Educational Volunteers vs Unions

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/cjc0504ppkk.html

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"The truth will set you free - but first it will make you angry." (John C. Maxwell)
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My mother taught 5th grade in the Huntington (NY) Union Free School District for 42 years until she retired. I never paid any attention to what the title of the "District" was ("Union Free"). But, today I am.

In what can't possibly be true, the "City Journal" reports that volunteers in the Culver City, California Unified School District are being bullied about paying union dues. In this West Los Angeles school district, the Association of Classified Employees (ACE) - a union representing non-teaching school staff - wants to force "...minimally compensated, hard-working volunteers and classroom adjuncts to unionize..." This is happening at the El Marino Language School which is a National Blue Ribbon Award winner.

In 1989, the parents at the El Marino Language School created "Advocates for Language Learning El Marino" (ALLEM), a non-profit organization that raises money to hire part-time, independent adjunct teachers for each classroom. The adjuncts work 1.5 to 3 hours per day, 5 days per week. These adjuncts are not unqualified or untrained amateurs. The money they make is supported by ALLEM's bake sales, silent auctions, pledges, etc.

The union argues (Really!) that the adjunct program is unfair to other schools that lack a similar level of parent and community involvement. Wait, there's more! The union proposes that ALLEM continue its fundraising to support higher-cost, unionized adjuncts. Here's an actual quote from the union president: "We decided as an executive board for the union that we needed to negotiate that they (the adjuncts) be brought into our unit. It's not a personal thing, it's a negotiations thing."

A spokesman for ALLEM said the group would need to raise 40% more money per year to pay for unionized employees.

The ACE's next steps include filing a grievance with the district, followed by an appeal to the union-aligned Public Employment Relations Board. According to Pete Peterson, the executive director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement at Pepperdine's School of Public Policy, "The union push to extort dues out of parent-funded workers is not limited to El Marino."

There are those who feel that California will never come back to what it once was as a state (or state of mind): expert economists and demographers come to mind. California citizens appear to be voting with their feet on California viability by leaving the state faster than new citizens can arrive.

If you've read this, pass the information about this situation on. I have but a small voice but, perhaps many voices can focus attention on this kind of blatant selfishness and stupidity.

My mother's school district was ultimately unionized in spite of her refusal to participate in that effort. She didn't think education should be unionized.

There are many who believe that the key to future GDP growth and/or productivity improvement in the United States is education. Education and innovation work hand-in-hand.

Could it be that situations like the one described here are what's limiting U.S. educational achievement vs other countries?