Q&A – The Battle Over CRT & Florida’s Laws Regarding Public Sector Unions – Part 1
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email:brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s entry: It seems so crazy to me that teachers are allowed to have a union when we pay tax dollars to them....but then they use our tax dollars in union dues to use against us (the parents) and our children!!! It just seems like this should be illegal or something. I can understand a private company that doesn't receive our tax money having a union for the sake of argument....but I don't think employees that are paid with tax dollars should be able to unionize. Maybe you can answer this for me and if there is anything we can do about this...I doubt it but it's a nice thought.
I thank you for all your research you did on how many teachers are in the union and how many are registered democrats. It is very eye opening for sure and makes me want to pull all my kids out of school (which I will do depending on how bad things get).
Bottom Line: What you’re doing, which is caring and taking and interest regarding what’s happening in the classroom, is most important. You also may have more control over impacting public sector union policy than you realize. I’ll touch on that in a moment but first to reset for those who’ve perhaps not caught all of my recent reporting on teachers, Critical Race Theory and the role teachers' unions are playing in attempting to bring CRT into classrooms or keep it there as the case may be. Last week I brought you these related facts:
- 78% of Florida’s public-school teachers are members of a union (of which all in Florida are subsidiaries of the American Federation of Teachers)
- An average of 86%of K-12 teachers are Democrats (50% higher than Florida’s registered voter population)
- The American Federation of Teachers via the FEA fought the Florida Board of Education’s rule to change to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory
- Last week, while with First Lady Jill Biden, the American Federation of Teacher’s president defended CRT and said they have the backing of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, additionally - the NEA pledged $3 million to fight efforts across the country to ban the teaching of CRT down to individual school districts
- 69 Florida educators, including 13 in South Florida were among more than 5,000 nationally who’ve signed a pledged to teach CRT regardless of state laws
Here’s an update. The American Federation of Teachers booked a Critical Race Theory expert to speak at their annual national conference. The AFT also has now stated: Mark my words: Our union will defend any member who gets in trouble for teaching honest history. The AFT, which represents 78% of Florida’s public-school teachers, is opening calling on them to break Florida’s law and stating they’ll take care of any fallout. The battle over what happens in the classroom is on like never before and yes, it’s the teacher’s led by their union, vs Florida’s Board of Education and you – and all who don’t want our kids indoctrinated with CRT. In the second part of today’s Q&A I’ll breakdown the law regarding public sector unions and what you can do to influence outcomes.