Hypocrisy and Ignorance ...

all in one column; quite a feat. Last week Mike Thomas offered this bit of "wisdom":

Critics of Jeb Bush call him an elitist Republican. But when you follow the trend line on FCAT scores, he has done more to boost education for poor, minority students than any governor in Florida's history.

Today we get this, "Smaller classes really work -- stop fighting it":

Bush said the class-size amendment would blot out the budgetary sun. He warned there would be tax increases. In fact, ever since the amendment passed in 2002, Bush has been cutting taxes. And we have had budget surpluses.

This is not about whether we have the money, but how we spend it. Time and again, voters have said they want it spent on schools.

Maybe they're not so stupid. Maybe it's time to grant their wish, governor.

Quit this annual attempt to overthrow the amendment, and give them smaller classes.

Although we agree with this criticism of "Jeb!", last week "Jeb!" was the best education "governor in Florida's history"; today Thomas bemoans that "Jeb!" can't figure out something so basic as smaller classes are better for education. Make up your mind, Mr. Thomas.

As an aside, Thomas spouts off the usual GOoPer anti-teacher line in his column today: "reform the teachers' unions so we can pay good teachers more and get rid of the bad ones". When will uninformed, if not willfully ignorant columnists like Thomas realize that under Florida law teachers unions - like all other public employee unions in Florida - cannot force school boards (or any public employer) to agree to contract language or work rules.

To the contrary, under Florida law, the employer (the school board) can force the teachers to accept whatever contact language the employer wants; when there is an impasse in negotiations, Section 447.403 (1), (4)(d)-(e), Florida Statutes provides that

If, after a reasonable period of negotiation concerning the terms and conditions of employment to be incorporated in a collective bargaining agreement, a dispute exists between a public employer and a bargaining agent, an impasse shall be deemed to have occurred ... the legislative body [the school board] shall take such action as it deems to be in the public interest, including the interest of the public employees involved, to resolve all disputed impasse issues; and

(e) Following the resolution of the disputed impasse issues by the legislative body [the school board], the parties shall reduce to writing an agreement which includes those issues agreed to by the parties and those disputed impasse issues resolved by the legislative body's action taken pursuant to paragraph (d). The agreement shall be signed by the chief executive officer and the bargaining agent and shall be submitted to the public employer and to the public employees who are members of the bargaining unit for ratification. If such agreement is not ratified by all parties, pursuant to the provisions of s. 447.309, the legislative body's action taken pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (d) shall take effect as of the date of such legislative body's action for the remainder of the first fiscal year which was the subject of negotiations;

Get it: if the school board and the teachers union can't reach agreement, they are at "impasse". The "impasse" is resolved by the school board deciding what contract language it wants, and if the teachers union doesn't like it, well tough, because the school board's decision as to what should be in the contract is imposed on the teachers.

To make it simple: the teachers union cannot force the school board to accept anything (especially those notorious "union rules" we hear about), yet the school board can force the teachers to accept whatever the school board wants. So, please, stop blaming the teachers unions.