The reformers assert that unions are the root problem of American education because they protect bad teachers.

The answer: Get rid of unions so wise administrators or charter school operators can fire bad teachers.

One letter here says it is the job of administrators to deny tenure to bad teachers and to evaluate teachers.

Maybe our problem is weak or incompetent administrators, those people who came through faux leadership programs.

If unions were “the problem,” we would expect to find high performance in right to work states.

But we don’t.

On the NAEP, the highest performing states are Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey, all strong union states (up until now).

The lowest performing states do not permit collective bargaining.

Should we aspire to be like Massachusetts or Louisiana?