Reason Magazine is reporting that Education Week recently compiled data on the reopening decisions made by 563 school districts in the U.S. The data indicate a stark relationship between school district reopening plans and whether the school district is located in a state that requires union membership as a condition of employment as a teacher. Right now, school districts in states that require union membership are 25 percentage points less likely to plan to reopen with full-time in-person instruction available than school districts in right-to-work states. About 38 percent of school districts in right-to-work states have decided to offer full-time in-person instruction, whereas only around 13 percent of school districts in states that require union membership are offering the same.

Corey A. DeAngelis writing for Reason notes:

When a reporter asked Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser if trends in the city’s COVID-19 cases justified the all-virtual start to the school year, Bowser responded, “No. I wouldn’t say the attention to the health metrics is the only thing that’s leading to our decision today” and that “clearly we want to work with our workforce.”

New data suggest these anecdotes—and the underlying theory that reopening has more to do with power dynamics than safety—have some merit.

In Florida, for example, the largest school districts in the state’s biggest cities are only offering remote learning to start the year but, statewide, 73 percent of the school districts in the dataset are reopening full-time with in-person instruction this fall. Meanwhile, just 4 percent of districts across California, a state with much stronger teachers unions, are offering in-person instruction. Although these results are correlational, they make sense. Teachers unions with more power are in better positions to influence school districts not to reopen in person.

Click here for more from Reason.

While admittedly “correlational” it does suggest questions of why… national politics, local contract struggles, personal entitlement, sloth or cowardliness?

What say you Oklahoma? Your comments welcome below.

Previous Tulsa Today postings on Kung Flu / China Plague:

Don’ts and Dos on Coronavirus By Jane M. Orient, M.D. ,March 17

Politics in pandemic By David Arnett, Publisher, April 4

Evidence: Covid 19 escaped research from lab National Review, April 6

OK begins reopen, Dems oppose By David Arnett, Publisher, April 23

Vaccine at ‘Warp Speed’? By Jane M. Orient, M.D., May 19

The Universal Health Scare By Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD, June 9

Covid News That Could Save Your Life! Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet, July 15

COVID Chaos: Prison without bars Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD, July 26

FDA delays causing deaths daily By Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D. July 29

Swedish strategy working for Kung Flu David Arnett, Publisher, July 30

COVID 19 Coverup: Preventable Video The Epoch Times, August 6