The Misguided Early Endorsement

THE FINE FIVE:

(1) The American Federation of Teachers has come out early and endorsed Hilary Rodham Clinton for president. I'm not surprised by the endorsement; the AFT endorsed HRC in 2008, and AFT President Randi Weingarten has been a long-time BFF of Clinton. I am surprised at the timing; it appears to be a way of giving her a boost over Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders. As an educator, I'm not a huge Clinton fan; she is on record for supporting the expanded use of charter schools, which directly and negatively impacts public education, and she is in favor of tying teacher pay to student performance on standardized tests (which are proven to be biased and an inaccurate measure of student achievement). She has close ties to the Gates Foundation. I see her as Barack Obama 2.0 in terms of education "reform" - someone who will continue Education Secretary Arne Duncan's damage of public education; someone who will continue to support Common Core, high stakes testing and the validity of value-added model (VAM) scores. I think the whole thing is a sham.

(2) What's worse, to announce the endorsement this early, to do so without any assurances from Clinton she will support public schools except for some meaningless campaign rhetoric in a statement, throws away any leverage the AFT could have used against Clinton as things tighten in the campaign. It's a horribly misguided endorsement. It reeks of political shenanigans, of Weingarten posturing for a shot as Duncan's replacement should HRC win the election. The AFT press release claimed its members were engaged in the decision process. But from what I've read online, this is highly doubtful. It's more likely the union did an in-house poll and some sort of unscientific website survey.

(3) At face value, Sanders seems much more teacher-friendly than Clinton. He's voted consistently against vouchers for charter schools. He's in favor of smaller class sizes. Two years free tuition at state colleges. Student loans reform. True, there's still a lot of questions about his education policy position. But he certainly seems on the surface less caught up in the same circus act as HRC or Obama.

(4) I am saddened that apparently none of the gazillion Republican Party presidential candidates opted to meet with the AFT. I realize GOP candidates getting union endorsements is extremely rare, but it would have been nice if at least one had made a concrete effort to meet with the AFT. If nothing else, I think it would help score points with Republican teachers who care about education and education policies.

(5) No, I have not decided who I am going to vote for. There is much more to a political campaign - and, in particular, a presidential campaign - than one issue. And even though I am a professional educator, I'm not even saying that "education" is the single biggest topic on my list of issues to consider. (It's way high on the list, though.)

FOODERCIZE:

Weight: 246

Steps Taken: 2,834

Miles Walked: 1.29

CAMPAIGN 2016 NEWS OF THE DAY:

From UPI: "Hillary Clinton to outline economic policy vision Monday" - My prediction: "Raise taxes on the rich"

STUPID NEWS OF THE DAY:

From The New York Times: "Money, Sex and Las Vegas Pool Parties" - Duh!

FLORIDA NEWS OF THE DAY:

From WPTV: "Drugs found with baby in stroller; West Palm Beach mom charged" - First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then Comes Drugs in the Baby Carriage!

WEIRD NEWS OF THE DAY:

From Addicting Info: "Westboro Baptist Picketers Epically Trolled At Kansas City Rush Concert" - The WBC is protesting rock concerts now? Slow hate day, I guess.

VIDEO OF THE DAY:

Disney: The 90s Supercut

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE DAY:

"Landslide," Fleetwood Mac