The Problem, These Idiots Teach Our Children

The Maryland State Teachers Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, endorsed Democratic candidate Martin O’Malley in the race for Governor. This does not come as a surprise because they are a union and unions almost always go with Democrats. The endorsement has nothing to do with education and everything to do with the union. You see, if the teacher’s union actually cared about the education of children they would never endorse a candidate with the dismal record O’Malley has in the area of education. But this does not matter because teacher’s unions are all about getting more money and more time off for teaching fewer children fewer things. The union knows that Democrats are more than willing to pony up money for their support and this is their way of ensuring Marty pays up if he is elected. The union ignores all logic in the endorsement and says things like:

“Based on his record and leadership skills and what he’s done working in the city, and what he’s talked about doing across the state, we’ve decided to publicly announce our support” for O’Malley, [union spokesman] Kaufman said.

Martin O’Malley talked a lot about education and schools when he was a candidate and after he was elected as the Mayor of Baltimore City. When he announced that he was running for Mayor in 1999 he said:

When we make fighting crime and closing down open-air drug markets the top priority of Baltimore City government, the, and only then, will we be able to build a stable and growing City tax base. Then, and only then, will we dramatically improve schools. Then, and only then, will the new jobs created by increased private investment be things of our City’s present and future. Announcement Speech

And when he won he said this at his inauguration:

A Public school system where every child in every grade of every public school reaches his or her full potential – this is justice achieved. Inaugural Remarks

So the teacher’s union endorsed ole’ Marty because he said the right things. After all, they said that based on what he has done in the city and what he says he will do for the state. We saw what he said he would do in the city and yet, the accomplishments that the teacher’s union lauded him for are accomplishments that put him in the bottom of the state. Baltimore is worse than any other jurisdiction in the state! Baltimore has the highest drop out rate, the lowest graduation rate and is one of the most violent school systems. The schools are so bad that the state tried to take some of them over as required by law but Marty and the union used the courts to block the takeover thereby dooming the children to continued failure at the hands of the Mayor and the sycophant teacher’s union.

In addition to graduating about 58% of its students (which is misleading because many drop out and are not counted) the City also had another big problem under Father Martin. The City could not account for $58 million. That is right, the school system could not account for 58 MILLION dollars. Several people have lost their jobs because of the hinky practices including a man who used school money to charter a fishing boat to take his staff out on. There was even a commission empaneled (a 3 person panel if that consitutes a commission) to investigate where the money went. This is what they concluded (and they were being generous):

There is no question the Baltimore City Public School System has a large deficit and that part of it may have been caused by “mischief” at best, and intentional wrong doing at worst. In a system with an almost complete lack of consequence for overspending the surprise is that the deficit is not even larger. Some criminal investigations resulting in criminal charges are already public knowledge. Others may follow. Source (pdf)

Also, you might remember that O’Malley cited reduced crime as a prerequisite to improving schools. Crime has risen in Baltimore and there have been recent investigations into deliberate manipulating of numbers and creative “accounting” practices to list crime to make the Mayor look better. In fact Baltimore continues to lead the state in murders and violent crime. So much for reducing crime to improve schools.

O’Malley talks a real good game. The problem is, he can not walk the walk. He is usually too busy whining about one thing or another or blaming everyone else for his inadequacies. The important thing to remember is that the teacher’s union endorsed him based on his record and what he says he will do. I have shown how what he says is a bunch of talk and that he has been an incompetent boob with regard to the school system. These are facts about schools and the education of our children. This does not make any difference because, as I have stated, the endorsement is not about education is about the union supporting a Democrat. One person interviewed dismissed O’Malley’s impotence by saying that if no one had fixed it in four years then it could not be fixed. This person who is supposed to be concerned with the educational system dismissed failure in favor of politics.

The real problem is that these idiots are the people responsible for educating our children. I am thankful that I went to a private school and I pray we will eventually get a voucher system so that children can be saved from these so-called educators.

One last thing. I wonder if O’Malley’s children go to Baltimore City public schools or if he sends them to private schools. With information like this I think he might not be sending them to public schools (but I don’t know):

In June 2005, as his gubernatorial campaign was accelerating, O’Malley stated that under his administration, the Baltimore school system was “one of the biggest turnaround stories of any urban school system in the United States of America.” Later that month, the Maryland State Board of Education announced that Baltimore schools constitute 22 of the 24 schools in the entire state—the other 2 are in Prince George’s County—that have repeatedly failed to make adequate progress on the annual standardized tests mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act and thus are required by the state to restructure for the coming school year (see [10]). The state Board announced that it was subjecting 3 Baltimore Schools, the only ones in the state, to “zero-basing”—one of the most drastic reforms available to school districts, which requires everyone from the principal down to the secretaries to reapply for their jobs.

At the end of August 2005, it was reported that test scores show that three Baltimore high schools have failed to meet standards for so many years that they have moved to the state’s most severe category on a watch list for troubled schools, joining nine others. It reported some good news in that Baltimore’s high school graduation rate increased from 54% to 59%, but far below the statewide rate of 85%. 30 of the city’s 43 high schools are on a federally mandated state watch list as a result of geometry test scores released yesterday, where its pass rate was 51%. Yet the news was worse on the other exams, where the city’s pass rates ranged from 22% in algebra to 42% in government. At one high school, 4.8 percent of students passed an algebra assessment test last year; at another, 1.6 percent of students were deemed proficient in math

Sources:
WBAL
The City Paper
2006 Maryland School Report Card
Wikipedia

If you enjoy what you read consider signing up to receive email notification of new posts. There are several options in the sidebar and I am sure you can find one that suits you. If you prefer, consider adding this site to your favorite feed reader. If you receive emails and wish to stop them follow the instructions included in the email.

Comments are closed.