Submitted by Steve Johnson, Mar 19, 2007 20:42

THere's one reason and one reason only that the United States spends more money per student than any other country in the world and falls so far behind so many other countries when it comes to education: teachers unions.

The unions have a stanglehold on the political process and any politician standing up to them will often find themselves getting crushed by the millions of dollars the teachers unions spend on PR and contributions to politicians on their payroll.

The teachers unions resist change, refuse to allow anyone to hold teachers accountable, and make it impossible for even really bad teachers from being fired (the teachers unions now realize that defending someone who breaks the law is really bad PR and they've stopped defending many of the teachers who break the law). In my hometown, one teacher has admitted to repeatedly watching porn on the schools computers at the school he teaches. The school is powerless to get rid of him. The union has spent thousands and thousands of dollars defending him again and again.

In NY, the problem is especially troublesome. In NY, politicians like SIlver can spend their PAC money very liberally with very little restrictions (like expensive overseas trips for their families or on a new pool). It's really just bribe money , but no one's willing to call it that. In many other states, if politicians did what they often do in NY, they'd be spending the rest of their lives in jail. But not in NY and the no one in power is willing to change the rules to prevent the abuse that happens every day in Albany.

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