Ed Reform just might be the way back from the wilderness for the GOP

7/30/2019 Ed Reform just might be the way back from the wilderness for the GOP

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Education Reform just might be a way back from the wilderness for the GOP

By Christine Matthews

The Republican brand is badly damaged and GOP party insiders have different theoriesabout why: poor messaging, a few bad apples (“legitimate rape”), policies that alienate

Hispanics and women, demographics, primary politics, and outdated tactics and

technology. The problem is probably all of the above. It can be summed up pretty

easily, though, by a question asked on the 2012 exit poll, and that is: which candidate,

Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, “cares about people like me?” On this, Obama had an

81% to 18% advantage which is not just a Mitt Romney problem, it is a Republican

problem.

Romney won the other attributes: “is a strong leader,” “has a vision for the future,”

“shares my values.” No matter. Until the GOP and its leaders are perceived asconnected to and concerned about the lives and problems of average Americans, they

lose.

Republican thought leaders have pounced on immigration reform as a must-do to

reform the brand. That sounds good. However, I’d propose another issue of key

importance, one that is already in the Republican wheelhouse, and that is education

reform. Our most highly regarded Republican governors; Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush, and

Chris Christie have led on this issue. It is no coincidence that these governors have had

some of the highest job approval ratings in the country and attracted more votes from

Hispanics and minority voters than most Republicans. Other Republican governors

such as Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, Idaho’s Butch Otter, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal and

Virginia’s Bob McDonnell are among others in the party advancing ed reform legislation.

In some cases, by moving fast and not getting adequate buy in from key constituencies,

they have created backlash, but with the right messaging and coalition building, these

state leaders have the potential to bring back the GOP brand.

Education reform is a key issue for Hispanics, those who are struggling financially, and

college educated women – all groups with whom Democrats score lopsided victories

over Republicans due to tone and policy. Even though education is usually considereda state issue, it is often a significant factor in how voters choose candidates at the

federal level as well. Voters’ perception of a party does not hew neatly to federal vs.

state policy jurisdictions.




Resurgent Republic and the Hispanic Leadership Network conducted a 2012 post-

election survey of Hispanic voters in four key states: Colorado, Florida, Nevada and

New Mexico. The issue of education ranked just behind the economy in terms of

importance in their vote for President and Congress, and well ahead of immigration,

health care, taxes or the deficit. The majority of Hispanic voters in these states indicate

support for school choice and teacher merit pay – key proposals in most Republican ed

reform packages, yet by a two-to-one margin Hispanic voters say Democrats have the

right plan to improve education. Republicans are perceived as the party for the rich and

against immigrants.

Republicans advancing ed reform aren’t doing it for their rich fr iends. The kids of their

rich friends already go to good schools. And the parents of their rich or well educated

friends are usually deeply engaged with their kids’ school experiences, requesting a

transfer if their kid is assigned the bad teacher or advocating to get their kids in thetalented and gifted program, even if they aren’t flagged for it. It’s not fair. And for all the

anti-Republican, occupy Wall Street, not concerned about the 47% chatter, it is usually

Republicans who are the strongest advocates for what in America creates real equal

opportunity, and that is access to a good education.

The problem is, in their push to move fast so no child suffers from a bad education,

Republican education reformers often don’t take the time to sell their vision, explain

their motives, and bring together a coalition to support their agenda. They often come

off like jerks to teachers and parents who hear what sounds like blame and

scapegoating of teachers and, because the GOP brand is damaged and the teacher unions say so, that Republicans want to gut public schools and run their alternatives like

corporations. The compassion behind the action gets lost due to ineffective messaging.

There is no greater opinion leader on education than a teacher and when teachers get

mad, parents hear about it and the beginnings of a voter backlash have begun.

Republican education reformers have great motives, but a lot of messaging and tactical

work to do to communicate the core values of equal opportunity and access for all.

And, we have to face the reality that more often than not, the teachers unions will be

against us. In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie found his footing after an initial

period of hostility in which he called the teachers’ union leaders “political thugs.” He

eventually decided to bring the union into the tent, when possible, rather than declare all

out war. This meant he had to give some on tenure reform – the unions refused to

budge on seniority protection for teachers – but he was able to pass significant

improvements which advanced his goal of keeping the best teachers in the classroom.




The motto for Republicans should be to collaborate when you can, but fight where you

must. And typically, we are significantly outmaneuvered on the political front by the

teachers unions and their allies and need to do a much better job.

What happened in Idaho is a great example of this. In 2011, Idaho Education Chief

Tom Luna and GOP Governor Butch Otter ushered a package of reforms through the

legislature they called “Students Come First” which reformed teacher tenure, pay, and

collective bargaining, and required laptops for every high school student.

The state teachers union wanted to recall Luna, but the requirements were too steep, so

instead, they gathered signatures to reverse the legislative reforms by referendum in the

2012 election. The National Education Association put big money behind the campaign.

Reflecting on this on a recent education panel, Luna said that to get elected governor inIdaho costs a little over a million, but the unions spent about $4 million to fight ed reform

in the state and succeeded. He said that to pass the reforms through the

overwhelmingly Republican state legislature, they developed a legislative plan, but had

not developed a political campaign plan to win over a broader constituency of voters

and that anyone going forward with reforms should do that.

In Indiana, where Governor Mitch Daniels and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony

Bennett passed some of the most ambitious education reforms in the country, the

reforms have stuck, but Bennett lost his job in 2012 when voters picked a little known

librarian who spent $300,000 compared with the incumbent’s $1.6 million. Weconducted public polling and social media research late in that race and by looking at

our research and gathering a lot more data and talking with both campaigns, our firm

prepared a case study on how the challenger campaign upset Tony Bennett. In short,

they benefitted from the fact that the Bennett campaign had not built a coalition or a

reservoir of trust with parents and teachers and the Democratic challenger was able to

empower a grassroots coalition of teachers, largely through their skilled use of social

media. In what is becoming an institutional disadvantage for Republicans, the

Democratic campaign used social media masterfully – Facebook was the heartbeat of

their campaign - and bought highly targeted web advertising to reach and motivate

voters. The teachers unions also helped with on the ground support and provided more

than half of all the money they raised.

Meanwhile, Tony Bennett’s campaign was waged largely through television ads with no

obvious coalition building. GOP ed reformers must better develop and mobilize

coalitions to counter the teachers unions and the superior use of social media by

opponents.




Republicans have a tremendous opportunity to communicate our values of equal

opportunity for all and concern for those who don’t have the means to access a good

education through education reform policies. We have the opportunity to work withcoalitions who benefit from these policies most and by building these relationships, we

expand our base – Hispanics, African Americans, low income adults, and improve our

relationship with the moms and college educated women who are often at the front lines

of this issue and who think Republicans don’t care.

Ed Reform just might be the way back from the wilderness for the GOP

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