Do Teacher Unions Advance Education?

Wisconsin is undergoing quite a bit of strife as the Governor tries to curb the power of unions, including the teachers\’ union. Opponents predict disaster and falling education quality if the union\’s power is reduced. Blogger IowaHawk looks at the data and comes to the conclusion that students in non-unionized Texas scores better than students in highly unionized Wisconsin. This post is interesting for the light it sheds on education, but also for the danger in taking a simplistic, unquestioning approach to presenting data.

Thanks to Don Boudreaux for the link on Cafe Hayek.

Follow up July 1, 2011: Wisconsin\’s new law has come into effect reducing the scope for union bargaining. Byron York gives an example of a school district that has benefited in a major way from the changes, rather than falling apart promptly as the unions would have you believe. [HT Thomas Lifson]


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