Hillary Clinton has changed her mind on the trade deal and gay marriage, but she’s not finished flip flopping.
During her husband’s presidency, Hillary Clinton was a big fan of charter schools. Now that she’s seeking the presidency herself, things have changed.
Kimberly Hefling reports at Politico:
Hillary Clinton rebukes charter schoolsFormer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sounded less like a decades-long supporter of charter schools over the weekend and more like a teachers union president when she argued that most of these schools “don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them.”Her comments in South Carolina came straight from charter school critics’ playbook and distanced her from the legacies of her husband, former President Bill Clinton — credited with creating a federal stream of money to launch charters around the country — and President Barack Obama, whose administration has dangled federal incentives to push states to become more charter friendly.
Then we come to the heart of the issue.
Teachers unions have been early and enthusiastic supporters of Clinton. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, a noted opponent of many education reform efforts, is a longtime friend and informal adviser to her campaign. Unions say they aren’t anti-charter but often attack the schools, a majority of which employ teachers who aren’t unionized, accusing them of siphoning off money from traditional public schools.
Hillary, like Obama, enjoys the support of teachers unions and we all know how they feel about charter schools.
Here’s a quick video report from Wochit News:
This editorial from the New York Post has more:
Hillary Clinton’s bought-and-paid-for betrayal of charter schoolsWhoosh! There goes Hillary Clinton, hurtling leftward after another 180-degree cartwheel on a critical issue — this time, a flip-flop on charter schools.Charters once had no greater fan. Back in 1996, Clinton hailed them as being “freed from regulations that stifle innovation, so they can focus on getting results.”But the two national teachers unions — the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers — were first to endorse her latest presidential run.So now Clinton’s script on charters might as well be written by AFT President Randi Weingarten (an informal campaign adviser).Asked about charters at a recent town hall, Clinton said she’d backed them for 30 years — then added that now she sees problems.“Most charter schools,” she said, “they don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them.”That claim is utterly false — and right out of the union playbook.
Democrats claim to believe in choice.
As long as it isn’t school choice.
Featured image via YouTube.
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