Kerby Anderson

America is currently in the midst of a contentious debate about whether to open the public schools and how to do it. Parents, teachers, and administrators have concerns about the risks and safety. Those are legitimate concerns that need to be addressed. But what needs to be called out are the actions of some of the teachers’ unions.

For most of us, the pandemic presents a public health problem. For many of the teachers’ unions, it provides an opportunity to leverage state legislatures and put charter schools out of business. The editors of the Wall Street Journal say there is a phrase for this: political extortion. Another commentator called it educational blackmail. Give it the label you feel most appropriate. It is not a good look for educators.

The American Federation of Teachers declared their support of “safety strikes” if local unions didn’t approve of steps used by school districts to address the virus. Earlier this month, an alliance of teachers’ unions and progressive groups sponsored a “national day of resistance” and listed their demands before returning to the classroom.

Most of the demands have little to do with education and can’t even be addressed by school boards. They range from cancelling rents and mortgages to passing Medicare for All to passing a wealth tax. A few demands do relate to schools like implementing a moratorium on voucher programs and standardized tests along with moving towards “police-free schools.”

These teachers’ unions also want a moratorium on charter schools and want governors and other political leaders to also close private schools. Public schools are funded whether they are open or not. Private and religious schools rely on tuition and donations. Already more than 100 private and religious schools have shut down permanently.

Many of these teachers’ unions seem less interested in finding ways to open schools safely and more interested in threatening strikes to get their progressive wish list.