Bailout!

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the author if the infamous Card Check Forced Unionism bill, is at it again.  Harkin has just authored Senate Bill 3206 — a massive $23 billion bailout for the teacher’s union.  The NEA has made the bill a top priority.  Kyle Olson does the math:

The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, and its counterpart, the American Federation of Teachers, are ramping up attention on Senate Bill 3206, introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), which would create a $23 billion “education jobs fund” to hire or retain “150,000 or more” school employees for the next school year.  The NEA is engaged in a “massive, 24/7 lobbying campaign” to pass Harkin’s bill, according to its president Dennis Van Roekel.

That’s $153,333 spent per job just to “retain” them.  The most recent data from the American Federation of Teachers concluded the average teacher salary is $51,009.  Where is the other $100,000 per job going?

Nevertheless, in a recent Senate committee hearing, Harkin cited the “emergency” for creating the fund.  Note he didn’t say teachers, he said “education jobs.”  That’s because in many states, like Michigan, teachers unions are losing members that are custodians or food service workers.

Just for the record, billions of dollars have already been spent on “retaining” school jobs.  The NEA claims 325,000 public school jobs were “saved” under the stimulus bill.