The Guardian reported on Thursday that a network of right-wing think tanks has released a how-guide to undermining teachers’ strikes. The State Policy Network, which is financed in part by the DeVos family, has long been antagonistic to teachers’ unions, an agenda reflected in its new messaging. “Top of the list of talking points is the claim that ‘teacher strikes hurt kids and low-income families.’ It advises anti-union campaigners to argue that ‘it’s unfortunate that teachers are protesting low wages by punishing other low-wage parents and their children,’” The Guardian reports.
The manual continues:
Rock star teachers deserve rock star pay. But the truth is, teachers’ unions and associations (name your state’s) fight policies that would allow good teachers to get paid what they deserve.
Forcing teachers onto the same pay scale, and basing that scale solely on the number of years teaching, means that our very worst teachers make just as much as our very best teachers. And it means that young teachers—even if they are the most effective teachers in a school district—make the least. That doesn’t make any sense. We should find a way that teachers and policymakers can agree to measure teacher effectiveness and pay good teachers what they deserve.
In fact, in states where teachers have recently walked out—that’s West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma, for now—new teachers were already paid least, and veteran teachers still weren’t making a living wage. Merit had nothing to do with it.