1.4M+ American Federation Of Teachers Backs Hillary

[wyldwolf]

The American Federation of Teachers backed Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign Wednesday.

The 1.4 million-member union said it would immediately begin a program to mobilized voters in support of Clinton across the country. AFT represents school employees including teachers in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade and has more than 3,000 local affiliates and 43 state affiliates. It is affiliated international union of the AFL-CIO.

The union's executive council chose the New York senator after meeting with seven Democratic candidates. No Republican candidates accepted the union's invitation to participate in the process.

"Our members have told us that they want a leader they can trust to strengthen public education, increase access to health care, promote common sense economic priorities and secure America's place in the world," AFT President Edward J. McElroy said in a statement. "Hillary Clinton is that leader."

Clinton rival Barack Obama supports performance-based merit pay in public schools. Teacher unions have said linking their pay to their students' test scores would be unfair to those instructing kids from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Clinton is close with Randi Weingarten, the head of the AFT-affiliated United Federation of Teachers, which represents teachers in the New York City public school system. Weingarten is a likely candidate to become the next head of the national union when McElroy's term ends.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CLINTON_TEACHERS?SITE=WDUN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[groovedaddy]

1. Hey, they're just teachers. What do they know?

;->

[smalll]

40. Yeah, plus, they're hardly "hip" --

I'm waiting for the American Federation of Baristas, or the National Organization of Independent Film Directors to make their choices - you know they'll pick Obama! :sarcasm:

[LisaM]

2. Why not Edwards?

Isn't he the one who backs the $15K "bonus" for teachers who go to poor or disadvantaged areas?

I'm quite disappoint that Barack Obama would support the phony merit raises. Just a way to break the teachers' union.

[sandnsea]

16. That's what Obama proposed

The Clinton campaign has lied about everybody this year. Obama never supported tying teachers salaries to test scores. He proposed a variety of things, including paying more to teachers who teach in disadvantaged areas, mentor other teachers, get advanced certifications, etc. Some people don't know the difference, others don't care, including reporters.

[LisaM]

22. Well I care! My father is a teacher.

I get really tired of teacher bashing.

[LisaM]

30. Actually, you appear to be wrong. Obama does support performance pay

He also supports public money going to charter schools, which I abhor. I consider this a way to sneak unqualified teachers and religion into the mix and is also a way to undermine the teachers' union.



http://www.dmiblog.com/archives/2007/08/where_do_the_candidates_stand_3.html

[Tellurian]

43. Yes, and you get an A+ for that research..

and a hearty thankyouverymuch.

[maximusveritas]

50. I'd give it an F - relying on a blog instead of the person's actual words is a big no-no

At least, that's what I was taught.

Nowhere can you find Obama saying he supports merit pay. Nowhere can you find it listed as his part of one of his policies.
Obama merely said that we need to look into ideas like paying for performance, though not solely based on test scores.

[Tellurian]

54. The blog contributor for the attributed quote is specializing in educational policy...

Elizabeth Hartline Green

"Born and raised in the South, Elizabeth recently moved to New York City to study educational policy at Teachers College, Columbia University. Thus far, she has done research on how race and business interests shaped the development of Atlanta and its school system, universal preschool programs, and Cambodia's educational system. Elizabeth graduated from the University of Georgia in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in early childhood education, and has been involved with numerous non-profits serving children. She currently resides in Manhattan with her husband"

http://www.dmiblog.com/archives/2004/09/elizabeth_hartline_green.html

==="Nowhere can you find Obama saying he supports merit pay."===

And a direct quote from AFT President Edward J. McElroy stating Obama IS for Merit Pay:

"McElroy said that the decision to endorse Clinton was not because her rival Barack Obama has been on the campaign trail promoting performance-based merit pay for individual public school teachers. Teachers frequently say that linking their pay to their students' test scores can be unfair to those instructing kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. AFT's leaders say performance pay should be bargained locally and isn't an issue for national politics."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071003/ap_po/clinton_teachers

If I were you, I would e-mail the Obama Campaign and demand full disclosure of his policies, particularly his policy on Teacher's pay!

[maximusveritas]

58. Obama hasn't released his policy on this yet

It might be nice to see them do so soon, just to put to rest all these falsehoods, but I don't think an e-mail from anyone is going to expedite the process.

And I don't care what anyone else thinks he supports, unless they have evidence to support it. Green and McElroy fail in that regard. Just because they are studying education doesn't mean they're capable of figuring out what the truth is. They're most likely relying on unreliable press reports rather than his actual words.

[Tellurian]

61. Google is your friend..

There are 168,000 articles regarding Obama's support of Merit Pay.

here's one off the top of the heap headlining Obama supports Merit Pay for Teachers..

after talking out of the otherside of his mouth, he tosses in 20,000 frequent flyer miles as a bonus.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/8335627.html

[spooky3]

59. here are direct quotes from Obama about the subject

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/07/05/259258.aspx

"Obama calls for merit pay
Posted: Thursday, July 05, 2007 4:39 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Categories: Democrats, 2008

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
In an address to the National Education Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Obama risked a strong reception and broke from the other Democratic presidential candidates by calling for merit-based pay -- an issue unions are typically against. But Obama did not receive any audible boos, and he actually received some applause because of the way he framed his stance.

"The most controversial aspect of any discussion of teacher compensation is merit pay,” Obama said, “and I know that folks here object to the idea properly that if you are being measured and paid simply by how the child is doing on a test without taking into account what that child is coming to the school with, ... if it's all based on assessments made on No Child Left Behind, then it's not fair to pay teachers who are pouring their heart out based on some of these arbitrary measures."

He pledged to work with the NEA and teachers' unions to determine a new system for accountability. "What I want to do is work with teachers, and where we can work with teachers to come up with ways to set those kinds of professional standards, then I want to be part of that process,” Obama said. “But I'm not going to do it to you; I'm going to do it with you.""

snip

[maximusveritas]

60. Exactly, he explicitly said he was against merit pay as described in the article

Unfortunately, as the headline to that post shows, the media tries to over-simplify issues and ends up giving people incorrect information.

[William769]

3. Hopefully your thread will get more hits than mine.

If Hillary is not being smeared, people don't seem to want to respond.

[emilyg]

4. Hey - I just got here.

:hug:

[Tellurian]

5. True enough..

anyway... what else is new?

Her 53% rating is a bitter pill for the Omamamites to swallow.

[William769]

6. I had one that called me a liar today.

And of course I gave a link to back up my assertion and guess what? Nothing. typical of this person.

[Clintonista2]

14. Let me take a wild geuss- did their name start with a Z or an I?

[William769]

18. Starts with a Z

:rofl:

[Tellurian]

57. I'm afraid the list is expanding exponentially... :)

[Adelante]

7. As to be expected

The AFT, and especially the UFT, would never have endorsed anyone else.

Anyways :toast:

[NewHampster]

8. Teachers like kids

They like kids and care about kids therefore they are backing the candidate who has supported kids her entire career.

Funny how so many distrust her, yet those who spend serious time interviewing all the candidates trust her and are willing to back her.

Go Hillary!!!

[Tellurian]

9. Our state is suffering terribly from Funding Cuts to Education..

We have the worst Republican governor who pretends he is very concerned about the state of the state.. His most recent foray involved floating legislation for cutting state employees retirement benefits and doing away with them altogether for new hires. Can you visualize the storming of the Bastille, if his proposal gains traction?

Chafee is leaving the (R) Party. I wish a powerful Dem would talk him into turning Dem rather than Indy and back him in the next Governor's race.

[wyldwolf]

10. here's a pic for you

[Tellurian]

12. Thanks, Love it!

reason #999,999 for voting for Hillary:

I'm aware Hillay has been pro-funding for education for a very long time.

[Clintonista2]

15. But...but... SHE VOTED FOR THE IWR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:sarcasm:

[ShortnFiery]

24. So true, and we can bet that when they reach 18 y.o. they will be in the Middle East

killing and dying for HRC's Plutocratic "oil wars." :thumbsdown:

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. Amen

Thanks for bringing the thread down to reality.

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. Yes she is going to take really good care of the kids in Iraq!

:sarcasm:

[Alamom]

11. Great news....thanks. nm

[BootinUp]

13. Thats a big one. :-)

Hillary is 44!

[sandnsea]

17. Well when liars lie

It's no wonder we get results like this. Obama never proposed tieing pay to tests, he proposed paying teachers in those disadvantaged schools more - that's just one of many instances where he suggests teachers merit more pay.

[Colobo]

19. That's why American education is the way it is...

[tomreedtoon]

20. Again proving what I say about teachers is true.

Some of you may have seen my posts, in which I point out that nearly all teachers are sadistic jerks who like humiliating kids and ruining their lives. I take a lot of flack for posting the truth.

Here is perfect proof; the Democratic candidate who is Republican-lite, who voted for the war, and who can't even fake a sincere laugh, is the choice candidate of American teachers. Of course she'd be approved by teachers. She can pretend to be liberal, progressive, the choice of change, and in reality she is looking forward to continuing Bush's war.

'Nuff said.

[wyldwolf]

21. ha ha ha ha ha!

[MissDeeds]

23. How well traveled you must be

to know so many, many teachers that you can make the statement "nearly all teachers...". Please. Save the drama for your momma.

[ShortnFiery]

25. I blame the tainted leadership of their union. HRC has made many sweet whisper promises

to those who can benefit $$$. I would be curious to see what "the average" hard working Middle School teacher thinks of supporting such a duplicitous candidate? :shrug:

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. This hard working elementary schol teacher doesn't know ANY

teachers who support Hillary. And this is our union. The talk around here since this news came out is about writing letters objecting to this endorsement and revoking our COPE contributions.

[wyldwolf]

31. hmm.. my wife is a teacher. She supports Hillary. He dad was a teacher and a Hillary fan

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. Good for her

She obviously doesn't work with me.

[wyldwolf]

35. no, but whether you admit it or not, you post was meant to convey, through anecdotal evidence...

..., that teachers don't really support her when, in fact, they do.

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. They don't support her here where I live or where I work

and I am not going to feed your fantasy by lying and saying that they do.

[wyldwolf]

37. you've polled every teacher in your school and all over Kansas?

[proud2BlibKansan]

38. My union has

[wyldwolf]

39. oh, this is new information. So you cans state with 100% certainty..

...that no teacher either in your school or anywhere in Kansas supports Clinton.

I'll answer for you: You can't.

[proud2BlibKansan]

41. And can you state with certainty that all the teachers you know support her?

[wyldwolf]

42. Was there an answer to my question somewhere in that reply?.

I know five teachers. and they all support Clinton. Two have bumperstickers

[proud2BlibKansan]

45. I know well over a hundred teachers

and none support her.

So are we playing a numbers game now?

[wyldwolf]

47. I asked a simple question. Did you poll every teacher in Kansas to arrive at your claim?

[proud2BlibKansan]

52. I said I don't know any teachers who support her

Why is that so hard for you to understand?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

48. I find that very hard indeed to believe.

Do you mean "I do not know that any of them support her" - a more believable claim?

Or are you literally claiming that, for every one of the 100+ teachers you know, you've checked, and they don't support Hillary?

Obviously, I can't disprove that claim, but I find it very unlikely indeed, frankly.

[proud2BlibKansan]

53. This endorsement was made by our union

So you bet we have talked about it and yes, no teacher I know supports her.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tellurian]

32. delete

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. I already pointed that out to him

Don't think it made much difference.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

49. Wow. Just wow. Are you for real?

What you say isn't true, of course, but it's no wonder you take flak for it; allow me to add to it.

Teachers work incredibly hard; if you don't actively like children that work would be unendurable.

There are a few who burn out; the vast majority don't.

My guess, for what it's worth, is that your claim is based on a small number of bad personal experiences that have left your perceptions permanently warped.

[tomreedtoon]

62. Yes, teachers work hard...at oppression.

And having dated one of these creatures for almost a decade, and seeing her colleagues in uncensored moments, I'm certain I've seen enough representative samples of the species to be secure in my judgment.

I find it amazing when the news media occasionally note a teacher who duct-tapes a child's legs together to keep her quiet, or a teacher who rapes and beats students. This stuff happens all the time, and you folks only notice it when they get caught.

As for you...well, there are people in denial about Bush, there's no reason why people couldn't be in denial about the beasts they hand their kids off to every morning. It's certainly easier than actually paying attention to their kids' lives, or even listening to them.

[MasonJar]

44. Teachers will find it hard to vote for Obama unless he changes his

stance. I am a teacher, close to retirement so no real problem for me, but that is an awful policy. Teachers in general work long unpaid hours, get 2 days paid vacation a year (Thanksgiving and Christmas day) and are exceedingly dedicated, while receiving paltry compensation monetarily.

[proud2BlibKansan]

46. He wants to give us more money

He has a better plan than Hillary does.

[maximusveritas]

51. The article is wrong about Obama's position

He doesn't support performance-based merit pay in public schools, certainly not linking them to test scores. Unfortunately, this is typically shoddy work from the AP. They used to be dependable, but I don't trust them anymore.

[Nutmegger]

55. Will she support repealing NCLB?

:shrug:

[calteacherguy]

56. I'm sure the NEA, of which I am a member, will soon endorse her as well. nt