Teacher Unions Prioritize Politics Over Students

Teacher unions care more about progressive politics than the education of their students.

One LA teachers union took that to the extreme last week when demanding for the defunding of police, Medicare-for-All, and a ban on all new charter schools as conditions for reopening schools in the fall.

“It is time to take a stand against Trump’s dangerous, anti-science agenda that puts the lives of our members, our students, and our families at risk,” United Teachers Los Angeles President Cecily Myart-Cruz said. 

How exactly do these demands further protect students?

They don’t. 

In fact, since schools in LA are being forced to remain closed this fall, a decision strongly praised the UTLA, they are now the ones flying in the face of science.

From the Daily Caller:

The American Academy of Pediatrics urged school systems in late June to re-open schools at the start of the upcoming academic year in the fall, arguing that keeping children at home poses a far greater health risk than coronavirus. Children are less likely to become infected with COVID-19, and if they do, they’re less likely to become symptomatic and spread the virus, the AAP said.

“The AAP strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school,” the AAP wrote. “The importance of in-person learning is well-documented, and there is already evidence of the negative impacts on children because of school closures in the spring of 2020.”

Amid these demands by the UTLA, it’s important to revisit Joe Biden’s recent speech to the National Education Association:

“When we win this election, we’re going to get the support you need and the respect you deserve. You don’t just have a partner in the White House, you’ll have an NEA member in the White House…This is going to be a teacher-oriented Department of Education.”

Please note Biden emphasized teacher-oriented, not student-oriented.

These priorities will harm America’s students. Our teachers need to be focused on providing children with a top-notch education, not indoctrinating them with progressing talking points.