{"id":1159,"date":"2020-03-21T09:19:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T13:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bakeramitchell.com\/?p=1159"},"modified":"2020-03-21T09:19:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T13:19:08","slug":"bidens-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bakeramitchelljr.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/21\/bidens-dilemma\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden’s Dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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OPINION: Will Biden stand with black parents on charter schools or with the NEA?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

by\u00a0Baker A. Mitchell\u00a0| March 21, 2020 12:00 AM<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Biden\u2019s\u00a0endorsement by the National Education Association<\/a>, America\u2019s largest union, puts the likely Democratic nominee in this year\u2019s presidential election on a potential collision course with some of his party\u2019s most loyal supporters:\u00a0African American and Hispanic voters<\/a>\u00a0who support charter schools and other school choice options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The unions, of course, provide more than votes; they\u2019re also among the Democratic coalition\u2019s most reliable sources of campaign contributions<\/a> and election manpower. From 1990 through 2016, for example, \u201cpractically all of the contributions made by teachers unions\u201d to candidates and parties \u2014 at least 94%, according to the Center for Responsive Politics\u2019s OpenSecrets.org<\/a> \u2014 went to Democrats. In 2016 alone, OpenSecrets reports, this amounted to more than $32 million, \u201can all-time high.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as important, and perhaps more so, are the unions\u2019 hands-on activities and in-kind contributions, mostly in the form of \u201cvolunteer\u201d manpower. This can range from get-out-the-vote activities, handing out campaign literature, and driving voters to the polls to serving as convention delegates. In 2008, for example, out of the 4,400 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, approximately 1 in 10 was a teachers union member<\/a>, according to The Teacher Wars <\/em>author Dana Goldstein, writing in the American Prospect<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NEA, the largest American teachers union, actively\u00a0encourages convention involvement<\/a>, telling prospective NEA delegates, \u201cIf you\u2019re selected \u2026 NEA will provide training opportunities, logistical coordination, and some financial support.\u201d The American Federation of Teachers, the other national teachers union, also encourages members to\u00a0take action<\/a>, \u201cwhether it’s volunteering to get out the vote, running for public office, talking to fellow union members (or) serving as a delegate to a party\u2019s national convention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden, as a result, finds himself caught between two diametrically opposed factions, both of which could be necessary for victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the one side are black and Hispanic parents and grandparents,<\/a> Democratic Party stalwarts, who support charter schools and other \u201cschool choice\u201d alternatives to traditional government-run public schools. On the other side are teachers union officials and union activists who support only the (highly unionized) one-size-fits-all public education model that\u2019s failing many African American and Hispanic children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m an electrical engineer by profession, but the conflict between the education reformers and desperate parents on the one side and the rigid education establishment on the other side is what got me involved in education in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After establishing and leading the bioengineering section at the University of Texas\u2019s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and later building a computer systems business, I ventured out of my comfort zone after I retired and volunteered as a science teacher at a low-income, predominantly African American, Houston elementary school, which had gained attention for its high test scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wesley Elementary School\u2019s principal, the late Thaddeus Lott, the bane of Houston\u2019s education establishment, taught me what works in education: the proper curriculum, traditional pedagogical methods, discipline, order, high expectations, and committed teachers and administrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After moving to North Carolina, I helped establish four charter schools that follow Lott\u2019s formula for success. All four schools, with a total enrollment of about 2,200 students, are Title I schools, meaning 40% or more of the students are economically disadvantaged. Three of the four are among the top-ranked in their respective counties. The fourth school, Douglass Academy, named for 19th-century civil rights icon Frederick Douglass, has been outperforming the neighboring traditional public schools and is on track to become a top performer as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden has gone out of his way to align himself with the legacy of President Barack Obama. If he means it, he\u2019ll do what Obama did and stand with African American and Hispanic parents who support school choice, including charter schools. Or maybe he’ll abandon that position, showing that his invocation of \u201cBarack\u201d is just a convenient political tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker A. Mitchell is the founder of The Roger Bacon Academy<\/a>, which manages four charter schools in Southeastern North Carolina.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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