RealClearEd Today 04/08/2014: How Kansas' Funding Deal Complicates a Re-election Bid

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Good morning. It's Tuesday April 8. At RealClearEducation this morning we have the days top news, commentary, analysis, and reports from the world of education. This morning in his weekly column, Dan Willingham takes a look behind PISA's problem solving results that came out last week, The New York Times writes about a more complicated bid for re-election for Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback following the weekend's school funding deal, and The Wall Street Journal reports that a large portion of young teachers hired in 2007 are still teaching -- and offer tech savvy in the classroom. As we do each weekday we'll update the site throughout the day - our main page as well as sidebars that focus on specific parts of the sector in depth.

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On this date in 217, the Roman Emperor Caracalla was killed. He'd stopped by the side of the road to go the bathroom and was set upon by his own men. It wasn't a surprising end for Caracalla - treachery was his way. He stands out for his savageness even in comparison to the behavior of other Roman leaders. He had his own brother killed - in his mother's arms no less. Visiting the tomb of Alexander the Great, whom Caracalla idolized, he learned that local residents were mocking him for the fratricide, so he ordered a massacre. In the end, the man who murdered him did so in part because Caracalla was plotting to kill him.

It would be hyperbolic to compare what happened in New York this weekend to the times of Caracalla. Still, treachery was in the air as the state teachers union elected new leadership, and the episode offers some lessons for education observers. Until the early hours of Sunday morning, Richard Iannuzzi had led the New York State United Teachers, the umbrella teachers union in New York state, for nine years. By most accounts he'd served ably and was certainly no patsy for the reform crowd. But an insurgent ticket made up of one of his own vice presidents and a local union president from Westchester County toppled him in only the second contested election in the union's more than four decades of operation.

There were multiple reasons for Iannuzzi's downfall. Some were internal union issues and voting patterns while others will affect public policymaking in New York. Some union officials were upset that Iannuzzi was slow to endorse New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for re-election, fearing a loss of influence. That's what apparently led the powerful United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew to throw his support to the challengers and seal the election. For their part, the challengers believed Iannuzzi was not taking a strong enough line against the Common Core (he had called for a moratorium on the new standards, resisted efforts to link the standards to teacher evaluations, and generally fostered the climate of mayhem that is hampering implementation of the new standards in New York, but apparently that was not enough).

There are several takeways from this episode for those who follow education politics. The first is that teachers union presidents are elected. That's forgotten by reformers and union critics who expect union leaders to be able to rule by fiat, and it's ignored by union advocates who pretend this is just all about the kids. It's also a reminder of how much this is all about power politics - currying favor with the governor mattered a lot more than Common Core to New York and national union leaders. And all that talk about brotherhood and solidarity? Right.

Finally, this episode reveals, again, the dynamic underlying internal union elections - stridency wins. Turnout in these elections is always low. So the way to win an election in a union is to appeal to the most active members, who tend to be the most aggrieved, and convince them that your candidacy will fight harder for their various grievances than the incumbent who is being too conciliatory. The list of union leaders ousted this way is long and spans all regions of the country. Moderation is a ticket to the conference circuit. That's why in the past few months American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten decided to refuse some (though not all) Gates Foundation money and took a harder line on reform - there is a union election coming and Chicago teachers union leader Karen Lewis is the most exciting union leader for the hard core. All that played a role in Iannuzzi's defeat, too. No one wanted to be left by the side of the road.

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