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Today’s entry: It seems so crazy to me that teachers are allowed to have a union when we pay tax dollars to them....but then they use our tax dollars in union dues to use against us (the parents) and our children! It just seems like this should be illegal. I can understand a private company that doesn't receive our tax money having a union for the sake of argument....but I don't think employees that are paid with tax dollars should be able to unionize. Maybe you can answer this for me and if there is anything we can do about this, I doubt it but it's a nice thought.
Bottom Line: What you’re doing, which is caring and taking an interest regarding what’s happening in the classroom, is most important. You also may have more control over impacting public-sector union policy than you realize. For those who’ve perhaps not caught all of my recent reporting on teachers, Critical Race Theory and the role teachers' unions are playing in attempting to bring CRT into classrooms or keep it there as the case may be.
Last week I brought you these facts, 78% of Florida’s public-school teachers are members of a union. An average of 86% of K-12 teachers are Democrats. The American Federation of Teachers via the FEA fought the Florida Board of Education’s rule to change to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory. Last week, while with First Lady Jill Biden, the American Federation of Teacher’s president defended CRT and said they have the backing of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, additionally - the NEA pledged $3 million to fight efforts across the country to ban the teaching of CRT down to individual school districts. Sixty-nine Florida educators, including 13 in South Florida were among more than 5,000 nationally who’ve signed a pledged to teach CRT regardless of state laws
Here’s an update. The American Federation of Teachers booked a Critical Race Theory expert to speak at their annual national conference. The AFT also has now stated: Mark my words: Our union will defend any member who gets in trouble for teaching honest history. The AFT, which represents 78% of Florida’s public-school teachers, is opening calling on them to break Florida’s law and stating they’ll take care of any fallout. The battle over what happens in the classroom is on like never before and yes, it’s the teachers led by their union, vs Florida’s Board of Education and you – and all who don’t want our kids indoctrinated with CRT.
Floridians could choose to alter public-sector union influence however they’d like, up to and including the banning of them altogether. Something so severe would likely need to happen through a proposed constitutional amendment, while legislative changes could likely alter the terms under which public-sector unions operate in our state. For example, the ability to use dues to pay for political advocacy, or to push agendas that run counter to Florida’s law. One way the teacher’s unions have worked to usurp laws like Florida’s is through the MLM model that exists. Look for political donations for the Florida Education Association and you won’t find any in over a decade. Look at the American Federation of Teachers on behalf of all Florida’s teachers' unions, and you’ll see they’ve donated greater than 99% of their political donations to Democrats for decades.
The prevailing point is this if you want to see the influence of Florida’s teachers' unions reigned in or even eliminated it’s possible. Advocacy aimed at your state senator and state representative are good places to begin the conversation. In addition to the ability to amend law, legislators have the ability to directly place proposed constitutional amendments on our ballots.
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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