BLOOMINGTON FEDERATION OF TEACHERS

Did you know that in the 2014 midterm elections, 1/3 of our state's teachers did not vote? If all educators vote, we can have have a tremendous impact on who our next governor will be and what kind of future public education will have in Minnesota.

As we get closer to election day, I get prepared for the phone calls and emails asking me who they should vote for. It is always a question that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. How can I answer this question for all the members?

Don't get me wrong. I don't mind the inquiries. Colleagues, friends and family members know that I really try to stay on top of the issues as they relate to public education. But as much as I want to encourage members to do their own research, I am painfully aware that time is a precious commodity in a educator's life. Inevitably, I end up prefacing my suggestions with "If you want public education to be the focus of your vote, I would vote for the following candidates...."

My hope is this Election Edition offers members a chance to find the quick answers as well as give some resources for those that like research. Remember, this is done through a pro-public education lens. Now more than ever, this vote will determine your teaching and working conditions. The correlation between teacher pay and your vote has never been stronger when it comes to the midterms.

So here is my advice when voting in the midterms: Look to the east when choosing your next governor. Since Wisconsin has significantly curtailed the bargaining power of public sector unions (ACT 10 in 2010), the median teacher income of combined salary and benefits was $10, 843 lower. Do you want to be Wisconsin or do you want to live in a state that values education and educators?

Wendy Marczak

You may wonder who chooses the candidates endorsed by Education Minnesota. The answer is your colleagues do. Each candidate is invited to meet with a group of teachers and participate in a screening (basically an interview). The questions asked are ALL related to public education and labor issues. We do not focus on other social issues. Given our focused questions, it will not surprise you that many candidates come from one party. Why? The reason is simple: one party tends to support public education while the other party supports privatizing education and increasing for-profit schools. It is that simple. Back in the day, I remember supporting Republican candidates like Jim Ramstad because he supported public education. Unfortunately, this rarely happens in today's political climate.

Tim Walz is Education Minnesota's and the majority of other labor unions endorsed candidate for Governor. He is a teacher from Mankato that has been serving in congress for the past several years. Tim will be a huge supporter of public education just like Governor Dayton has been. Tim will prioritize education funding coming from the state. Tim states that communities should not be reliant entirely on the local property taxes to fund schools--that's a recipe for racial and geographic disparity.

Below is the debate between Walz and Johnson that took place during the Minnesota State Fair. It is 50 minutes long but informative. If you want to know the stance on public education, please start to listen at 11:30. What Jeff Johnson is talking about is private school vouchers, for-profit charters and other Betsy DeVos policies. In other words, the purpose is to drain the resources from public schools and give tax credits to families that send their kids to private schools currently. Jeff Johnson is Minnesota's Scott Walker. He is a supporter of "right-to-work" laws and wants to go the Wisconsin-way when it comes to education policy. If you are unsure of what happened in Wisconsin, please talk to teachers that left Wisconsin and came to Minnesota to work. Collective bargaining for teachers was attacked and union membership started to drop overnight. What followed was a decrease in pay and benefits for the next 8 years to the tune of over $10,000. Teachers shortages increased and the work environment left little joy for teaching. Contracts were replaced with district handbooks. The number of inexperienced teachers increased as teachers over 55 left the profession and others moved to other states. Walker destabilized an entire education system and forced hundreds of teachers out of the profession because they could no longer support their families. Younger families now qualified for public assistance like food stamps. That is the type of support you will get under Jeff Johnson and our current legislators at our capitol. So the question becomes whether you can afford to vote for a candidate that admires Scott Walker?