ON THE FENCE ABOUT HILLARY: Compared to Trump, Hillary sure seems like a no-brainer, but this NEA member is not there yet. Teachers and K-12 students and parents were totally shut out of the election conversation this year.

This week the press finally covered teachers voicing opposition to charter schools during Hillary’s NEA speech, but standardized testing has been ignored even after opt-outs have raged across the country.

It’s clear the DNC and media’s silence is bought by the beneficiaries of privatization, but the union position is so “nuanced”, they are at odds with their own members. The extra-early ‘executive’ endorsement of Hillary and the financial ties to think tanks and philanthropists who push Ed deform are causing crises of confidence.

The AFT and NEA put all their eggs in the Hillary basket instead of raising awareness of education issues during the debates and 50 primaries. What could have been a major national referendum on protecting public schools from harmful privatization became a coronation of the most pro-testing candidate.

WAITING FOR HILLARY: As opposed as teachers are to misguided, unfunded federal mandates in our schools, the one issue undergirding every single problem in the US is money-in-politics. The only thing Hillary can do to earn my vote is refuse corporate money, to signal that she works for the people. Bernie has demonstrated that PAC money is not necessary to compete at the highest levels–within the Democratic party– and it would be ironic to see Donald Trump hold the higher ground in the argument against bundled mega-donations and pay-for-play.