>>My sister is a teacher so I hear about problems all the time. Most are with the administrative heirarchy and nearly all boil down to lack of funds. She only mentions the union as a source of insurance.
What a joke, The US spends currently 2-4 times per capita on student education as other countries which achieve better results. In fact, studies show that funding is actually inversely related to results in the US.
The unions are a major problem in their opposition to reform:
NEA's Political Activities Detailed JOHN SOLOMON Associated Press Writers
By Larry Margasak
and
Thursday, June 22, 2000; 4:13 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON - The nation's largest teachers union, which reports to the IRS that it spends no union dues on politics, spent millions of dollars to help elect "pro-education candidates," produce political training guides and gather teachers' voting records, internal documents show.
The National Education Association documents reviewed by The Associated Press provide a rare window into the internal workings of one of the most powerful unions in the country. The union said Thursday it believes it complied with the law.
The documents state that the union since 1994 has budgeted or spent money from its general account - funded by about $200 million a year in teachers' dues - on activities ranging from recruiting teacher-friendly candidates to helping state affiliates raise political action committee funds.
A July 1999 strategic plan states the union budgeted $4.9 million for the 2000 election for such things as "organizational partnerships with political parties, campaign committees and political organizations."
Part of the money, the document said, would be spent on a "national political strategy" that involves "candidate recruitment, independent expenditures, early voting, and vote-by-mail programs in order to strengthen support for pro-public education candidates and ballot measures."
Two former top Internal Revenue Service officials said the documents raise questions about whether the group has properly accounted for political activities on its tax returns.
The NEA, which represents 2.5 million teachers, reported no political expenses on its returns for each year from 1993 through 1998....
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