The 1.5 million member American Federation of Teachers
endorsed Barack Obama for president Tuesday. In a video statement, AFT President Randi Weingarten characterized this election as "a choice, not a referendum" and highlighted "the stark differences amongst the candidates."
The AFT has been critical of President Obama's education policies (for good reason), and Weingarten noted that the union "disagree[s] strongly with elements of the admin's education policies that appear to focus more on competition and measuring than on promoting what front-line professionals like you know will improve teaching and learning."
But despite those disagreements about how to educate most effectively, more of Weingarten's message is dedicated to another side of education—the simple question of whether education is funded and teachers are kept in the classroom. "President Obama successfully fought for the passage of the economic stimulus that saved or created hundreds of thousands of jobs and prevented cuts to K12 public education, higher education, and to other vital public services," Weingarten points out, and has pushed for other policies that would not only save the jobs of teachers, police, and firefighters, but create construction jobs to modernize schools.
This endorsement, then, seems to come despite the specifics of Obama's education policies, basing itself in a broader set of interests beginning with the most basic commitment to education and public services funding and jobs creation. It appears to be no less wholehearted for that fact, and you have only to look at the alternatives to wonder why.