School boards, who have been regarded as the keystone that links public education to ordinary citizens, are normally elected. However, these elections are usually low-turnout, low-interest affairs in which the vast majority of ordinary citizens play no role at all. In school board elections, the incentives of the teacher unions are strong and…

Argues there are two primary explanations for lack of significant change in public education since the publication of "A Nation at Risk": Teacher unions' resistance to reform and the American polity's preference for the status quo. Asserts that "Risk" did foster the reform movements of accountability and choice, though the political process has…

The author asserts that the questions in Phi Delta Kappa's (PDK) recent poll on the issue of school vouchers were purposely designed to reflect negatively on the voucher issue. From the 1970s until 1991, PDK measured voucher support with a survey item that defined vouchers as a government-funded program allowing parents to choose among public,…

Rejoinder to Rose and Gallup's defense of 2001 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll's results concerning the public attitude toward educational vouchers. (PKP)

Describes how teacher unions influence public-school policies through collective bargaining; local, state and national politics; and opposition to certain school-reform initiatives such as school choice. States that unions pursue policies that benefit teachers rather than students. Suggests that as school choice spreads, power of teacher unions…