Westminster, MARYLAND

One local school board election demonstrates how parents and taxpayers lose control of their own children's education.

Feb 9, 2008 - There are two seats open on the Carroll County Board of Education and six candidates. Half are either educators or work for the teachers' union.

Of the two incumbents up for election, one is a school teacher. Of the four candidates, one is president of the teachers' union and another is a former teacher.
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TT - It's not illegal, but it is illustrative of how much incentive present and past teachers and their unions have to sit on school boards which will determine teacher salaries and benefits, classroom sizes and the number of new teachers to be hired to do the job previously done by fewer teachers, and, of course, the budget and construction.

It should be a conflict of interest for a teacher or teachers' union-sponsored candidates to vote on salary negotiations and health care benefits. That it isn't, is because few taxpayers or parents notice. Every candidate should be asked if they have received the endorsement of, money from, or election help from the local union(s). School boards should express the concerns of taxpayers, parents and students, not union interests and not teacher interests.