Carlos Mariani DFL member of the Minnesota House who is seeking reelection in St. Paul wrote a letter to the Editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune concering losing his AFL-CIO endorsement.
But I did not expect to lose major labor endorsement for trying to serveRepresentative Mariani is the chair of the Minnesota House K-12 Policy Committee and has supported annual review of teachers, principals and other staff, alternative licensing, and new ways to train teachers.
children better. I now don't know whether losing labor's support will affect my
chances of chairing the committee again.
I also led efforts to create a new alternative pathway to earning a teaching license that would allow high-quality programs like Teach for America to help Minnesota close the achievement gap. I had hoped for union support; instead theyI am not a huge fan of the statewide Teacher's Union, Education Minnesota, but that doesn't mean that I am not a supporter of individual teachers. Rather the opposite is true, I have first hand seen what ONE teacher can do. Unfortunately I have seen the other end of the spectrum when a Teacher's Union protects a bad (that's being unkind to the word bad) teacher.
fought it. Some union officials vigorously criticized us.
When I have spoken to Union representatives they believe it is a "witchhunt" and tell thier membership that hundreds thousands of jobs are at risk, which is so untrue. This is a means to identify the one or two bad teachers in an entire district and suggest they find employment in another field. So while this number might reach a hundred statewide in its first look it sure isn't going to continue at that level.
I have also suggested that since we have a state wide union maybe we should have a statewide teacher contract and "statewide" school system. But the latter may be too extreme.