You probably saw this story out of Oakley.
Board member Lisa Brizendine referred to the people who write letters to the board calling for schools to reopen, noting that the board members are members of the community with kids who’ve gone to the schools.
“They don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. It’s really unfortunate they want to pick on us because they want their babysitters back,” said Brizendine.
And then there’s this moment out of Maryland.
“Enough is enough,” declared Jeremy Levine, a featured speaker at the teachers union rally. “You will not sacrifice our lives, disrupt our communities, and endanger our students, for what? Test scores? Or a few folks to get their free babysitters back?”
Here’s a headline from an op-ed in the Arizona Republic blasting school reopenings.
Gov. Doug Ducey ordered schools to open on Aug. 17 so teachers can babysit, too
There are a few problems with this teachers’ union talking point.
1. There’s nothing “free” about teachers “babysitting”. It’s the most expensive service in America. The majority of property taxes pay for schools. Money then goes from a variety of voluntary and involuntary taxes to the same massive failing school system.
Which doesn’t work.
2. If babysitters acted like teachers, they wouldn’t get paid. And yet people are being forced into bankruptcy to pay the taxes to subsidize the ‘babysitters’ who won’t show up to work and do a terrible job when they’re there.
The push to fund students not systems by authorizing vouchers is underway. There was a huge missed opportunity to move on this during the previous administration. It’s fun to think of what might have happened if Republicans had treated school choice the way that Democrats treated ObamaCare, created the entitlement, and then defied the courts to take it away from parents. But it needs to be the biggest part of the conversation going forward.
Every time teachers’ unions drop that line, they remind working parents of how much contempt they have for them. Parents ought to have at least as much contempt for the teachers’ unions robbing them blind while refusing to teach as the robbers do for them.
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