Joe Williams at Democrats for Education Reform has the scoop on the NEA’s latest lobbying tactics.
The union sent a letter today to members of Congress telling them that it will grade them based, in part, on the bills they co-sponsor. The union included a list of 17 NCLB bills that would earn members of Congress credit on NEA’s report card for 2007. (I’ve confirmed the veracity of the letter with a Capitol Hill source and the NEA.)
Even before today’s developments, a House Education and Labor Committee spokesman told me that the prospects for NCLB clearing the House in 2007 are “unlikely.” (See the whole story here.) Maybe the odds just got a little longer.
IRONY ALERT: One of the bills on the NEA-approved list is sponsored by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. That’s the same bill I wrote about last week. On report cards dating back to 2001 (when NEA ranked members on their votes alone), Young never supported the NEA’s position more than 31 percent of the time. In the 2001-02 congressional session, he didn’t side with the union once.
