(From The Huffington Post, June 27th, 2012)
This piece comes to us courtesy of Stateline. Stateline is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news service of the Pew Center on the States that provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy.
When Teach for America alumnus Bill Ferguson took on six-term incumbent George Della for a Maryland Senate seat two years ago, he benefited from the energetic support of his fellow Teach for America alumni — but he had to overcome the strident opposition of the teachers’ unions.
Ferguson upset Della in the Democratic primary and went on to win the general election, making him only the second Teach for America alumnus to secure a seat in a state legislature — following Mike Johnston, who joined the Colorado Senate in 2009.
Johnston and Ferguson aren’t likely to be alone for long: At least six TFA alumni are running for state legislatures this year, and many others are running for boards of education. Like Ferguson and Johnston, most of these former teachers likely will have to overcome union opposition to win.
The recent college graduates who are accepted into Teach for America are placed in underperforming schools across the country. The organization says that 60 percent of the teachers stay in education beyond their initial two-year commitment. Nevertheless, many of them emerge from their experience frustrated by union-supported protections that restrict how teachers are hired, fired and evaluated. In Colorado, Johnston’s signature legislative achievement was a measure making teachers and principals more accountable for their students’ performance. The law, which also makes it easier to fire ineffective teachers, has been a model for similar legislation across the country.
Read the full post here.