Teachers' Unions and Race to the Top

Seeing the legislature adopt education reform that would better position the state for federal Race to the Top money was a WashACE priority this year. When the governor introduced her legislation, we and others were both surprised and concerned that she worked closely with the Washington Education Association in crafting the legislation. The teachers' union had not been a big supporter of several initiatives widely deemed critical to success in the federal competition. Charter schools and merit pay, for example, have been strenuously opposed by the WEA over the years.

Now that Round 1 grants have been awarded to Delaware and Tennessee it looks like Gregoire may have taken the wise route, at least in terms of winning the money. That may not be the best course for education reform, however, as the Wall Street Journal's Neil King Jr. writes: 

The Obama administration sent a core message to the states by picking just Delaware and Tennessee as winners in its $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition: Buy-in from unions and school districts matters, a lot.

Jay P. Greene, education scholar at the Manhattan Institute, is blunt: 

If people know that union opposition scuttles a state’s chances, then no state will apply in the future unless they have union support.  This means that the unions will dictate what reforms will be pursued, which means that there will be virtually no reform.  This enhancement of union power also undermines the rhetorical effects that RTTT had by narrowing state and local policy debate to those measures acceptable to the unions.

He's right.