Jason Riley: Teachers unions using COVID pandemic to gain leverage
FOX News contributor discusses the president's plan to reopen schools on 'The Story'
Wall Street Journal editorial board member and Fox News contributor Jason Riley told "The Story" Thursday that teachers’ unions are using the coronavirus pandemic as leverage for better benefits and working conditions.
RILEY: I think he's [President Biden] continued to set a low bar to make sure that he can clear it. It’s nice he's calling for schools to be reopened and wants to do so quickly, but we all know this could have been done a long time ago. COVID has thrown us a lot of curveballs, but this is not one of them. We've known that children tend not to get sick with the virus and tend not to spread it. This is more about union politics than health concerns. That's what continues to go on here. Unions are still calling the shots.
We know about the problems. We know academic achievement is suffering, we know about mental health concerns that people have. So yes, this is a priority. Biden is offering money to schools to reopen. But notice that they get the money whether or not they reopen, which again tells you that teachers’ unions have been using this as leverage for better benefits and working conditions. This is money that they want to use for after school programs, tutoring and so forth. This is not about ventilation systems or contact tracing. Education decisions, for the most part in the U.S., are made at the state and local level. That's where they throw their weight around. These local officials are afraid of the unions. They're afraid of crossing them. Vulnerable communities suffer from that.
I think this is an argument for school choice. We know Catholic schools have been open, private schools have been open. Charter schools, doing distance learning, have higher parent satisfaction and better school attendance. So I think this is an argument for more school choice. I hope that President Biden reconsiders his opposition to it.
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