"This one is too much - good old Randi and Chuck" - Email from retired teacher
The pandemic relief bill includes $2.75 billion for private schools. How it got there is an unlikely political tale, involving Orthodox Jewish lobbying, the Senate majority leader and a teachers’ union president... NYT
Last year, Ms. Weingarten led calls to reject orders from Ms. DeVos to force public school districts to increase the amount of federal relief funding they share with private schools, beyond what the law required to help them recover.
Randi talking out of five sides of her mouth? I'm shocked there's gambling.
“We never anticipated Senate Democrats would proactively choose to push us down the slippery slope of funding private schools directly,” said Sasha Pudelski, the advocacy director at AASA, the School Superintendents Association, one of the groups that wrote letters to Congress protesting the carve-out. “The floodgates are open and now with bipartisan support, why would private schools not ask for more federal money?”
Among the Democrats who were displeased with Mr. Schumer’s reversal was Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California,
Oy vay, Randi. You mean those Orthodox communities with some of the highest COVID numbers in the city? Let's reward them.
[I know I will be called antisemitic or a self-hating Jew - one day I will talk about working in a school district where a religious community had enormous control and literally swiped millions of dollars out of the hands of public school kids.]
Imagine how those billions could be used so desperately for public schools! The NEA was upset enough to contact the White House:
Mr. Schumer’s move caught his Democratic colleagues off guard, according to several people familiar with deliberations, and spurred aggressive efforts on the part of advocacy groups to reverse it.
The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union and a powerful ally of the Biden administration, raised its objections with the White House, according to several people familiar with the organization’s efforts.
Contrast the NEA to Randi misusing her position as AFT President to do self-lobbying, emphasizing how our undemocratic union allows the top level people to abuse their positions without repercussions.
Integral to swaying Democrats to go along, particularly Ms. Pelosi, was Ms. Weingarten, several people said. Ms. Weingarten reiterated to the speaker’s office what she expressed to Mr. Schumer’s when he made his decision: Not only would she not fight the provision, but it was also the right thing to do.
Even the Senator from Microsoft was upset:
Senator Patty Murray, the chairwoman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, was said to have been so unhappy that she fought to secure last-minute language that stipulated the money be used for “nonpublic schools that enroll a significant percentage of low‐income students and are most impacted by the qualifying emergency. I’m proud of what the American Rescue Plan will deliver to our students and schools and in this case specifically, I’m glad Democrats better targeted these resources toward students the pandemic has hurt the most,” Ms. Murray said in a statement.
It's an ugly story as Chuck sprung this last minute addition on other Dems and some were pretty pissed off. Do a close reading of this one and you see why Dems have so many problems and our own beloved Randi is right in the middle of it. They pulled a dirty deal that has alienated many even on their so-called side. Remember the history of Randi/AFT/UFT with our unions placed squarely on the side of the non-progressive Dems.
NYT headline: Schumer and a Teachers’ Union Leader Secure Billions for Private
