Detroit Public Schools

Putting the interests of the children ahead of anything else, "teachers" in the Detroit Public Schools are planning an illegal strike. The only good thing that one can say about them is that given the disastrous state of the Detroit Public Schools, perhaps it would be better if they just stayed on strike. From Human Events:

The Detroit school district faces a $105 million budget shortfall this year, which is why officials proposed the pay cut for teachers. In recent years, the school system has hemorrhaged, with as many as 10,000 students leaving each year to attend charter schools, private schools, and suburban school districts, according to the Detroit News.

There is a good reason students are leaving in droves: Just 22 percent of Detroit public school students graduate. That’s the lowest graduation rate among the nation’s 50 largest school districts, according to a recent report published by the Council of the Great City Schools. The system with the second-worst graduation rate is Baltimore City, where 39 percent of students graduated -- a pitiful performance but nearly twice Detroit’s rate. About 26,000 Detroit students are currently enrolled in chronically failing public schools, as defined under No Child Left Behind.

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The lesson of the Thompson donation controversy, as well as the current teachers’ union strike, is clear: The public education establishment has different interests than children and families. While the Detroit public schools systematically fail their students, the greatest concerns of the teachers union and the public school bureaucracy are to protect their own interests and prevent any competition, without regard for what would benefit students.