Squabble over $10 billion for teachers delays Afghanistan war money

Now, Senate Democrats are looking for offsets to propose to pay for additional spending and get around a threatened White House veto. Senate Republicans, who met with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at their caucus luncheon on Tuesday, propose that the additional funding be eliminated altogether.

“I’m not going to quote Secretary Gates, but I can tell you that the principal thing he emphasized we already knew, which was that we need to get this supplemental appropriations bill for the troops passed,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell in a briefing with reporters after Tuesday’s luncheon.

Meanwhile, the nation’s teachers unions, which convened for annual meetings during the past two weekends, say the additional $10 billion is critical to avoid draconian job cuts this fall, and that much more is needed.

Teachers lose patience with Obama

The $789 billion stimulus plan that Congress passed in the first year of the Obama administration included $100 billion to help education. Now, that money is phasing out and the economy continues to falter.

“We thought that the initial bill of $23 billion was what was needed; it’s now been cut to $10 billion,” says Randy Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Given the need, the White House threat to veto the funding is not welcome, she adds. “What you’re seeing is state and local governments having excruciatingly hard times because of the continuing weakness in the economy, and teachers being stretched to the limit. There was no serious sacrifice on the part of the [Obama] administration."

The National Education Association – at 3.2 million members, the largest teachers union – is also critical of the Obama administration’s education policy, which it says has amplified many of the accountability measures and sanctions developed by the George W. Bush administration.

“Plain and simple – this is not the change I hoped for,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel in a fiery keynote speech on July 3. “Our members feel betrayed and so do I. Our members are angry. So am I.”

On July 4, NEA delegates cast an unusual vote of no-confidence in the Department of Education’s Race to the Top guidelines. The vote was close, says a NEA staff spokesman, and surprising, given the strong support that teachers unions provided the Obama presidential campaign.

Related:

• How Race to the Top is recasting education reform in America
• The Monitor's View: Teacher bailout, teacher reform?
• New Obama-backed stimulus package fails in Senate vote

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