Letter to the NEA-Alaska 52nd Annual Delegate Assembly
January 26th, 2008
Dear Delegates:
Thank you for doing what you do. As the grandson, son and husband of teachers, I appreciate the effort that you make and the passion you bring to your profession. We share a hope and a faith that education makes a huge difference in a person’s life and has tremendous value to our community. That’s why I like what Henry Adams said: “A teacher affects eternity.”
It is time for change. “No Child Left Behind” is wrong for America, and the state of Alaska must do better by its teachers and students. The standardization central to “No Child Left Behind” has done injury to the basic notion that we develop individual potential by teaching students as individuals. It has insulted the principle of local control – that parents know better than Washington how to educate our own kids. And it is yet another unfunded federal mandate.
A society that prizes individuality should not accept an educational system engineered around standardization and conformity. With the right kind of change, we can have accountability without sacrificing quality education. Schools exist to teach, not to test. In spite of all the hoopla over standardized testing, I have never met a standardized kid, or been to a standardized school or a standardized district.
Meanwhile, the state’s shift from a defined benefit to a defined contribution retirement system subjects retired teachers to risk and fear and makes it harder to recruit and retain public employees. It is an undisguised attack on organized labor designed to break labor strength. It even aggravates the problem of the unfunded liability that it purported to solve. Basic fairness makes it clear that teachers who have worked hard and followed the rules have earned a secure retirement. I am extremely proud that I led the legislative fight to block SB 141’s passage, and just as you could always count on me in Juneau, you’ll always be able to count on me in Washington, D.C.
It is time for the state to restore the fair deal with teachers and it is time to refocus the national debate on education on teaching, not testing. With your continued help and the right leadership in Washington, these next years can turn Alaska’s education in a new direction.
