Education needs advocacy of unions

During his visit to Lake County last week, Gov. Rauner made it clear: he does not care about facts, he does not respect teachers and he is not focused on actually improving our community's schools.

The governor didn't use those words. Rather, he spoke in code, telling his listeners that teachers are forced to join the unions. The governor is making it a top priority to weaken our unions and silence the voice of education professionals on classroom matters.

The fact is, no one is forced to join a union. The governor knows his statement is 100 percent false, yet he repeats it everywhere he goes because he is bent on silencing the voice that teachers use to advocate for their students and for public education.

That voice, amplified through our union, allows teachers to make sure the policymakers and the public know what the education experts, the teachers, think about such key issues as class size, education funding, the ability of districts to attract and retain high-quality teachers and much more.

School employees work for students, parents and their districts, not the governor. Teachers, through our union, advocate to ensure our students get the best education possible.

Sorry, Governor. We won't sit down and be quiet. Our students and our communities need and deserve our advocacy.

Andrew Hirshman

Oak Park