By Peter Galuszka
As much as I hold James A. Bacon Jr., my esteemed fellow blogger, in the deepest of respect, whenever he says that he regards a package of legislation as the best, it’s time to start to switch on the Google.
In this case, Jim is patting Gov. Robert F. McDonnell on the back for such things as tightening the screws on public teacher evaluations and moving ahead with “virtual” teaching methods (that’s like, sooo Digital Dominion).
Nevertheless, here’s a counterpoint from Elaine in Roanoke who writes for the Democratic blog “Blue Virginia.” Elaine takes McDonnell apart for beating up on teachers under the guise of holding them to high standards while he simultaneously has been draining public education budgets for three years to boost highway spending and make himself look like he has a balanced budget and thus improve his chances for a vice presidential candidate slot with Mitt Romney or other Republican.
As Elaine notes, McDonnell is really proposing doing away with teacher tenure that is designed to protect professional educators from interference from zealots who worry that the teacher isn’t presenting the right dogma or from the rampant office politics that eduction is famous for.
Like many conservatives, McDonnell and Bacon are pushing an agenda that has yet to be proven. They go from the standpoint that our education system is in crisis and the cause is bad teachers and unions that protect some of them. True, the U.S. system could be improved, but where is the overwhelming evidence that teachers, in particular, are one special class of public service professionals who are somehow incredibly incompetent? Why do teachers need to defend their jobs every year? Why not doctors, lawyers, accountants, whatever? Could it be that many teachers are middle-class women and that somehow makes them suspect?
A second part of McDonnell’s education offensive that Jim Bacon finds so wonderful has to do with contracting teaching to “virtual” outside, for-profit companies. As part of this, teachers and programs would be cut and privatized.
And where, exactly, did this gem of an idea come from. Jim won’t tell you, but Elaine will. It’s a cut and paste job from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing outfit that draws up omnibus legislation with their conservative twist and peddles them to sympathizers in state legislatures and lobbying groups. This is exactly where the virtual idea is from, writes Elaine.
So, McDonnell’s campaign against public schools continues, with his sycophants cheering him on.
