Dunleavy's education veto threat shows his weaknesses

My initial review of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto threat on the education bill is that it encapsulates his four greatest weaknesses as governor—his lack of trust for others with expertise, his lack of respect for those who don’t agree with him, his arrogance and his inability to compromise.

He did this in just four sentences.

Dunleavy does not trust local school boards, which are in a far better and stronger position to decide how to improve education than he is.

Rather than respect the elected officials and school staff members who are doing their best under difficult circumstances, Dunleavy offers nothing but recycled catchphrases, cliches and insults.

School boards, teachers and administrators are not doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. They are trying to recruit and retain teachers. Charter schools have done well under local school boards and there is no need to change.

Dunleavy wants his loyalists on the state school board to take a leading hand in creating new charter schools. It’s a power grab that the Legislature won’t allow.

School officials across the state are counting on the state to do its part so they can allocate resources where they are needed the most.

It’s Dunleavy who enjoys saying the same things over and over again with no results. His claim that the bill just spends more money is complete nonsense. Local school boards spend many hours reviewing their budgets to put money where it is needed the most. It’s all related to direct classroom experience.

Since the heady days of Donna Arduin, when Dunleavy proposed the biggest education cuts in state history, he has been repeating lies that school funds are not spent on instruction and that education spending is “throwing money” at the problem.

He wants to tell school boards, teachers and administrators how to do their jobs. That’s arrogance in action. He alone has all the answers.

The education bill was as close to a legislative consensus as we are likely to see. Rather than recognize it as a workable compromise approved by 56 other elected officials, he says it’s not good enough.

Every competent governor learns to trust others with expertise, respect those with different opinions and understand the value of compromise. Dunleavy hasn’t learned any of that.

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