The bill would have expedited the firing of child-predator teachers. For example, the state had to pay tenured teacher Mark Berndt $40,000 of our tax money just to get rid of him after giving his students cookies laced with his own bodily fluids. But why did the school district have to pay anything at all? Because under the current rules, an untold amount of money and time would had to have been invested by the school district to send the depraved teacher packing.
The process for terminating bad teachers, and in this case a wicked teacher, is long and arduous in California, the result of very effective bargaining and sometimes intimidation by one of the most powerful unions in the country, the California Teachers Association (CTA). The CTA has spent over $212 million in the last 10 years peddling their influence, or as many would conclude, purchasing their influence. The bill had few moving parts, wasn’t complicated and was a legislative no-brainer. CNN’s Anderson Cooper said this bill shouldn’t have been controversial as it sailed through the Senate.
But what is controversial is that it didn’t pass in the Assembly. Why? Das Williams refused to vote on the bill, thus killing it in the Assembly Education Committee. Contending that the bill “overreached,” William’s abstention was the death knell to the bill and dashed the hopes of those seeking a prompt removal of perverted teachers who abuse children in California’s classrooms.
Currently, it’s five times harder to get rid of bad teachers than non-governmental employees. By overreaching, Mr. Williams would have us believe that the proposed legislation was unfair because it would now only be four times harder to remove them.
While none of this suggests that Mr. Williams supports or in any way identifies with the behavior of these teachers, it does beg the question as to why protecting teachers is more important to him than protecting our children. The answer lies in his connection to the CTA.
As Mr. Cooper pointed out in CNN’s excoriating review of this scandal, of the four Assembly members who abstained from voting for the bill, all had received very large contributions from the CTA. Of the four, Das Williams received the most, $30,000. Money talks, but sometimes it screams.
Mr. Williams has profusely contended that he would welcome the opportunity to revisit this bill and make some changes. An attempt was made just last week to resurrect it on the Assembly floor.
Mr. Williams abstained again. The bill died again. School children lost again.
Rob Walter is a candidate for the 37th Assembly District. His website is Robwalter2012.com.