This Moment for Education Workers

THIS MOMENT FOR EDUCATION WORKERS AND THE ORGANIZATIONS THAT REPRESENT US

In calendar time this moment is June 2025. But in political time this moment is unique, unlike any other we've seen as a nation and as education workers. While there's continuity in the conditions we face, at the same time we confront something new: a stunningly comprehensive ideological, cultural, social, political, and economic offensive, an all-out attack against political, economic and social rights won since Reconstruction in an autocratic usurpation of government. In this and subsequent newsletters I'll analyze implications of this moment for education workers and the organizations that we need to represent us as workers - our unions. The largest single constituency of education workers is teachers, and much of what I write will be about them and their classrooms, but the issues often transcend our job descriptions. The driving question in my newsletters is "How can we use our knowledge, skills, and position as education workers to defeat this juggernaut?" [i]

As I'll explain, we can't - and shouldn't try to - return to the previous status quo of bipartisan "corporate reform" of schools. Nor should we succumb to the nostalgia of a non-existent "golden age" in US history, usually identified as the post WW2 era, which was marked by gross inequality and injustice in the society and systemic educational inequalities. Our aim has to be to reimagine and participate in developing a truly just, equal, democratic society, with public schools that help all of our students reach their full human potential.

What distinguishes this moment? One huge difference is the GOP's all-out assault on gains made by social movements and labor in the past 150 years. Its Christian nationalist, White supremacist, nativist, patriarchal, homophobic prejudices aren't new in this country, but the scale and rapidity of the Right's campaign to destroy any trace of "Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion" (DEI) is new in its scope, fury, and strength, enabled by Trump's usurpation of power. Groups previously regarded as fringe have become mainstream under Trump, given an enlarged national audience and platform. For example, Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice has become a "fellow" for parental rights at Heritage. The Moms for Liberty "think tank," M4L, is showing some signs of growth, hiring and broadcasting a weekly series, with links to papers produced by right wing think tanks. They also organized in Oklahoma for curriculum standards that ...