Queen Jane and GOP Reps Look to Strip Speech Rights from Teachers

Over the legislative spring break, Queen of Bad Ideas Jane Cunningham and GOP friends Steve Hunter and Marilyn Ruestman spun the squeaky gerbil-wheels of their minds as rapidly as they could and came up with a gem of a bill. Their idea: stop public school teachers in the state of Missouri from participating in their democracy by visiting the state capitol to lobby legislators. Cunningham, Hunter, and Ruestman apparently believe that some real restrictions on participatory democracy for the people who educate our youngsters are just what Missourians are hungry for.

Their bill, HB 1222, reads simply...

no public school teacher shall lobby the general assembly unless such teacher makes arrangements to pay the salary of the substitute teacher for the teacher's class.

The depths of depravity into which these legislators had to reach in order to devise such a blatantly anti-teacher, anti-education piece of garbage legislation truly boggles the mind. This is the sort of bill that a Republican legislator would introduce in a parody of Republican legislators. Imagine Cunningham, Hunter and Ruestman had their way, and civics teachers have to tell their pupils that the state Capitol is the people's house, and that anyone can go there to have his or her voice heard in the legislative process.

Anyone --they'd have to add the caveat-- except public school teachers, who must pay out-of-pocket for the privilege.

Teachers already sacrifice an awful lot just so that they can assume the difficuly duty of shaping the futures of our young Missourians. State legislators should be doing all they can to make Missourians more apt to become educators. Instead, the Missouri GOP is speaking up loudly --and telling any teacher who can hear them that his or her voice in subject to restraints faced by no one else.

Perhaps, after being beaten silly on the issue of private school vouchers --largely due to the tireless advocacy of school teachers around the state-- Cunningham and Hunter and the Republican caucus are responding to the behest of their paymasters at pro-voucher All Children Matter by introducing these limits on democracy.

These clowns have many, many reasons to be ashamed of themselves. This may be the best reason yet. And that is no mean feat.