In light of recent events, we thought it a good idea to point out how Mr. Hastings positions on education compare with those held by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). Some of his more interesting positions found on his issues page include:
Hastings' Position: Allow "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) To Expire.
The CTU is definitely in favor of this one. NCLB is big on accountability and testing students to assess the performance of their teachers and their school. Probably the main issue in the CTU strike is the union's unwillingness to have teacher job performance judged against performance indicators such as test scores. They desperately want the NCLB or anything like it to expire and Michael Hastings gives them his full support.
Hastings' Position: Charter Schools
- It is unfair to keep establishing charter schools when the real goal is to increase the quality of education statewide
- Charter schools are essentially making a two-tier education system, separate and unequal
- Let’s focus on improving the schools that we already have in place, rather than creating new ones
Michael Hastings is correct about one thing, Charter Schools are unequal to the schools run by the CTU. They cost less - teachers salaries average $49K/year in Chicago's non-union charter schools versus $76K/year in CTU run schools - and they produce better results. A study by the Illinois Policy Institute looked at Chicago's open-enrollment, non-selective high schools (meaning all Chicago students may apply to go there) and found that nine of the
ten top performers were charter schools.
What Mr. Hastings finds unfair should not be the establishment of more charter schools; instead he should be arguing about the unfairness of paying CTU members 55% more for being above average only 10% of time. His proposal to "...focus on improving the schools we already have in place, rather than creating new ones.." misses a big point. Charter schools are the improvement. By eliminating union work rules, demanding excellence from teachers and students and weeding out incompetency, the Charter Schools that Mr. Hastings decries are in fact making improvements. The key to success is not to stop establishing charter schools. Instead, the key to educational excellence is to make all of the schools charter schools.
This concept is something that the CTU and their new ally: State Senate Candidate Michael Hastings, refuse to contemplate.
