Dive Brief:
- The National Education Association added an item to the agenda of its annual convention on July 4 calling for the resignation of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
- While the NEA has butted heads with the Obama administration in the past, it was particularly displeased with Duncan's public praise of a California judge's decision to strike down that state's teacher tenure laws.
- Duncan declined to comment on the agenda item, opting instead to wish incoming NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia luck. The association's current president, Dennis Van Roekle, leaves office in August.
Dive Insight:
In the past, charter schools and valued-added teacher assessments have been really sore spots for the NEA, but the teacher tenure decision in California appears to be particularly frustrating for unions. Given that many unions are founded on the idea of job security, taking away this safety net doesn't sit well with those in the club.
The passed item calling for Duncan's resignation said his removal was necessary because the "department's failed education agenda focused on more high-stakes testing, grading and pitting public school students against each other based on test scores, and for continuing to promote policies and decisions that undermine public schools and colleges, the teaching education professionals, and education unions."