Political endorsements are among the most controversial activities of the AEA. These pages are meant to help members understand how and why political endorsements are made. First, it is important to understand what political endorsements are not. They are not an attempt to say that ALL of our members believe in or will vote for a particular candidate. They do not mean that a candidate is "right" on all the issues in a campaign. And they are not an attempt to tell our members how to vote. Endorsements are meant to be the result of focusing on key issues that we think matter most to our membership. These usually fall into one or more of the following categories: education funding, support for "public education only" with public money, support for public employees generally and teachers in particular, support for safe and well equipped schools and classrooms, and support for organized labor. What follows below is a detailed explanation of the philosophy and process we go through. The short story is:
The choice to endorse is sometimes complex. There are pro-education candidates who may not be pro-public employee. There may be candidates that have run and won before that we've been able to work with, running against people we might prefer to see get elected but have little chance of winning. There may be people that indicate they favor our issues but don't have a proven record. Most importantly, the process is open and meant to encourage member involvement. All PACE meetings are open to all members. All Rep Council meetings are open to all members. In both cases, only people designated as PACE or Rep Council members may vote, but anyone in AEA can speak and advocate for their ideas or candidates. The Candidate Forum is meant to be a place where our members can come speak directly to candidates as well as advocate for them. But the result is not meant to be about people advocating for their favorite candidates - it is meant to be about candidate positions on issues that matter for teachers. It turns out that teachers do a lot of other things too, and there may well be other factors that matter more to you personally. We understand and respect that, and encourage you to be active, but we also feel that the organization needs to stand up and call attention to the candidates best suited to move our issues. When we go to bargain, many factors are already set. The State Legislature has already set a budget for the money coming to the school district. The Municipal Assembly has to approve our budget. The Assembly has created rules that we have to declare any extra jobs teachers hold (conflict of interest rules for city employees), The State Legislature took us from having one of the best retirement systems in the country to having one of the worst (and managed not to save any money for the state along the way). Just recently a majority of the Assembly cut the proposed school budget for the coming year (the budget ASD will be under when we sit down to bargain), possibly in an attempt to expand the Muni budget and cover a shortfall. The Mayor vetoed that cut, and a group of education supporters on the Assembly means it cannot be over-ridden. You need to know which people are on which side when you go to the polls. Our inattention in the past hamstrings us at the bargaining table and currently has a growing number of our membership sitting in a retirement program that is dwindling even as they add money to it. If public officials see educators as disorganized or inattentive, they will ignore our concerns. If public officials see us as active and involved, we will be heard and be part of the decisions that are made. We cannot afford not to be involved. We ask that our members look at our endorsements as good reasons to think favorably about a candidate, but also that you be involved and make up your own mind. We hope you will part of the process. It matters more that we are active than which side we are on. |