I doubt that anyone expects the Department of Transportation to allow the United Autoworkers Union to set national policy. I've also never met anyone that would expect the RIAA to be permitted to write national copyright laws. However, when it comes to education, people suddenly start listing to the teacher's union, a/k/a the National Education Association. (They would be more rightly described as the National Educators Association, or better yet the National Ass. of Educators.)

Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say that Educators don't know anything about educating children, I'm just saying that their labor union is more likely to do what's best for union members than what's best for children. That the NEA would denounce a law that holds it's union members to a minimum federal standard is evidence of that, and not entirely surprising.

There is a lot of talk about states' rights and unfundeded federal mandates. Given how much federal education dollars schools receive, the claim doesn't seem to hold up. I'm all for states' rights, so perhaps they should have a choice. You either abide by the federal standards, or you lose all federal funding.

UPDATE: Armstrong Williams bolsters the case that likening the NEA to a terrorist organization is not that far out of whack.