By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

WASHINGTON D.C. – Leaders of the Washington Teachers Union are a bit worried.

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Public school enrollment in the nation’s capital continues to drop and the school district is preparing to close 20 schools. That will mean fewer teaching jobs and fewer dues-paying union members.

As a result, union leaders are seeking legal clearance to force teachers in the city’s charter schools to join the WTU. We would expect such a proposal to draw the wrath of thousands of D.C. parents whose children have found quality instruction in charter schools, largely because they are non-union.

Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson recently announced that 20 D.C. schools will be closed due to “budget pressures and increased competition from fast-growing charter schools,” reports the Washington Post.

Henderson has pledged to re-open these schools, should student enrollment rebound in the future.

That doesn’t appear likely.

More than 40 percent of D.C. students are currently enrolled in charter schools, and that number is expected to keep growing.

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WTU President Nathan Saunders understands his union is heading for irrelevancy and possibly extinction, and sees organizing charter school teachers as the only hope for the union’s long-term prosperity.

There’s only one problem: D.C. charter schools “are exempt from the law that requires the city to enter into collective bargaining with the public employees,” the Post reports.

Saunders says the WTU is “prepared to dedicate significant resources” toward convincing authorities to end that exemption and force teachers into unwanted union membership.

WTU leaders will need every dollar they can muster, because getting the rules changed right now will be virtually impossible. Since the school district resides in the nation’s capital, any changes to D.C. labor laws require Congressional approval. And those changes aren’t going to happen with Republican John Boehner as House Speaker for the next two years.

Saunders’ mission rests on the hope that union-friendly Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives in 2014.

Families in the D.C. area better hope that day never comes. If the WTU is ever able to organize charter schools, it will drain the schools of all the unique characteristics that make them effective, and they will quickly resemble the failing D.C. public schools that families are fleeing in droves.

For instance, under the current system, if charter school leaders decide that students would benefit from a longer school day, they can simply extend the school day. But if Saunders gets his way, charter leaders would have to go to the teachers union and ask for permission to lengthen the school day.

To see how well that would go, just look at the ruckus Chicago Teachers Union members raised this summer when they were asked to cooperate with a plan for a longer school day. The union went on strike for eight days and walked away with a hefty pay raise that is threatening to bankrupt the district.

That’s the future Saunders wants for D.C. charter schools. That’s because he doesn’t care if a union presence ruins the very nature of those schools. He just wants their teachers to be forced to pay union dues.

In the end, it’s all about money. It’s funny how union folks knock capitalists for their pursuit of the almighty dollar. It’s a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.