Hillary Clinton could position herself to the left of Obama on education

[Agschmid]

[center]
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has her picture taken with Keenan High School graduate Dayzjohna Roberts at Kiki's Chicken and Waffles restaurant in Columbia, S.C., May 27, 2015.
Photo by Chris Aluka Berry/Reuters[/center]

Hillary Clinton told members of a powerful teachers union in Washington D.C. this week that organized labor has an important role to play in public education, and that critics of unions are “dead wrong to make teachers the scapegoats.”

The American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second largest teachers’ union, met with all three declared Democratic presidential candidates to consider endorsements (former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee had not yet announced). Each candidate spent an hour meeting with the union’s executive council and members who were invited to ask questions.

Teachers unions have lately found themselves in the crosshairs of many education reform activists and Republicans, who see the unions as caring less about educating children than protecting themselves. Reformers tend to favor charter schools, which are often not unionized, along with stricter teacher testing standards, and less employment protection for educators.

In the meeting with AFT Tuesday, Clinton in particular faced numerous questions on hot-button issues in public education, according to AFT president Randi Weingarten. “Secretary Clinton got a lot of questions about testing, and about the very granular aspects of public education, and she clearly had spent a lot of time thinking about it,” Weingarten told msnbc in an interview Wednesday evening.

Read more, meeting occurred near the begining of June.

[Thinkingabout]

1. Met with the candidates, well maybe this paints a different picture, huh

[Agschmid]

3. No not different... just one based in reality.

[Thinkingabout]

4. The AFT did not just jump up and make a decision without thought and input.

[Sheepshank]

25. So many so badly want to believe otherwise

Knee jerk reccing without any thought to reality. But it's been a standard here lately.

[Avalux]

2. Hillary is positioning herself to the left on everything because of Bernie.

Thinking back to 2008, she's unrecognizable to that Hillary. I am so tired of politics as usual.

[Thinkingabout]

6. Do you think when she was going to migrant camos and working for CDF and

Working to get preschool education as First Lady of Arkansas she was doing this to be to the left of Bernie? This happened shortly after getting out of college.

[Avalux]

9. Yes I know her history.

I can't argue that Hillary has done good work at times in her life; I admire her in many ways. But - she has no intention of changing the status quo. She is happy within it, and if we keep living within it we're finished. At this time in our history, we don't need more of the same.

[Thinkingabout]

11. This is why we need a strong leader who has the experience Hillary has.

My point was she did these thing never thinking she needed to left, it has been an issue she has advocated long before she ran for senator.

[Avalux]

14. I loved Ann Richards.

She wasn't afraid of anyone, and said what she wanted to say. I wish Hillary was a little bit more like Ann but she's not; always carefully measured, always trying to make sure she can't be pinned down. I'm not sure she's a strong leader, when it comes down to it.

[Agschmid]

20. I agree in some ways.

[Thinkingabout]

33. Hillary is strong and will be strong, Ann had a way with words, not everyone is Ann Richard, she

left us with a legacy. I would think Ann would be cheering Hillary on to victory.

[Agschmid]

12. And that's why the primary is a healthy thing for the party...

But to then act as if the union endorsement is some kind of sham (I know it's not you) is OTT to me. There will be all kind sof endorsements and good days for one candidate and bad days for the other...

But a sham, I doubt it.

[Thinkingabout]

34. Here is Randi's tweet

Randi Weingarten Verified Account

@rweingarten





@StevenSinger3 @AFTunion yes..2 polls-2d late June- 79% of union members say endorse;67% of those dem primary voters said @HillaryClinton


Also, there was post and I ask if they were a member of AFT and the answer was no, this was a poll taken in the AFT not of teachers in general.

[artislife]

5. She could

But will she and will she mean it?

[Agschmid]

8. You can't accurately predict what ANY politican can and will do once the election is over...

and they are in office.

[aspirant]

17. Can you predict what the bribed Capitalist politicians will do on economic issues?

[Agschmid]

18. Nope.

But that's why I'm voting for a Democrat and not a Republican... and even then who the hell knows what will happen.

[aspirant]

21. Illogical

if everything is a mystery to you, what does it matter who YOU vote for?

[Agschmid]

24. It's not a mystery to me.

Again I know who I support.

[artislife]

26. This was funny....nt

[Agschmid]

28. Hillarious, nt.

[Man from Pickens]

29. Really?

How can it not be ridiculously easy to predict that HRC will bend over backwards to please her banker sponsors? She'd have to do a complete, 180-degree personality reversal to have any other outcome.

[Agschmid]

30. Really... you can't.

You don't know until they are in place, true with Bernie, Hillary, or O'Malley. You don't know what kind of Congress they will have, what kind of mandate, and what the world will throw at them. To pretend that you can really predict what a candidate may do in office is quite a reach. The best you can do it know what they've done in the past and hope that trend continues in the future.

[aspirant]

7. When one positions themselves,

who would believe it?

[Agschmid]

10. Seems as if the AFT agreed?

[Thinkingabout]

13. Good point.

[aspirant]

15. Which AFT,

her buddies at the helm or the complete membership?

[Agschmid]

16. Both.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=438590

Also doesn't the union elect who leads them? If they didn't that would be odd, I imagine the executives "represent" them.

[aspirant]

22. Show me the 2 polls number breakdowns by locals

[Agschmid]

23. Use Google yourself, I'm not the one with the problem with the poll.

Or the endorsement, Bernie won't be hurt by this.

[sadoldgirl]

19. as far as I am concerned

She has to support the public schools and not
the terrible charter/voucher programs. I have not heard
her about that issue to be very clear.

The head of the teachers' union is a good friend of hers.
No surprise there.

[Man from Pickens]

27. she can "position" herself as she likes

but only the ignorant and naive are going to believe a word of it

[elleng]

31. She could try, but NEA names Maryland’s Martin O’Malley ‘America’s Greatest Education Governor’

NEW ORLEANS - July 05, 2010 -
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley received the America’s Greatest Education Governor Award from the National Education Association (NEA) today during the NEA’s Representative Assembly in New Orleans. The prestigious award is presented each year to a governor who has made major, statewide efforts to improve public education.

“Governor O’Malley took office in 2007, just months before the nation plunged into a deep recession,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “Despite the economic devastation to his state, he kept his eye on the big picture—he understands that the recipe for economic recovery and success means preparing Maryland’s young people for the challenges of the 21st century.

“Governor O’Malley is a strong advocate for public education,” Van Roekel added. “He has made great strides in increasing school funding, expanding school programs, and taking the needs of the whole child into account in education policy decisions. O’Malley listens to parents, educators and community members when making policy decisions that affect Maryland’s public schools. He continues to be a champion of public education and truly believes, as we do, that education will lead to a brighter and better future for all of us.

“Lots of governors like to think of themselves as education governors, but Governor O’Malley has really earned that accolade.”


Note: this is from a press release and is not bound by copyright.


Under O’Malley, Maryland has made progress in closing the achievement gap. A key strategy has been the governor’s insistence that underprivileged and minority students be taught by teachers as highly qualified as those who teach economically advantaged students. That approach is paying off. In 2009, for example, 7.5 percent of Hispanic students and 9.6 percent of African-American students earned a score of 3 or better on at least one AP exam during high school. That’s up from 5.7 percent and 7 percent, respectively, in 2004.

O’Malley also secured a freeze on tuition to Maryland institutions of higher learning, making higher education more affordable for Marylanders.

"Public education is the cornerstone of our democracy, and especially in these difficult times, we must remember that it is also the key to moving our economy forward and the key to our future,” said O’Malley. “In Maryland, we've made some very tough decisions to protect funding for our schools, and it is paying off.

“We've worked with our Maryland teachers to create the No. 1 public school system in the nation. I'm honored that the NEA recognizes our strong partnership and the great results it has produced with this award.

“While as a country we don’t always do the best job at showing our appreciation,” O’Malley told NEA members, “your work is the answer to the great global challenges of our times and the key to unlocking our greatest job-creating potential and expanding our global leadership in a rapidly changing world. Improving pre-K, K-12, and post-secondary education is essential for unleashing the job-creating, life-saving, power of American innovation.”

NEA President Van Roekel presented the award to O’Malley in front of the 9,000 educators who are attending NEA’s Representative Assembly in New Orleans. The Maryland governor is only the third person to receive this award. Previous winners were Gov. Richardson of New Mexico and Gov. Easley of North Carolina.

Some of O’Malley’s other accomplishments: reinvigorating Maryland’s Career and Technology Education and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs statewide, and launching the comprehensive Maryland STEM Innovation Network to promote the delivery of high quality STEM education at all levels throughout the state.

“Governor O'Malley has consistently placed public education at the top of his agenda,” said Clara Floyd, president of the Maryland State Education Association."In the most difficult of economic times, he championed historic funding of K-12 public schools, which has increased student achievement and led us to become No. 1 in the nation.”


From here: http://www.nea.org/home/40032.htm

[Agschmid]

32. NEA just met with candidates, an endorsement is likely from this group sometime soon as well.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2015/06/hillary_clinton_meets_with_nea.html