Progress Now and Commissioner Moloney

The Left-wing propagandists at Progress Now have returned to doing the bidding of the teachers unions and their legislative cronies, as they are now calling on Colorado’s Commissioner of Education William Moloney to resign. In his nine years as commissioner, the eminently experienced and qualified Dr. Moloney has been a champion for parents and students in his ongoing work to promote sensible and effective reforms.

At the last State Board of Education meeting, a group of superintendents showed up to present a newly published report that said the Colorado Department of Education was not providing sufficient leadership. The next day the Democrats on the State Board of Education went a step further and called on Moloney to resign.

It appears to me an act of aggressive desperation on the Democrats’ part. Currently, the State Board is made up of 4 Democrats and 4 Republicans, with Moloney additionally serving as a non-voting member. The odd, eight-seat formulation expires this year – with wealthy Democrat Jared Polis’ at-large seat scheduled to disappear. Also, the Republicans have a legitimate chance to pick up a fifth seat with a strong challenge from Lee Kunz in the 7th District. A majority Republican Board will not be friendly to the union or much of the anti-reform establishment.

So when Progress Now makes it appear that there is a widespread sweeping call among the state’s education leadership for Moloney to resign, please note they are omitting important details about the partisan nature of the effort. It appears that the propagandists and the Democrats they cite have reached their wits’ end with a Commissioner more beholden to parents and students than unions and bureaucrats. Too bad for them.

But intelligent, discerning readers of mine tend to take what the Lefties at ProgressNow say with a grain of salt, anyway. After all, they have a bad track record when it comes to facts and education.

Update: I just received a phone call from a prominent figure involved in this story who disagreed with my portrayal of the Commissioner. I may have overstated my case a bit, but it doesn’t change the main point of this post.

For the sake of clarification, Commissioner Moloney may not be the boldest and most innovative of education reform leaders. My impressions of him – both firsthand and from others – are that he has done a decent job and has been generally sympathetic to positive school reforms. In all fair-mindedness, though, I remain open to looking at documented evidence to the contrary.

Nevertheless, you still have to look at the source of who is calling for his resignation – Senator Windels and Representative Merrifield – and they most certainly are not friends of reform. I am only left to surmise that the union-funded Democrats are aggressively seeking an opportunity to replace Moloney with someone less friendly to school choice and accountability reforms.

If they want their calls for resignation to be taken seriously, Progress Now or someone else ought to lay out the evidence in full public view, not just some high-minded quotes from elected officials.