LANSING, Mich. — The nation’s teacher unions have been warning Americans that education reform is really a war against the middle class. The unions say powerful corporations are behind the movement to hold public schools accountable for how much students learn and how taxpayers’ dollars are spent.
It’s all part of a grand scheme to privatize public education, they say.
As proof of this conspiracy, the Michigan Education Association offers the story of Terri List, a 44-year-old Saginaw Township teacher who is hoping to retire in three years.
But her plans are being jeopardized by a bill under consideration by Michigan legislators that would require retirees to be 60 years old before qualifying for health care benefits.
The MEA says List’s plight is an example of “the most sweeping attack on school employee retirement benefits in history.”
Leon Drolet, chairman of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance, was stunned by the union’s logic.
“Wow. They have reached the politicians’ level of entitlement,” Drolet told Michigan Capitol Confidential.
Drolet said this is proof that public employee unions exist “deep inside their own bubble … insulated from the real world.”
“(List) thinks she is entitled to retire at 47?” Drolet asked. “Holy smokes. I don’t know what more to say to that.”
Neither do we.