House Blueprints

Teachers' Unions Uneasy with Obama

By: Nia-Malika Henderson
October 17, 2009 05:57 PM EST

Photo: AP
Barack Obama and Arne Duncan talk to high school students before giving a speech

A skirmish between powerful teachers’ unions and President Barack Obama over nearly $5 billion in education spending is shaping up as a preview of the battle to come over No Child Left Behind in Congress early next year.


But the tables are turned: now the unions are worried that Obama, a Democratic ally, is going to be just as tough on them as President George W. Bush, a longtime foe.


The dispute adds teachers’ unions to a growing list of key Democratic constituencies that have been frustrated by Obama’s lunges toward the political middle, along with gay-rights activists upset Obama won’t lift the ban on gays in the military, and Latino officials who say Obama is slow-walking immigration reform.


So far, both the unions and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have tried to avoid a full-on collision, and the unions are showing new flexibility in accepting previously unheard-of moves like stricter teacher evaluations.


But they’re also making it clear they'll only go so far with Obama, who was booed at two teachers' union conventions when he was a candidate.


One of the little-noticed aspects of Obama’s presidency is how much his approach to education mirrors Bush’s – heavy on testing and data-collection, with support for charter schools, teacher evaluations and merit pay.


That’s what Obama and Duncan are stressing in upcoming decisions over how to award the nearly $5 billion in “Race to the Top” funds, with final guidelines due in November.


And the reform efforts seen in Race to the Top are what some education observers expect Obama to seek in reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind law, which administration officials said will be developed in the coming months.


The unions tried to shoot down some of those concepts in formal responses to the Race to the Top program – but all signs are that Duncan’s Education Department isn’t backing off significantly.


And clearly, the unions expected more from a Democratic president.


Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers, gave the administration an “A for effort,” but has some concerns.


“This administration doesn’t want to be ‘Bush Three,’ but some of the things that are coming out…simply charter schools and measurement… that’s what the previous administrations pushed,” Weingarten said, referring to Bush and his father, the president.


“Data is important and charter schools can be great incubators for instructional practice and labor relations practice, but if it ends up just becoming measurement and some charter schools, that’s not public education,” she said.

Said Dennis Van Roekel, president of the 3.2 million-member National Education Association:
“Obviously we hope that some of the proposed changes will be reflected in the new guidelines. There could be major changes or minor changes, I just don’t know. But I don’t think there will be major changes.”


Announced in July, the nationwide competition offers states a chance to get a windfall of funds if they meet certain eligibility criteria. Among the 19 requirements are developing and implementing common statewide standards and data systems and increasing the availability of charter schools.


Already, cash-strapped states are moving to comply. Eight states, including Illinois, Ohio and Tennessee, have lifted caps on charter schools. California and Wisconsin are moving to lift restrictions linking test scores to teacher evaluation.


Initial guidelines for the money drew about 1,100 responses, with many offering support, yet some of the most heated comments came from teachers’ unions.


In a 26-page letter, the NEA said they found the “top-down approach disturbing” and that the emphasis on data amounted to “ignoring states’ rights to enact their own laws and constitutions.”


“We have been down that road before with the failures of the No Child Left Behind, and we cannot support yet another layer of federal mandates that have little or no research base of success, and that usurp state and local governments’ responsibilities for public education,” the group’s letter said.


While the Education Department in June tore down the red school house with the words No Child Left Behind above the door, and the law will be renamed, some are concerned that the requirements for Race to the Top are a blueprint for reauthorization of NCLB.


In his most recent speech about the No Child law, Duncan praised the effort, saying that it “helped expand the standards and accountability movement.”


“Today, we expect districts, principals and teachers to take responsibility for the academic performance of their schools and districts. We can never