Renewed Hope for Teachers, Worker Freedom

U.S. Supreme Court Rules in favor of Mark Janus in Janus v. AFSCME

Statement by Jeanne Allen, Founder & CEO

It’s a great day in Washington, DC! The high court’s decision strikes a blow for the freedom guaranteed to individuals under the constitution. No citizen of the United States can be compelled to support speech that he or she does not believe in or endorse, and by upholding that constitutional protection, the court has affirmed a critical principle of freedom.

This is good news for the nation, for thousands of educators who have long been exploited by the teachers unions, and for families whose educational opportunities have been compromised by their political activity. When it comes to education, the most fundamental of all policies that shape our futures, no longer can the union compel people to support activities and positions regardless of principle.

In affirming the position of Mark Janus, the United States Supreme Court finally ends the decades-long assault on worker freedom. While unions, particularly the teachers’ unions, have and will continue to decry the ruling, they would do well to look beyond the revenue-generating dollars-and-cents loss that it will entail and see the opportunity that it presents – the opportunity to secure support for their work based not on coercion, but on voluntary support from those who truly believe in the in the ideas, actions and pronouncements of any association to which they now may truly choose to belong.

Education in America is in the midst of a major transformation, which is struggling to realize its full potential in the face of limiting contractual and oppositional forces. From apathy to lack of knowledge to deliberate impediments created by unions, these obstacles have kept education from advancing into 21st century.

The unions now have a chance to join the movement, and embrace the cause of improving education for parents seeking new opportunities for their children, and for children in need of opportunities for innovative individualized learning options, or they get out of the way entirely. While hope springs eternal, we doubt, sadly, that wither will occur. Thankfully, however, teachers will now be able to exercise their own power in impacting the needs of children and families in the education process and policies supporting it.

Kudos to the Court, to Mark Janus, to Rebecca Friedrichs who began the journey before him, and to all who are engaged in the fight for liberty and justice.

Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education.