Maybe it’s just me, but I’m starting to hear more and more people—namely Democrats—complaining that the better schools in the better neighborhoods get the better, more senior teachers. Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente said it this morning in a debate he, Ron Dellums and Nancy Nadel had on the Ronn Owens show on KGO (all three are running for to replace Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown). It occurred to me that this issue might be the issue to cause a split between the Democrats in the legislature and the California Teachers Association.
There is always so much talk about “equalizing” school funding between schools, how about we “equalize” teacher experience between schools? The teachers’ union will have to stand up for the teachers with the most seniority (who you know don’t want to go teach in those yukky inner-city schools) and the Democrats will be torn between the CTA and the argument that students attending poor, inner-city schools are the ones who most need experienced teachers. Some Republican legislator should introduce a bill that would require an equal balance of new teachers and experienced teachers at every school site and let the Democrats figure out who they need to please the most. It would be a fun debate to watch!