Remember when we asked this question?

When did education in this country start to take a "nose dive"?

I finally think I've found at least one contributor to the problem... and that, a major contributor, too.

Public sector unions.

Now, this is no big revelation, I know... especially not here at the Bund... but I think the connection is legit. Follow me a while...

According to the US Department of Labor, private sector union membership in this country is down from its peak of roughly 26% to less than 7% across the nation, and in industrial work, it is down from a peak of 45% to less than 15%. There is no corresponding reduction in industrial work force, mind you... only the membership has dropped. This is because unions drive the cost of operations UP, and only survive if the cost increase is offset by comparable profit increases. There are still areas of the country's economy where the two can work together, it seems.

The average annual wage for a union member in this country is just over $60,000 per year in the private sector, and this is very comparable to the average annual wage for a non-union employee (but it is a little higher). All perfectly acceptable in my eyes, since most union jobs are considered "skilled" positions and wouldn't follow the minimum wage schedule anyway.

The issue facing us now (and the one that has Wisconsin in such a tizzy) is that public sector unions do not face the prospect of their "employers" going out of business due to higher costs of operations. There is no "bankruptcy" for the Government... if costs run up, they simply tax at a higher rate to pay the difference.

The teachers unions that currently hold so much attention in Wisconsin are the NEA and the AFT, which are also the two largest teachers unions in the country (combined, boasting a membership of nearly 5 million members). These unions charge an annual membership fee of $1,000 and have nearly 60% of all school employees in the State of Wisconsin as members, which means that in the event of a "strike" by these unions, Wisconsin schools cannot operate. The average annual wage for members of these unions is more than $68,000... substantially more than the average for private sector union members, and they do not pay anything towards their benefits and retirement plans (an additional $19k in unfunded benefits for each employee over the course of a year).

These unions actually BOAST of the progress they have made in keeping such reform measures as "performance-based incentives" out of the contracts they've signed since 1978... yes, that's 33 years ago... and THAT is the big contributor to the failure of education in this country.

By keeping good teachers bound to collective bargaining agreements that keep bad teachers from having to address their failings, they keep the membership rolls full and the dues rolling in... but the average performance level of any school district involved with these unions falls markedly with each passing year. It has been the focus of these unions since the early 80s to make sure that millions of dollars is spent on media propaganda which blames the lack of funds from the government for the school performance failings rather than the teachers themselves.

What's more, the membership averages for these unions is still above 35% nationally, while the national average for private sector membership is 7% (15% for industrial workers only)... do you see the disparity there?

Walker and the other Governors are right in thinking they need to reform the manner in which each State (and the Fed) deals with unions, but it needs to be across-the-board reform, and it needs to guaranty each employee the ability to decide membership every two years (at the very longest)... so that if circumstances change and the State can make an offer for individual performance benefits and bonuses, they can opt out of the "union card" and take the individual bargaining option.