Conservatives have long doubted that unions really benefit education, but how do educators really feel about them?
Approximately 1000 public school K-12 teachers participated in a survey by the National Center for Education Information that shows growing support among teachers for education reforms that teacher unions often oppose. On the issue of “merit pay” (paying teachers based on their performance) 59% of respondents said they thought merit pay would “strengthen the teaching profession.” When NCEI last surveyed teachers in 2005, only 42% of teachers supported merit pay.
The number of teachers in favor of eliminating teacher tenure — a measure teachers’ unions oppose forcefully — has slowly increased from 27% to 33%. Nineteen percent of teachers now believe that eliminating teachers’ unions would be good for the profession, up from 13% in 2005.
Kyle Olson, CEO of Education Action Group, argues the poll shows that “without compulsory membership, the teachers unions would probably go out of business.” Perhaps, but it’s at least safe to say that the union leadership is often very much out of step with the rank-and-file membership.
