health insurance reform, minimum wage and child labor laws.
One bill on the scorecard, LD 1326, would allow school districts to self-insure or get competitive bids elsewhere. It is obvious why the teachers union would be opposed to LD 1326. School districts that took that route would no longer be buying health insurance through the MEA and that would mean the union would no longer get its lucrative fee for being the middleman.
LD 1326 did pass the legislature and was signed by the governor. The MEA is now suing the state — that’s you and me — to prevent schools from using this cost-savings tool.
Another bill is LD 1553, which created a charter school program for Maine. Charter schools have proven to be effective as an alternative learning choice for some students. Sadly, the teachers union does not want these schools educating Maine children, as that would mean fewer dues paid to the union.
But other bills on the scorecard have absolutely nothing to do with education policy, teachers or even organized labor. LD 1333 addressed health insurance reform in the private market. LD 447 was a bill to raise the minimum wage again. LD 1376 was the election procedures reform bill.
The MEA’s explanations for supporting or not supporting these noneducation bills were weak at best, claiming some to be “pro-worker” and others not.
The reality is that the teachers union has chosen to advocate for their political party’s position in these matters — and without polling members. It can then use this “scorecard” in political campaigns.
As one can see from the MEA.org website, almost all Republicans receive a score of 20 percent or below on these hand-picked Democratic issues (most get a score of 0 percent) while almost all Democrats get 80 percent or above, with most scoring a “perfect” 100 percent.
The Maine Education Association has long been a powerful force in Augusta. Its lobbyists are some of the most well-paid and influential in the capital. It has played a dominant role in not only directing the investment of education dollars but in determining Maine education policy. Now we see it has expanded its reach into all facets of state government policy.
As a past member of several different labor unions, I understand how collective bargaining can benefit some members. I have also watched as big labor became much more ideological over the years, with many workers no longer support this increasingly partisan ideology. The MEA is a good example of this overreaching.
It would be one thing if the money funneling into the MEA’s coffers were private dollars paid voluntarily by union members. But the teachers union dues that fund this left-wing advocacy organization come directly from you and me through property taxes and other state taxes.
This has got to change. Union dues should never be paid for with tax dollars — especially when the union uses those dollars for partisan political purposes. The MEA has to remember that it is a collective bargaining unit for public school teachers and should be promoting education excellence, not the Maine Democratic Party’s agenda.
Rep. Jonathan McKane, R-Newcastle, a fourth-term legislator, is an electrical contractor.
To clarify the misinformation about MEA dues: my dues come directly from my paycheck. The idea that dues come from taxpayer dollars such as property taxes is erroneous. Property taxes are part of the way schools are funded, along with state and federal dollars. I choose to belong to the union, and the amount is deducted from my salary. I am grateful for a strong union in the current climate and hope that the promises made by the state pension system for my last 35 years of teaching will not continue to be changed or broken.
Of course you would be.
“Property taxes are part of the way schools are funded, along with state and federal dollars. ”
Those “state and federal dollars” are derived from Taxes,meaning that Teachers salaries are paid by the Taxpayer. No amount of spin will change that. When Teacher salaries are “negotiated” the Union fee’s are a part of the process. So, no matter how you spin it or pretty it up, these fee’s are paid for by the Taxpayer.
You say you choose to belong to a Union, did you really have a choice? Are there many Non Member Teachers in your School? If so, are they allowed to “vote” on wage issue’s?
I wish you had a strong Union, then maybe the teachers in Maine would be paid what they are worth. As it is, you have the 47th worst standard of living in the nation and get top 15 results. You are drastically underpaid.
They would be paid what they are worth. There would be far fewer of them, but those remaining few, with large classrooms, would be well-paid.
Take the going daycare rate per child, multiply by 30 (average class size) and see what you come up with, teachers are underpaid even if they are just “babysitting.” Unions when they are good protect their workers, when they are bad they are greedy. As long as there are corporate fat cats, their will be a need for unions. Unions provide strength and give a powerful voice to those who would not normally be listened to. They create balance. “Unions” in and of themselves aren’t bad, however it is the one rotten apple that spoils the bunch.
“47th worst standard of living” Really? Or could it be that these numbers are “compiled” by “Teachers” and used by the Teachers Unions or other advocacy groups and have little to do with the actual Standard of Living of the citizens of Maine.This little snippet you posted is taken from a Brad Flickinger’s site “teachersalaryinfo.com”.Taken from the same site is this quote by Flickinger about his descision to become a Teacher…”I would have to pay over $20,000 to get my degree so I could earn $30,000 less per year.
So here was the choice; do something I hate for the rest of my life, but make a decent salary.or Do something that I love but get paid very little money to do it.
I hated that I had to make such a decision.”Well,the choice was made quit griping and go back to work. He decided to be a Teacher, a public servant ,and knew what the pay was like.Time stop complaining or go find out how well you do in the real world.
You are right; people give MEA much too much credit for being a strong union. It’s not. Its impact on the Maine Legislature is minimal and on local school system negotiations even less in most cases. For anyone who cares to check, go back and see what issues MEA is advocated for and how well those matters have fared during the session.
They seem to doing alright packing away the taxpayers dollars into their accounts but If as you say the union does not represent you very well why pay your dues?
As a teacher, I have a choice to join, or not. I choose not to for the very reasons stated in the article. I have no say , or vote on any union issues. I can’t attend meetings. Small price to pay for freedom…
Seems like you’re willing to give up your freedom to the whims of the Governor-see you in the unemployment line in May!
Yet you accept the steps, the salary increases and the incredibly good health insurance they have bargained for you. Ahh freedom. It’s a good thing even for leeches.
I also choose not to be in the union. I would LOVE to negotiate my pay, but I am not allowed. I have my own insurance that is not through the school. They do not pay me what they pay for the other teachers’ insurance.
The union gave you $xx to opt out of school health insurance and you are p*zzed that they didn’t give you the entire cost of insurance? Insurance and pay are negotiated separately and are separate issues. Are you really sure you would come out on top negotiating your own salary?
Neither the union nor the school ever gave me any money to opt out. I am not sure I would come out on top. Neither are the many people who work for businesses without unions.
Most schools will give you some money if you opt out of health insurance when you have decided to go with private or husbands insurance. Sorry you missed out. I don’t understand what you mean when you say “They do not pay me what they pay for the other teachers’ insurance.”
It is my understanding that the employee and the school district pay for health insurance. Since I don’t get insurance through the school, I don’t ever see that money from the benefit. However, when the budget comes out or when salaries are mentioned, it is always quoted higher because of the benefit of health insurance. If that is the case, why don’t they just pay me what they pay for others’ insurance?
Yews to all your questions!
Seems like you’re willing to give up your freedom to the whims of the Governor-see you in the unemployment line in May!
Yes, there are many teachers that do not belong to the MEA. Membership is optional.
Only someone with very limited understanding about business, work, unions and capitalism thinks the taxpayers are paying for union dues. This is one of the stranger straw men the conservative wing nuts have come up with. Those constituents with limited intellectual capabilities have clasped this to their breasts with little cries of joy, thinking they have uncovered a giant socialist scam as they busily post this incredibly ignorant information on blogs and comment pages.
You are hauling out all the guns to promote your fallacies today aren’t you?
What fallacies? Could you list them for me so we can discuss them?
Only someone with very limited understanding about business, work, unions and capitalism thinks the The Unions have not figured the cost of it’s average Due’s when negotiating teachers salaries, specifically when “negotiating ” the Base salary of Teachers.
Now that you have managed to call me one with ” limited intellectual capabilities” and a poster of “incredibly ignorant information” put your self important , superior intellect to work and find my reference source for this information.
I will give you a hint as I think you will be lacking in this charge. It came from an individual from the American Federation of Teachers, This same person has also stated that ” beginning teaches should earn wages comparable to
those afforded beginning doctors and lawyers.”
Find me the name of this person, and their title at the time of the quote , and you will find my reference material.Unless you are just a pompous Windbag
You got it right in your last line. She toes the Marxist, socialist line unfailingly and shows no real understanding of business or work or capitalism, only the Marxist interpretation of those things.
First of all, NanaAnna’s clarification was correct. The article clearly makes it sound as if taxes are going directly to the MEA. Here it is, straight from the article…
” It would be one thing if the money funneling into the MEA’s coffers were private dollars paid voluntarily by union members. But the teachers union dues that fund this left-wing advocacy organization come directly from you and me through property taxes and other state taxes.”
Obviously, you realize that taxes do not go directly to the “coffers” of the MEA. So, you tried to support the false information in the article by arguing that because NanaAnna’s paycheck is derived from taxes, taxes are being used to support the MEA.
Once that check is made out to her, it is no longer your, mine, or our tax money…it is her private money to do with what she pleases.
Come on get real! Your line of thinking is the same as saying if you work for The Bangor Daily News, the person who bought a paper this morning is responsible for buying your groceries.
While McKane is correct about the political advocacy of the MTA, he goes off on a pretty big tangent when he says that our tax dollars pay for this. The salary of the MTAs members pay for “this” and it is money earned not “given” by taxpayers. The MTA has supported Republicans, notable Senator Collins.
Perhaps McKAne needs to look in the mirror to see why the MTA hasn’t supported him.
Never the less I am well aware of where the dollars originated and who has taken it from who and given it to you. Whether earned or not.
The money originates from the same place that every employees salary originates from, people. It doesn’t matter if it is from taxes or from cell phones, both employees are contributing to society and should be free to spend THEIR paycheck how they see fit. I forget how often you small government types decide you should be the arbiters of how people are allowed to spend their money.
Typical progressive response. “It really doesn’t matter where the money comes from. It’s only money. There is plenty to go around.”
I wonder what the school districts in Maine could do without that insurance money overpayment and their back room deal. Talk to the Bangor Super…
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2010/01/14/news/bangor/bangor-school-system-stymied-on-health-insurance/
Meanwhile the MEA stuffs their pockets.
Eh, honestly, I am more of a libertarian. I believe that people should be free to spend their money how they see fit without the government telling them what to do. I see that it is completely opposite of what you believe, you believe you should get to tell people what they have to do.
The issue is of course how governments distribute tax dollars for what purpose. Union coffers and their sweetheart insurance deal or the school districts for their classroom use.
You are actually presenting the big government model as a libertarian argument, first time I have ever heard that ploy.
You should pay more attention to history then. The libertarian movement at it’s core is a socialist movement. It has been co-opted by Conservatives in this country to distinguish themselves from nanny-state conservatives like yourself, however internationally it is still a socialist movement.
Oh my. You really have a case don’t you. Twist away. You still present a big government answer while using all the code words.
Nope, you are the one doing the twisting. I suspect that you know quite well that insurance companies vying to provide school health insurance are also offering kick backs. Those kick backs will go to the school board members to spend as they like instead of to the MEA to spend as you don’t like. LOL
Why would you say something against Bangor School dept head Betsy Webb. Have you evidence or are you just going around accusing people?
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2010/01/14/news/bangor/bangor-school-system-stymied-on-health-insurance/
Sorry, not following your train of accusations.
Nice rewrite of your post.
Glad to oblige :-)
As a point of clarificaton are you saying that teachers should not be allowed to spend the money that they earn from their profession any way they want?
No, What I am saying is that the school districts should and can, if they had the guts, do better for their school districts and the students than feeding union back room captive market insurance deals.
You elected your school board. If you don’t like what they are doing run for the office, or support someone that reflects your values and attitudes.
So you do not deny that union needs have an effect on the school board and union back door insurance deals have a negative effect on school budgets?
Let me rephrase that so the meaning can’t be twisted. If you believe that your school board is not meeting your needs and reflecting your values you should run for school board.
Are you telling me I don’t have the right to have an opinion and express it in this forum? Who put you in charge?
Well there is a non sequitor if I ever saw one.
Lets say it again. I have the right to post in this forum even if i choose not to run for school board and you have nothing to say about it.
Everybody has the right to bellyache. Have at it.
Ironic, isn’t it. While screeching about their freedoms they are busily advocating taking freedom away from others.
Not really ironic, anyone paying attention would know that the Conservative Battle cry has always been “Freedom for me, but not for thee!”
Does
your employers ask where you spend the money he pays you? Do you give some to
politicians he may not support? Too charities or churches he may not support? I
need to know, to quote our illustrious governor, “What planet is this man
from?”
I tell them they have to buy all their stuff at the company store. :)
Your previous posts indicate that you are prevented from this action only by laws making script illegal. :-)
Let’s clarify the need for LD 1326 and why the MEA is fighting its implementation: the MEA, because of its strangle hold on school district health insurance dollars, has amassed a 60 million dollar reserve….60 million dollars of our taxes sitting in the MEA confers gaining nothing but interest.
http://www.asmainegoes.com/content/ld-1326-allows-schools-seek-less-expensive-health-insurance-alternatives
You
will find out, if and when this bill is implemented that many towns will see an
increase in the insurance. The MEA has been able to hold down insurance costs
below what most people are seeing. Mr McLane must have received a zero! Now he
wants to be able to tell teachers what they can do with their salary. My school
district no more paid my dues than did he pay the mortgages, car payments and
clothing for his employees( if he has any).If he wants Union money out of politics
, he should be quick to make sure there is no corporate money, Kok brothers money,
bank money coming into the coffers of the R’s either. His real compliant is
that most Unions are sensitive to issues for working people, the poor , an
social justice for all, not just the rich! Voting? .I taught government and civics
for many years? I stressed that suffrage is the most important right that they have.
The r’s would rather take that right away from thousands in Maine and millions nationally,
to make sure that one( if they could really find one) person doesn’t vote
illegally.
Minimum wage? Perhaps we would have less
students going hungry and less free lunch if the wages in Maine were higher.
those and others aren’t educational issues? Teacher see the effects of these
and many more every day in their classrooms
You are drinking MEA cool-aid. Without competition there cannot be a savings and there is neither with the MEA trust —- they contract with a single provider: Anthem, which gives them an annual kickback. This is politics at its worst and a disservice to the taxpayers of Maine.
Having been the chief negotiator for my teachers union I can assure you that the competing insurance corporations are giving kick backs also. These kick backs go to the school board members. There are no laws presently on the books controlling where this kick back money goes. It can be spent any way the school board decides. That is the sole reason for 1326. The school board members want the kick backs.
Every one of these non-NEA insurance plans cost the district more because of the substantial kick backs and the lower quality plans.
So the money goes back to the school district in your non-union scenario. Sounds good to me.
“Every one of these non-NEA insurance plans cost the district more because of the substantial kick backs and the lower quality plans”
The fact is we don’t know do we. All of the claim data is held from public analysis by the union.
The analysis of the cost to the district was done by the negotiating committee and by the school board. The non NEA health insurance policy would have cost the district more and the school board was very frank about wanting the kick back. It was a pretty open discussion. I’m guessing the same sort of discussion goes on in most negotiating sessions.
Tell me why Betsy Webb cannot get data for Bangor? Start there.
Even though your a rabid social justice advocate and a shameless Marxist, your comments are usually coherent – but not today. Kickbacks for school board members is grassy knoll, birther, trilateral commission, tin-foil hat stuff. I was a school board member for many years and never, ever heard even a whisper of an insurance kickback.
For many years most school boards automatically went with the MEA/Anthem insurance because they were the best and cheapest around. It’s been only lately that other insurance companies have been trying to provide insurance. They don’t get too loud about the kick back. Our team found out about the kick back inadvertently. The school board was quite upset when they knew we knew.
And she was a teacher. As are many of the other m00nbats who post on here. Does that tell you anything about why our schools are failing and the poor education our kids are getting.
And please don’t forget that Unions are people too.They should be able to spend as much as they please, the same as corporations!
Get your facts straight. That $60 million reserve is used to help combat drastic hikes in the premiums from one year to the next. The money is not in the MEA, it is in the MEA Benefits Trust, which is affiliated, but not the same organization. The MEA-BT is for health insurance only. MEA-BT negotiates with Anthem to provide health insurance for the people on the plan. The reserve can be used to help mitigate big rate hikes or it can be used to purchase improvements to the benefits. That money is not being used for anything else and it is wise to have a financial cushion in such a business. I know $60 million sounds like an excessive amount but it is actually quite moderate.
”
It would be one thing if the money funneling into the MEA’s coffers were private dollars paid voluntarily by union members. But the teachers union dues that fund this left-wing advocacy organization come directly from you and me through property taxes and other state taxes.”
Rep McKane are the dollars you are talking about also known as teachers salaries? If that is the case then wouldn’t the dollars become the personal dollars of the teachers? Sounds like weasel wording to me.
Many of the non-educational issues you say that MEA backs do affect education in that they are in response to proposed negative policies (largely due to Republcians and their funders) which affect all of us, especially school kids, or to support policies that are beneficial to all, like health care reform. If ALEC, MHPC, etc., can spend money in defence of their anti-people policies, so can the unions or any of the rest of us who don’t agree with them.
But if unions are going to take political positions on matters not directly related to education, for example, then nobody should be forced to contribute to a union as a condition of employment. Nobody is forced to contribute to MHPC or ALEC.
My guess?? This editorial is written to start the PR campaign for Right to Work legislation that is coming.
Teachers are not required to join the MEA. It is entirely optional or you can join and pay only for the contract negotiations and not for the unions political action component. Many unions have such a clause.
Misinformation! You don’t have to join but the membership fee covers both contract negotiations and the political action component – they are not separate so you are spreading misinformation, again. Once you pay your fees you have no control over what the MEA does with the money – they consider it their personal “war chest”.
All the districts I have dealt with give the option of joining and paying only for the cost of contract negotiations. The political action component is optional. There are a lot of things that the NEA supports that I wish they wouldn’t get into since I know it turns off a lot of conservative teachers. However if you wait for the perfect union you will never have any union.
You are a union mouth-piece for the union – I knew it! Another elitist fascist in action; hope my dues don’t go to support you and your agenda.
Excellent article! I am a teacher and NOT a member of the union.
Do you turn your pay raise back to school board telling them you can’t accept the raise because you don’t belong to the union that negotiated the raise?
I would LOVE to negotiate my own raise, but I am not allowed. Nor am I allowed to have a say in who “the union” backs in an election – oh, of course, no other union member is either!
Why not join the union and have a say in union affairs and help them negotiate salaries for all teachers. You surely aren’t the only competent teacher in your district as you imply.
I don’t join because the union has never asked me who I want to endorse as a presidential candidate or if I want to my dues going to noneducational issues. I don’t like my dues going to pay for PACS. There are many competent teachers in my district. I never said there weren’t. There are also many teachers who aren’t in the union here because of the same reasons I am not.
So you had a choice to join or not. You chose to not to join. You could have joined and paid only the cost of negotiating contracts.
That is not an option in our district.
You noticed she chose not to respond to this…
I’m surprised. It’s an option in the 4 districts I’ve had anything to do with.
All union members are given a ballot during every presidential election so the NEA will endorse the candidate the majority of union members will support. Naturally, if you aren’t a member you don’t get a ballot.
I used to be a member. I never got a ballot. Ever.
“You surely aren’t the only competent teacher in your district as you imply. “I have read all of fromthecounty’s post and no where has he/she said or implied anything of this nature. Your arrogance will be your undoing.
It was unkind. I apologize. However, in my experience, those who are aggressively against a teachers’ union have had a very high opinion of their teaching skills. Sometimes, their opinions are justified. More often not.
They may not be the only competent teacher in their school district but I bet they are one of the few competent teachers there.
Probably because the union does not listen to you if you openly disagree with them and then they act vindictively against their own members. That has been my personal experience with the MEA.
Is fromthecounty allowed into the meetings and to be a part of the negotiating precess?
Negotiate or extort?
Lets be clear about one thing, the MEA has no interest in the quality of education or just education all by itself. It is interested in one thing and that is getting all of the money and benefits that they can for their members no matter if they are qualified to teach or incompetent and unqualified. This is BIG LABOR and they are in it for themselves.
The quality of education is the responsibility of the school board you elected.
What union do you know of that legally take over the responsibilities of management? Wouldn’t UPS take legal action against the Teamsters Union if they started dictating how to run the delivery routes and how much to charge for a package?
Good “union” answer.
The NEA is one of the gravest threats to American society. They have the responsibility of educating our youth but are only concerned with getting as much money as quickly as possible into Democratic campaign coffers to perpetuate the cycle. As the NEA has increased its stature and political power the ranking of American educational systems have only degradated and declined. Of course the Left is in favor of all of this as its all about politcal power not education.
Flat: The people responsible for educating your children are the local school board members you elected last fall. The NEA has no legal right to interfere with the way your local school board runs your school. This has been explained several times in several venues. Do you not listen or are you simply interested in tossing lies into the public domain to see if they stick?
Let me try, once again, to inform you.
The NEA is a union, just like the IBPM (International Brotherhood of Papermakers) or the Teamsters. A union is composed of workers banding together to negotiate their contracts with management for better working conditions and pay. The IBPM does not own a paper mills nor is the union responsible for the quality of the paper that comes out of that mill. The Teamsters Union does not own UPS nor is the union responsible for when your package arrives.
The NEA does not run your local school system. They do not control the school finances or the towns mill rate. They do not hire any school personnel. The school board that you elected runs your schools. The school board makes school policy. They hire the superingendents that run the schools according to the school boards policies. They approve the curriculum, the teaching methods, the books and the time devoted to subjects. They hire the principals that carry out the management of the schools that reflect the school policy. They are responsible for the quality of education your child receives. The teachers’ unions legally have no say in how schools are run. A school board may hire and fire any personnel they wish. They may grant tenure or with hold tenure. The union has absolutely no say in that matter.
A union can only negotiate the contract between workers and management or the school board for pay, benefits and physical working conditions. A union can not keep a school district or a corporation from firing a teacher or employee if the school or the corporation has followed its own policy for firing.
“The Teamsters Union does not own UPS nor is the union responsible for when your package arrives.”
But every three years, just as contract time approaches, there is an uptick in damaged goods, missed deliveries and unexplained returns.
I shop on line. I get delivers from UPS. I’ve never gotten a damaged package even during that third year. Why would destroying packages and delaying deliveries benefit workers or the union? Are you inferring that teachers slack off on teaching, turn in false attendance reports or damage school property when they are negotiating their contracts. Why on earth would it be beneficial to irritate the people that control your salary and benefits??????
You seem to have a very strange ideas about business, people and the world.
I have a UPS account and I ship anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 monthly via UPS. ( I get discounts so really its even more packages) If the contract is not finalized at least three months before the old contract expires I have had all three of those things I mentioned above happen to me. Multiple times. The last time, after a complaint from me and after the contract was signed, I had a visit from the UPS rep and the local Teamster Rep. They apologize repeatedly for what they had done to my business.
Forklifts run over packages, lost packages, returned undelivered packages. This I have documented.
In case I failed to make my point even if the MEA does not take the route to my child that the Teamsters did to me and 10’s of thousands of other UPS customers, each union is different and has their own way of getting what they want.
The MEA is no different.
If you don’t understand how that can happen i daresay, You seem to have a very strange ideas about business, people and the world.
Interesting that a union rep showed up with the UPS rep. This would seem to indicate that both were unhappy with a poor product. And when they apologized for the damage to the packages did they tell you the damage was done by inexperienced temporary workers hired when UPS locked out the regular workers. Or did they simply apologize and tell you they were sorry and would reimburse you for damages to your $1500 worth of UPS business.
Unions are part of capitalism if you want capitalism to work. If only the capitalists have power the system reverts to a monopoly and a race to the bottom for workers wages. If only the school board has power the race to the bottom will keep talented and competent people out of teaching.
What is it that you want your child to get out of school that the MEA is preventing them from getting? You seem very angry with schools, teachers and public schools in general. Is there a focal point to your anger?
No They apologized for what their membership did in time leading up to the strike. Again it was the union workers that did the damage. The only problem I had with the replacement workers is that delivery was slow. Also like I said generally every three years the union does damage in the period leading up to a new contract strike or not. UPS made good on the damages before the Reps visited my office.
Remember it was you that made the intial comparison of the Teamsters and MEA. I didn’t.
In private business when the unions get too powerful and interferes heavily in the business that business suffers and sometimes even fails. Note the paper companies in Maine. Public employee unions, like teachers, work for what is effectively a monopoly. With all the negatives that any monopoly has. Higher cost, unresponsive, etc.
Please be aware that when MEA says it is taking a position on some bill or other, most dues-paying members have no idea what the bill is, what the position is or why the organization takes it .
At the Legislature, MEA is only a very few people – mostly staff members and the President – who show up to testify. The testimony they give is not based on member input and is not even reported to the membership (or even other staff people around the state) after it’s given. So, when you read “MEA supports or opposes such-and-such a bill”, don’t assume teachers and support staff around the state support or oppose the bill; it’s just the Augusta crowd deciding what’s best – whether it really is or not.
The MEA and NEA reflect the thinking of the informed and involved members. Both unions put out a monthly news letter. One can choose to be uniformed and uninvolved but they should not complain when unions do not represent their views.
Good spin! You missed your calling. You should have been in PR.
Spin???? How is that spin? When people say they don’t know and they don’t care how is it “spin” that nobody knows what they think?
Not complain when my association (union) doesn’t represent its membership? Comments like that lead to facism – the news letter is “crap” , I read the newsletters every month; the political positions are extreme and as a member (who is informed and oh yes, involved) I can’t complain? Horse-manure; you’ve just given a reason for union-busters why unions should not exist – they are here to represent the membership lady, and the MEA and NEA don’t; what elitist nonsense – makes me want to leave the union with that mindset; perhaps I shall.
Of course you can complain you read the news letter, you’re informed. You apparently go to the meetings, you’re involved. I’m sorry they don’t represent all your views. They must represent something you value since you are still a member. However, since they both have a huge membership and are a significant political force have you considered that they do represent the views of the majority. Being in the minority is a very hard position. Have you considered joining but only paying the part of the dues that go to negotiations?
Funny you supposedly know all about the MEA – are you a member or just an elitist union mouth-piece? The MEA does not separate their fees; you are completely ignorant of the how we pay our dues. Oh – by the way – the only reason I remained a member so long is the “free – with my dues of course” million dollar liability insurance that comes with membership – otherwise, the MEA is useless.
You can get a personal liability umbrella for WAY cheaper than dues!
“The reality is that the teachers union has chosen to advocate for their
political party’s position in these matters — and without polling
members. It can then use this “scorecard” in political campaigns.”
So this is the “reality”? Sorry Mr McKane, but that is simply untrue. There is little union dissent on the relentless assault on teachers. After having their pensions reduced, enduring massive cuts to programs to make way for small tax cuts, and being publicly defamed as a scourge on the taxpayer, do you really contend that MEA members are leaning towards supporting all of this?
With just the slightest bit of independent thinking, one can see that suddenly overnight, teachers went from being one of the most esteemed professions to one of the most contentious. This is the impact of heavily financed conservative think tanks bombarding the airwaves with anti-public sector nonsense to rile the people into voting against the very thing that can bring hope to our future. The anti-government radicals came at the teachers unions and other public sector unions hard and fast, immediately following the 2010 midterms.
Now there is talk of further decimation of our schools with “school choice” legislation. Think about it. If we have trouble funding the 710 Maine public schools we have now, how is diverting funding to numerous private charter schools going to help. It cannot help.
Choice is a nice word and it conjures feelings of freedom and democracy. IN this situation the word was selected to have exactly this type of emotional appeal. Remember, though, what we will be facing will not be about the better of two options. Once the money has been diverted to the for-profit charter school, the free public school becomes grossly underfunded and unsustainable in the long term. This will create an exodus away from the public school and build a for profit school system in which individuals make more money by providing the least they can get away with to students. The limited performance data on charter schools is not particularly appealing. If we cannot afford the schools we have now, without a profit motive, how is adding a profit motive and more schools going to reduce costs? It won’t. It is a false choice.
Charter schools and ‘school choice’ will allow the firing of incompetent teachers based on their performance not the number of years they have in seniority over more competent educators; it will allow the rewarding of teacher’s based on their performance not on the number of years they have been able to hide behind their union rep’s protection of seniority.
Nonsense. Charter schools range from the purely corrupt (see Philadelphia’s very failed experiment among many others), merely incompetent, to barely adequate. Their purpose is like the Republican strategy nationally to break all unions so that workers can not negiotiate for salaries which will permit the bosses to impose wages and benefits.
The partisan here is this funky.
you clearly do not have the gonads to address the issue I raised…..seniority. In the ‘real’ world employees work as long as they produce and do so competently. Teachers (at all levels) hide behind their seniority and refuse to accept responsibility for their work, e.g. performance evaluations. I would have little concern for public sector collective bargaining if it truly was for fair wages but that is the least of the MEA’s concern…it is deadset on the retention of seniority as the only acceptable determinate for pay level and/or order of layoff. This is not a partisan issue for me, in fact, I am a democrat and have been my entire life.
Thomas: you apparently have not read the laws and policies governing your school district. If you had, you would find that an untenured teacher may be fired with no reason given and that there is a legal written policy for firing tenured teachers. The problem is that school administrators do not follow the legal procedure for firing a teacher. The union will help a teacher defend themselves agains an illegal firing. The idea that our schools are filled with incompetent tenured teachers that the union keeps the school from firing is a Republican myth.
If you think your school has incompetent teachers you need to run for school board and help correct this problem by hiring superintendents and principals that will follow the legal procedure for firing incompetent tenured teachers.
Well thank you msally. I just completed a three year term as a member of my district school board. In fact, I was a member of the Salaries and Personnel Committee of that board and just last year renegotiated our district’s teacher contract. Given the current economic crisis facing us all, it was not a pleasant task. But the issues were never really salary because we had no funds and the union team knew it. So you know what we tried to get the MEA headed teacher union team to discuss? I am sure you know…that’s a rhetorical question msally…we wanted to discuss pay for performance and layoffs based on performance. I am sure you know how far those negotiations went. Well they went nowhere; we could not even get the group to discuss performance evaluations. Msally, what too many educators do not realize is that there are school board members such as me who want to significantly increase teacher salaries but we will not do so unless we know we are paying for performance and that we can measure that our dollars are being spent effectively….until we can choose the best teachers and pay them accordingly (and fire the worst teachers) we will continue to pay all based on the lowest common denominator….union contracts laden with seniority rules force us to accept the lowest common denominator and as a result we are going to pay based on the lowest common denominator….the next time you go to your school and see a colleague you know does not perform as well as you but is paid the same, remember why. It is not because the school board does not want to pay you more. It is because your union contract does not let us.
Again msally, what about fewer replies in the pejorative and a little discussion of the issue I have raised in the last three posts
So you are saying you didn’t want to give teachers a pay raise, and on top of that they wouldn’t buy into a pay for performance scheme that has been shown time and time again to not be effective? No wonder our schools are in trouble if this is the kind of leadership we have on the boards. Meanwhile you acknowledge that the selfless teachers did not seek a pay raise because money was tight for the district. They could have demanded that the money comes from somewhere else since less than 28% of the average Maine school budget goes to pay for teacher salary, but they didn’t because it would hurt the kids. THOSE MONSTERS!
Why did you waste school board time blathering about busting chops and merit pay instead of going to your superintendent and telling him to follow your school board policy and start the observation and documentation process for the incompetent teachers? You don’t negotiate the firing of teachers during a negotiation.
The president of your teachers union is one of your teachers not an MEA employee. However, I can fully understand why the teachers may have wanted an MEA representative to attend your negotiating sessions.
So, you couldn’t get a negotiating team to discuss teacher evaluation. As a board member you should know that teacher evaluation is not a contract item so it’s not a negotiable subject. Evaluations are the responsibility of the school administration. You should have taken it up with them at a board meeting. It’s been my experience that when a school board member hates salary steps and wants to open the negotiations with merit pay and sorting out the good teachers from the bad its a code word for breaking the union and rewarding compliant teachers and kicking out a teacher that questions the value of something dear to the heart of a board member, like teaching creationism and evolution as equal theories.
Which teacher’s Lounge do you reign supreme over?
Have you read the statistics on charter schools? Do you know how many charter schools failed and left the state holding the bag for millions of dollars in debt? Have you any idea how many teachers have left charter schools? Do you realize most charter schools produce students that do only the same or worse than public schools?
Do you realize that a charter school will have no power over public school personnel policy?
MsSally, your first four points are anecdotal at best; as for your last question, not anecdotal but also quite true and exactly what schools need: personnel policies outside the purview of politicians..
Thomas: I posted no anecdotes. I posted questions.
To pretend those were not retorical questions is quite a stretch; do not try to spin your position anymore than you already have.
I’ll ask the question again. Do you have any statistics on charter school and their failure rate? Do you have any information on student progress in charter schools? Do you know how many carter schools have defaulted on loans? Do you know the cost to states of these loan defaults? Do you have statistics on teachers in charter schools. Until you have answers to these “retorical” questions your information on charter schools is simply hearsay.
Incompetent teachers can be fired now. Stripping schools of funding does not make better schools no matter what you say, it makes them even weaker.
Teachers can be rewarded for excellence. The Race to the Top is based on just that principle.
The school choice debate is rife with false choices. It is not about school choice, it is about educational apartheid.
Teachers unions have been slow to adapt but they can be persuaded to change without sacrificing our commitment to providing quality education for all.
I wish that there was an easy solution as many portray charter schools. The fact is that the broadest study of charter schools showed that 17% of the charter schools out performed the public schools in the same area. That means that 83% of the time the school under-performs.
Charter schools are a way to make education into a for profit game. there is no way to offer a profit motive and not see costs or quality decline. There is something called the triple constraint: you can have it fast, you can have it cheap or you can have it good, pick any two. You cant have it all. If you claim to, you are lying.
The comments following this article really indicate how little people know about the MEA and how much they rely on incorrect information. First, teachers choose to join the MEA, no one is forced to join. Second, if teachers do not join the MEA they do not pay dues, no service fees, nothing. Third, the MEA and local associations can only negotiate wages, hours and working conditions, not educational policy. They are really not at all the powerful operations they are made out to be. Fourth, once money from any source goes into a teacher’s paycheck it is their money to do with as they see fit. To view this any other way is bogus. This piece is the same old bs, create a straw man and then knock him down.
Please tell me the rest of our legislators aren’t as dumb as Jonathan McKane?
For starters this idiot (OK, OK idiot isn’t a nice word, think up a better one) appears to believe that teachers’ salaries somehow still belong to the town even after they have been earned and presented to teachers. Extending that stupidity to its illogical conclusion: when Mr McKane, an electrical contractor, gets paid for a job, that money still belongs to the person whose house he just wired. What an astounding economic theory. It completely negates capitalism.
Another breathtakingly uninformed thought from McKane is that unions now have responsibility for product quality. UPS is going to be astounded when the Teamsters union starts micro-managing delivery routes, package charges and UPS’s cargo airlines schedule. Equally astounded will be your local school boards when the MEA takes over managing teaching methods, mill rates and the hiring of the superintendent of schools.
redundant
I am a member of the MEA; it has its own agenda as it is run by radicals even by teacher’s perspectives; I for one know it does not represent my views as a member.
Why don’t you join and add a balance to MEA if you believe they have gone too far?
Ummm – can you not read or are you too busy “correcting us ignorant proletariats”? I am a member but elitists who don’t pay attention, like you, are part of the problem with the NEA and MEA?
The MEA Benefits Trust has a monopoly because it is cheaper to pool
members than to try and provide separate insurance for smaller groups of
people. 70,000 people are in MEA-BT. If a small school district opts
out then their performance rating only includes a couple hundred
people. 1 premature birth or catastrophic illness and their rates will
go up dramatically. It is too risky for any of the school districts in
Maine to go it alone. I am sure the MEA-BT would welcome competition
for Anthem if any other companies were interested.