Yes, Biden has been walking back and re-editing his open-the-schools-within-100-days vow ever since he first said it. axios.com/biden-100-day-…
I wrote a week ago about "the fundamental untenability of his—and teachers unions'—position." Namely, that they're reopeners rhetorically (in order to sound responsive to FURIOUS parents), but where it counts they're just pumping out money with no strings. reason.com/2021/01/26/sch…
Congress has already thrown $69 billion in extra Covid-relief money to K-12 schools (on top of the DOE's $40 billion outlay each year). Biden wants another $130 billion in his first relief bill. Unions want the money...and no strings attached. Parents want the nightmare to end.
As I sourly and unhappily predicted a month ago, "the most 'open' thing will be the government's checkbook—that and parents' web browsers as they explore every option for their kids that doesn't include a teachers union." reason.com/2021/01/25/wil…
You can see the tension--how to appear parent-responsive about reopening and union-responsive about money?--in this Axios summary: "The president has always made his goal contingent on Congress passing enough funds to ensure teachers could instruct students safely."
"enough"
"enough"
Keep in mind that in addition to the explicit $130 billion K-12 ask, Biden-relief also wants $350 billion to help states fill budget holes. About 20% of state budgets go to K-12 education. urban.org/policy-centers….
The politics of this issue flipped on a dime after the presidential race was finally called for Biden, as that NY Mag piece last week showed. Gone was the mother of all scapegoats. Suddenly blue-state parents weren't as scared to pipe up. Unions flinched. reason.com/2021/01/27/tea…
But Chicago is the great test case. Union honcho Randi Weingarten, who's been making noises about reopening since late November, is foursquare behind the CTU not showing up for work. And many parents who watch stuff like this just fume.
https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1356331081147052033
We talk about this stuff for the first 25 minutes of today's @Reason Roundtable podcast, which was a really lively & intelligent conversation w/ @nickgillespie, @petersuderman & @kmanguward about a lot of stuff, including "forgiving the past." reason.com/podcast/2021/0…
Also talked about this on @KennedyNation tonight, which I'll throw at the bottom of this thread if it magically appears on this system of tubes. I can't see the forest for the trees on this stuff, but I suspect the politics of this is particularly potent going forward.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
