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Watch for these hot-button issues to charge up voters

Colorado and possibly Oklahoma also are considering the “65 percent solution,” a seemingly innocuous plan to keep 65 percent of all K-12 school funding in classroom instruction. In reality, the plan would restrict school administrators who need to make their own decisions about spending on librarians, nurses and even school buses, elements left out of the definition of “classroom instruction.”

Among other issues this year: an affirmative action initiative in Michigan, one on stem cell research in Missouri, and another, called Initiative 920, that threatens significant education funding in Washington. Also of interest is AFT’s concern over the urgent need for school building maintenance, as infrastructure ages and decays across the country. And, legislation that threatens pensions on the federal and state level is keeping AFT members busy protecting their retirement savings (see page 14).

MINIMUM WAGE
Among these, the fight over the minimum wage is the most visible this political season. Federal legislation was introduced this summer in the House and Senate to raise the wage to $7.25 per hour, but estate-tax provisions attached to the bill have poisoned the effort, and the AFT opposed it. The estate-tax provision would have directed more than $700 billion in tax relief to the richest Americans. “It’s political blackmail to say the only way that minimum wage workers can get a raise is to give tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), a major proponent of a fair minimum wage, in Congressional Quarterly Today.

Another measure in the bill would have required employers to count tips into the wages of their workers before determining whether they had reached minimum wage. That would have allowed employers to pay as little as $2.13 per hour.

Nevertheless, H.R. 5970 passed the House but failed in the Senate. “This was a politically motivated move on the part of congressional leaders that backfired,” says Tor Cowan, AFT legislative director. “Congress’ failure to address the minimum wage will be remembered by voters in November.” In addition, legislators are considering minimum wage initiatives and proposals at the state level in Arizona, California, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, among others.

TABOR
TABOR is up for a vote in many states as well, although prior to this election only one state, Colorado, has ever passed it. There it stretched the state budget so tight that the government was forced to put the policy on hold for five years. Still, anti-tax advocates are pushing the concept in Montana, where an investigation initiated by a local attorney alleges that TABOR supporters illegally funded their political action committee; and in Nebraska, where a recent scuffle between opposing sides revealed an ex-convict from Florida collecting signatures for the initiative. Organizers for TABOR denied they had hired the man to collect signatures.

While ballot issues are attracting the attention of education advocates, it’s critical that union members make it a priority to support worthy candidates. “Fighting anti-union, anti-public services, revenue cutting and anti-education ballot initiatives is critical,” says John Ost, director of AFT political and legislative mobilization. “But if the goal of the opposition is to divert our attention, they have miscalculated. AFT members will be energized and mobilized to strengthen and protect public education and working families on all fronts, all the way through the elections in November.”