Democrats demand total loyalty to teachers unions
Zachary Faria
Video Embed
The Democratic Party is so indebted to teachers unions that it is willing to betray campaign promises, manipulate procedural tools, and even run Democrats out of the party in order to stay in the unions’ good graces.
Georgia State Rep. Mesha Mainor is now leaving the Democratic Party after saying that the party “abandoned” her and her colleagues “crucified” her for being the lone Democrat to vote to expand Georgia’s school choice voucher program. The bill would give $6,500 for education purposes to the families of students who are academically in the bottom 25% of Georgia public schools. Mainor’s district is in Atlanta, where public school students are majority black and score below the state average in math and reading.
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS GET DESPERATE ON EDUCATION
In essence, Mainor was hounded out of the party by Democrats because she voted to help struggling black students get the opportunity to opt out of failing schools. This isn’t exactly an issue of underfunded schools, either; the Atlanta Public Schools’ budget for the coming year is $1.6 billion, a 15% increase from last year that includes pay raises of 13.8% for teachers and staff.
With students away from school, July has been a banner month for Democrats reminding everyone who will listen that they are beholden to the teachers unions to which they keep pushing money despite lackluster results. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) broke his campaign promise to support school choice, helping craft a voucher program just so he could veto it once he faced the slightest pushback.
In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) abused his veto power to turn a “2024-2025” education spending increase into an increase that lasts until “2425” by striking out individual characters in the text. Teachers unions don’t care how it happens, or if children are even learning. They just want their money, and leading Democrats will do anything to make sure it gets there.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
All of this starts from the top with President Joe Biden and Randi Weingarten, who leads the second-largest teachers union in the country. Weingarten is a major Democratic booster, and she receives power along with it, including pressuring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change guidelines for reopening schools and being appointed by the Department of Homeland Security to advise a school safety board.
The Democratic Party is so far in the pocket of teachers unions that Democratic politicians are not able to cross them at any point. In Mainor’s case, that includes doing so to help young black children receive better educations. This has become one of the most sacred tenets of the Democratic Party. It is up to Republicans to help parents break the stranglehold that these Democrat-backed teachers unions have on their children’s schools.