Llewellyn Boyle: Columnist defended those who attack teachers
Re “State laws promise education, not excellence, courts have found” (Page 1B, May 4): With all due respect, Wednesday’s column by education reporter Nan Austin decrying recent court decisions in education have far less to do with promising rose gardens and considerably more to do with union busting.
In each case, Vergara, Robles-Wong, and Friedrichs, the plaintiffs are bankrolled by extreme right-wing groups committed to crippling teachers’ unions. While serious problems in California public education exist, from inadequate funding to various operational concerns, these issues are systemic, and teachers play, at best, peripheral roles in addressing these problems.
When there are problems with increasing crime, do we attack the police unions? When firefighters face too many wildfires, do we get rid of the firefighters’ union? Since when are professional public servants advocating for their working conditions a bad thing? Happy week of the teacher.
Llewellyn Boyle, Turlock
This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 10:20 AM with the headline "Llewellyn Boyle: Columnist defended those who attack teachers."