As Reason 24/7 notes, Chicago’s teachers
are on strike. This, despite what seems like a pretty plum offer
from city officials:

Chicago offered teachers raises of 3 percent this year and
another 2 percent annually for the following three years, amounting
to an average raise of 16 percent over the duration of the proposed
contract, School Board President David Vitale said.

“This is not a small contribution we’re making at a time when
our financial situation is very challenging,” he said.

The school district, like many cities and states across the
country, is facing a financial crisis with a projected budget
deficit of $3 billion over the next three years and a crushing
burden of pensions promised to retiring teachers.

So what’s the sticking point? In exchange for the salary
increase, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and others are insisting that
standardized test scores play some role in evaluating teachers and
that school principals be given more power to run their schools the
way they want to. Teachers say they don’t have enough control over
their students’ socioeconomic situations to be judged on what they
teach kids. Responds a union official:

“Evaluate us on what we do, not the lives of our children we do
not control,” [union head Karen] Lewis said in announcing the
strike.

More here.

Come on. Nobody – even Rahm Emanuel, a man about as heartwarming
as a bloody stool – is suggesting that teahers be held accountable
for poverty, crime, you name it. But it certainly can’t be that
complicated to come up with a way of benchmarking student progress
that takes into account the effect of specific teachers. One of the
most ridiculous claims emanating from teachers unions is
the persistent idea that teaching abilities can’t be quantified
in any meaningful way as it relates to merit. Somehow, every other
profession on the planet – including teaching at the college level
– finds ways to assess and reward good performance.

Then again, all discussions about the K-12 system need to at
least consider the notion that educating kids is the lowest
priority of what we called “The Machine” in this recent Reason TV
video: