Rep Rubley & PSEA Agree: Parents Can't Be Trusted

Libertarian James Babb: Parents Ultimate Authority on Children’s Education
Teacher's Union Disagrees, Endorses Babb's Opponent in PA's 157th


September 8, 2006

Lower Providence, PA – James Babb, Libertarian candidate for PA House 157th district, was not surprised at the Pennsylvania State Education Association’s (PSEA) endorsement of his incumbent opponent, "She shares their agenda of increasing government power over parents.”

“While being interviewed by the PSEA board”, Babb explained, “I asked them to support my plan to remove roadblocks limiting parental choice in their children’s education and to eliminate compulsory attendance at Pennsylvania’s schools. This seemed to horrify the board. They expressed contempt over anyone, including parents, who would question state education policies.”

Babb continued, “To be perfectly clear, I asked them point blank who the ultimate authority is when it comes to my child’s education. They confirmed that the state is that authority because parents can’t be trusted. And they support criminal penalties for parents who refused to comply with government education policies.”

“This is worse than big brother,” observed Babb, “it’s big parent.”

Babb offered, “Voters in the 157th district need to know that the PSEA’s PAC endorsed candidate is incumbent Republican Carole Rubley, who best represents the teachers’ union special interests. Those interests are in direct conflict with the interests of parents and children.”

Taxpayers are also victims of the PSEA’s agenda. The union threatens teacher strikes to effectively coerce high salaries and expensive benefits from taxpayers, even in poor rural counties. On the PSEA website they boast: "The pace of life is slower, the communities less affluent and in most cases, the economy is stagnant. Yet, PSEA members who live in these counties enjoy very good salaries and low or no contributions to health care costs."

The Patriot-News recently reported that "Pennsylvania had more teacher strikes than the other 49 states combined in both of the last two years." According to StopTeacherStrikes.org. "The ‘strike threat’ is used by the union during contract negotiations in order to extract tax dollars via local school boards. Taxpayers, innocent children, and the surrounding business community are negatively impacted.”

Babb concluded, “The group that has embraced Carole Rubley is the same one that recently made an enormous $235,000 contribution to Democrat Ed Rendell’s campaign. It’s the same PSEA that routinely opposes merit based pay and shields teachers from accountability in spite of rising costs and falling test scores. As the Libertarian Party candidate, I stand apart from the two parties that sell out our childrens’ futures and spend the taxpayers’ money for special interests.”

More information about the campaign can be found at www.JamesBabb.com.

Contact:
Ken Krawchuk, Babb for Pennsylvania Media Relations
215-881-9696
Media@JamesBabb.com

or

James Babb
610-539-8825
Jim@JamesBabb.com