Democrats Criticize Tone of Educational Debate

Democrats want to ratchet down the rhetoric over tenure and collective bargaining rights. They characterized the debate as an “attack on teachers and children.”

Surrounded by union supporters, state Senator Eric Stewart and state Representative Mike McDonald condemned the aggressive tone surrounding the issues. They claimed it was hurting classroom morale. Stewart, however, was not willing to take a completely hard line.

“You know, with tenure and education reforms we’ve talked about—they’re all conversations worth having. Collective bargaining, even though I don’t agree with getting away with it, maybe it’s a conversation worth having. Tenure: a conversation worth having.”

But Representative McDonald called the bills “regressive” and promised they would not improve teacher-student interactions.