Even though the median salary for Chicago teachers is $71,000 a year (excluding their benefits package) — despite the vast majority of Chicago students being unable to perform at their grade level — they are trying to wrangle even more money from Chicago's beleaguered taxpayers who earn almost half their annual salary. The teachers' union is also fighting teacher evaluation measures. Ms. Parker, a conservative Republican commentator, writes: "It says something about today’s public education reality that the two sides in the teachers’ union dispute in Chicago are the union and the mayor. Allegedly the point of schools is to educate children. But which side in this dispute has sole interest in children and their parents? The answer, of course, is neither side. Unions are about the economic interests of the teachers. The mayor is about his budget and the economic interests of the city. No one solely represents the interests of the kids."
More: " Court decisions removed prayer and traditional religious values from our public schools. Is it worth considering that the purge of traditional values from public schools and widespread family breakdown were two sides of the same cultural coin? I think so. But whether you agree with me or not, parents who want their children in a school teaching traditional values, rather than the moral relativism endemic in K-12 public schools today, should have this choice in an allegedly free country. Eighty six percent of the kids in Chicago’s public schools are minority kids from low income families. Meaning and teaching of right and wrong is what these kids need. Whatever compromise the unions and the mayor reach won’t matter to them. What they need is school choice."
Star Parker: "The Chicago Teachers' Strike Demonstrates Why We Need School Choice"
