That’s the word a California Teachers Association guy used when he was talking to Education Week’s David Hoff today at the House Education and Labor Committee hearing on NCLB.
Strangely enough, after practically twisting himself into a knot to try to appease the NEA and AFT (and coming up with compromise language which significantly takes the teeth out of the law in parts) Congressman George Miller appears to be the target, along with Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The NEA, in particular, was out in full-force at the hearing. Union members were flown in from all over the place (I met one from Hawaii even) and packed the hearing room and overflow room upstairs. The price of admission to the hearing, for much of the day, appeared to be one red sticker which said something about how a child is more than a test. Seriously, if you had a sticker, you got to jump the line to get in.
Both Miller and Pelosi are from California, which means they are getting completely dumped on by the CTA. Alexander Russo has more on that here.
Watching the union lobbying operation in full force is one of the most amazing sights. They have all these handlers and they are very good at what they do.
Will Miller and Pelosi dig in their heels or cave?
If you’d like to help encourage the former, drop me a line.