Unions Hurt Teacher Performance & Public Schools

Slate actually has an article which goes counter to the left-wing bias of its squad of agitpreppies.

One strategy favored by economists is to ask what happens to student outcomes when the teachers in a school district unionize. These studies don’t reflect well on unions. An oft-cited 1996 study found that the high school dropout rate in a school district increases 2.3 percentage points after its teachers unionize. The study also suggested that unionization tends to soak up a district’s financial resources: When non-union districts increase salaries and reduce class size, the dropout rate decreases. In unionized districts, however, the dropout rate is virtually impervious to increased spending. Another studied, published in 2009, was slightly kinder to unions, finding that teacher unionization had no significant impact on the dropout rate.

But wait, there's more!

unions resist performance-based incentives for their members. Research has repeatedly shown that rewarding top teachers is a win for students.

So screw the Chicago Teachers' Unions & hoo-ray for the Godfather!