Jeb Bush is just another demagogue blowhard

Why is this man an “expert” on education?

Appearing alongside Cory Booker on the “Education Nation” special edition of this morning’s Morning Joe, former governor Bush jumped in when Booker was asked why teachers make less in Newark than they do in affluent school districts.

“Simple,” Bush said. “It’s collective bargaining agreements.”

 

Now, aside from being ridiculous on its face — really, teachers’ collective bargaining rights are the reason Newark teachers’ salaries are 1/3 as much as Scarsdale teachers? — Local 481 really wants to stick it to its rank and file, eh? — notice the change in meme here. It’s no longer “teacher unions are corrupt” or “teacher unions are too powerful.” No, now it’s “collective bargaining rights” themselves that are the problem. Take away teachers’ collective bargaining rights, and all of a sudden everything’s going to be right with American education?

 

Alongside Laura Bush’s push for the MBA-ification of school principals, one can see these “reformers” education agenda for what it is: a program for the corporatization of the public school system, with at-will employee teachers, little or no room for job security or workers’ rights, power concentrated at the top, and the bulk of resources committed to “solutions-oriented” third-party vendors like the Educational Testing Service and Microsoft. It’s a program for turning the public school system into another teat in the already grotesque corporate welfare system.

 

In the aftermath of Ohio and Wisconsin, the Republican showdown with America’s workers and working class is being framed as a great victory. Alongside efforts nationwide to suppress minority and youth voting — oh, please argue that Republican politicians lay awake at night worrying about the “epidemic” of voter fraud — and the Republican agenda for the near future of the United States is achingly clear.