Yesterday’s NJ had a remarkable article from Matthew Albright that purports to take a look at the usually out-of-sight school board elections and the possibility of influence by outside interests on the eventual winners. It is remarkable, because it singles out teacher’s unions as the outside interests being served by the inattention of voters to these elections. There isn’t even a fig leaf of a “both sides do it” argument — in large part because this article lets Jea Street pontificate about how teacher’s unions are running the board for school board elections:
“The teachers have a lock on it. They control almost all the school districts,” Street said. “You’ve got to give the unions credit for being aggressive, assertive and effective. But on the other hand, you can take the position that it’s counterproductive.
“If they control the board, is the board acting in the interest of the students or the interest of the union?” he asked.
Really? It isn’t apparent to me that teacher’s unions run school boards. Just before Street’s rant, the reporter notes how two major funding referenda for Appoquinimink and Colonial went to defeat and brought out more people to vote than the usual school board elections do. You’d think — in unions were running the school board show — that they would have gotten more folks out to say YES to more money for their agenda. Whatever that is.
What no one rants about (just a little from John Young and he doesn’t name names) is the effort by other outside interests who often don’t care much about what goes on in classrooms. Anyone remember Skip Schoenhals and the Vision4Delaware crew? The Chamber of Commerce endorsed candidates (no idea of they spent money). And what about the parents groups who try to protect their little enclaves and new facilities who work for candidates? But the paragraphs are spent on unions and not the other special interests trying to influence the system too.
I don’t doubt that the teacher’s union is an active participant in school board elections. They are an active participant in all of the other elections too. But you have to do more than outsource an opinion to Jea Street that teacher’s unions run school boards. Because from where I sit, some of these boards could use a few more subject matter experts.
But we do get back to the idea that perhaps you can change the formula of increasing voter turnout by changing the school board elections to the regular Election Day and stop letting school boards basically hide their electoral activity from the broader pool voters. I’m a fan of this. I’m a big fan of this. (And while I’m here — why in heaven’s name is the school board election on 14 May, but the referenda for Appoquinimink and Colonial are a few days earlier? Why not all the same day?) I don’t buy that these elections will be politicized if held on the usual Election Day. They are politicized now — otherwise why accuse teacher’s unions of controlling the process — and I see the effort to pretend otherwise a particularly poisonous version of the Delaware Way. Let’s stop demonizing teachers and get to fixing this thing.
ps. I don’ recall the NJ actually spilling this much ink on the *actual* school board elections or their candidates for that matter? Am I wrong about that? Because I wonder how much more attention people would pay to school boards if the newspaper of record would pay attention to them in any meaningful way.