the teachers union is the largest lobbyist. they spend the most dollars lobbying albany than anybody else in norks. so you have to imagine that -- new york city. so you have to imagine that a fair number of city council members are tied financially to union donations. >> how long is this documentary? >> it's 80 minutes. >> is it available on the web yet to buy or do you have to wait to get to the theaters? >> it's in theaters right now. we're in washington, d.c. this week. and then we're opening in denver. we're also in palm springs, new york, and l.a. an then it will be available in dmb vd starting in august. -- dvd. >> how much will it sell for? >> i don't know. that's a good question. >> and how many people worked on this with you? >> i don't know the total number of people. we had a small crew. we had about seven people shooting the film and we have a pretty small team now. we're all wearing a lot of hats. >> did you edit it yourself? >> yes, i did. i don't always recommend that, but i didn't have the budget somewhat reflec

the largest union in new york city. i believe that by collective bargaining through the union, if you get the best deal for everybody. >> the teacherson contract is 600 pages in length. it is the government structure for school and lays out all the things that teachers cannot do. it prescribes almost every aspect of the school day. we think teachers need three prep period today to be a excellently prepared. that would be a violation of the country. we also think that we need to be able to work collaborative fully with teachers to improve their practice in -- so i go into classrooms to watch a teacher teach, unannounced. we have an open-door policy. that is pro abducted -- prohibited in the teachers' contract. it's hard to run a school where everything is being determined. what you need to do to meet the needs of teachers -- of children is constantly refined the school schedule. if there is a problem today, we can fix it by the end of the day. >> what did she do in new york city? >> she is a public advocate >> with the unions talk to you? >> no, unfortunately not. going into it, i was very interested in the whole picture. and in no w

the largest union in new york city and i believe it is important. i believe by collective bargaining you get the best deal for everybody. >> the teachers' union contract000 pages in length. it lays out all the things that teachers cannot do. it prescribes almost every aspect and limits prep time to 50-minutes per day. we think teachers need three prep periods per day to be prepared for that would be a violation of contract. we also think we should be able to work palaver to live with teachers -- collaborative lovely with teachers. we have an open-door policy and we watch teachers teach. that is prohibited in the union contract. it is hard to run a school where everything is pre-determined. what you need to do is you need to constantly refined the school of design and school schedule. if there is a problem today, we can fix it by the end of the day. >> she does what in the york city? >> she was a public advocate in an elected position. she is retired. >> with the unions talked to you? >> no, unfortunately not. going into it i was very interested in the whole picture. in no way from a partisan perspective. unfortunately, they decline for we tried hard f

she's actually taken her union in a very different direction from the larger teachers' union, the n.e.a which is mostly suburban teachers. her union is mostly urban teachers. i think she's going in that direction because she has a lot of young teachers who are very gung-ho about reform and they know unions get in the way of some of the things they want to do and she's sensitive to that. so two teachers unions are becoming very different in terms of policy toward reform. >> brown: so what we see in washington has some emanations or implications for other localities in the states? >> absolutely. >> brown: as well as big constituencies like the unions? >> and there are things that seem to be more popular in urban areas, as jay was saying. denver public schools is another great example where this ef a pay for performance or a merit pay system as well. so as we see urban areas move in this direction, it will be interesting to see if the suburban areas follow suit. beyond that, even the rural areas because that's also where we see students with great learning deficits who really need extra su

the minimum wages without the unions. i'm a retired law enforcement, we have a union. the firemen have unions and the teachers have unions. if you look at what is going on in new jersey right now, this gov. christie, he is trying to take down the teachers' union. literally try to take them down. and if the unions go away, those teachers will be making 30,000, $40,000 a year living in a state like new jersey. but the same governor who is refusing to tax the wealthy in that state, he will tell the union people, call them a bunch of bullies. i also want to go back to governor -- also blanche lincoln in arkansas. if the unions -- i don't necessarily agree with them going after her the way they did, but just like the lady said earlier, $10 million is not that much in that kind of campaign the lady -- that kind of campaign. the lady meg whitman and california spent $60 million of her own million. host: i think i saw a figure of 75 million, to $80 million produce still there? caller: just think about that. this is just one person who is able to spend more money than labor was able to put a begins blades lincoln. she

there is no difference between the teacher and the union member. i am a union member but i was a high-school math teacher for years but i did -- i was a high-school math teacher for years. i remember my first year teaching, and i really believe that if i cared enough and work hard enough, i could deliver everything students needed. you could soon -- but you soon realize that not everything is possible. i need a way to advocate for students in my classroom, for their needs and what i should provide as a teacher. i am proud that we can to get as professionals and an organization and said that we -- came together as professionals and ein an organization. host: we would love to hear from teachers, and we would also like to hear from school administrators and parents who are part of the process. if you have served on the school board and would like to weigh in on our discussion about excellence in american schools, please join us. you can send a message by twitter or e-mail or call by phone. cleveland, midge on the republican line. caller: thank you for

teacher in chicago public schools briefly. i have some experience. my problem is the union mentality of teachers. put in your time. wages keep increasing. there is no accountability. you see the results we get in the chicago public school system. guest: from my perspective, i like the union culture. my organization, the national education association, we started three years ago, and now it is in full swing, priorities for schools. we call them priority schools. some people call them high need for low performing. we worked in collaboration with management and the school board, saying what do we need to do to do differently? i believe that is the responsibility of the union. we are turning schools around and changing what is happening to kids. that is the responsibility of the union. we comes to accountability, i believe it needs to be a shared accountability. we have to believe that teachers have what they -- we have to ensure that teachers have what they need. we have to make sure policymakers' provide the necessary programs. it is a collaborative effort. the idea only one group can do at is wrong. it is wrong to b

if you add the public sector in, a little bit over 10% union. that is an issue with respect to teachers, police, and fire in the public sector. it is less of an issue on the private sector. host: he is the former director of the pension benefit guaranty corp. joining us from fort myers, florida. good morning. caller: i am 100% disabled veteran and i have a very small pension. if they ake that away from us, what will happen to this country? we will not put up with that. my generation is a generation that made this country free. not korea, vietnam, not afghanistan. we made this country free. people like bill gates and others have made this money in this country. they said everything over to china. these are the kind of people that we should try to get together and make them do something for this country. i am at a point where if they ever take attention away from me, i have no alternative. i think you for listening to me. i am very disgusted with the way that things are. i did not vote for obama. i think the people should back him so he can try to get this country straightened out. he is

the only thing that can be considered in laos, assignments, and transfers of teachers. we cannot, by law, allow locally elected school boards and their superintendents, negotiating with their local teachers unionto consider the effectiveness of teachers and principals and the needs of their schools. it disproportionately impacts are high party schools where most of our brown and black children are being educated, or not being educated, as the case may be. because of budget cuts, a giant spotlight has been put on what this policy yields. the aclu filed a lawsuit a few months ago. they named three middle schools for 75% of their teachers got pink slips. they compared it to a few other schools in that same school district where zero teachers got pink slips. the seniority only approach means some teachers who want to be in those high party schools and are having great results get laid off because it cannot be even considered. that is our greatest challenge. >> i am starting to sweat, listening to you. >> the california teachers association -- i had conversations with the president's of our state sen. he said he would like to do the right thing on this, but he also wanted to keep his job. that is t

union do you find more upsetting, the n.r.a. or the a.f.t. or the american federation of teachers? host: when you talk about upsetting, what exactly do you mean? i don't think mr. bresnahan is going to give his political opinion on this anyway. do you want to rephrase your question? guest: yes, sir. i live in south texas. i am a frequent caller. i own firearms, and my wife is a school teacher. of in-fighting among people who are confused with both. so i really would just like to ask your opinion. host: so it sounds like his wife is a member of a teacher's union and he is a member of the n.r.a. guest: i think it's important that people understand that groups like the n.r.a. and advocate groups is really important to the function of democracy and important for them to have a vote here. what the issue is, is money and politics, what we're getting down to. money and politics. and who is funding what? and how big a role money plays in elections. to many people the spring court's ruling in january was a major setback and setback decades of campaign finance law. for others it was a victor

. >> it is our greatest challenge because in california, the california teachers association which is the most powerful union do the right thing on this but i also need to keep my job. that is the reality of what we are facing. that is what might be a confluence of events. president obama playing this out as being so critical in terms of evaluation might create the momentum we need to get this done. i lose sleep over when i visited these schools and i see that these kids are perpetually being left behind. some kids are doing well but the kids that are not doing well, year after year after year, they will be lost. why do we have a high-school dropout rate of 50% there? we are losing them in middle school. for me and the governor, it is changing a seniority-only approach to personnel. >> let's go to a lightning ground answer round before we go to questions from the audience. i am interested in your quick analysis of what you think is a principle root cause for these issues and challenges we are confronting and how would you get at that brute? >> when you look at the leakage issue, telegrams and things like tha

host: so it sounds like his wife is a member of a teacher's union and he is a member of the n.r.a. guest: i think it's important that people understand that groups like the n.r.a. and advocate groups is really important to the function of democracy and important for them to have a vote here. what the issue is, is money and politics, what we're getting down to. money and politics. and who is funding what? and how big a role money plays in elections. to many people the spring court's ruling in january was a major setback and setback decades of campaign finance law. for others it was a victory for free speech and first amendment laws. that there's no reason individuals individually or collectively why they shouldn't have their voices heard. i think it's important to note that as a journalist, for me, disclosure is the important thing. i would like to know who is paying for ades -- ades. -- ads. why they are paying for it. to advocate for a governmental outcome for legislation for a bill, for an administration to take some action. so i think there's a lot of difficult issues here. >> w

host: so it sounds like his wife is a member of a teacher's union and he is a member of the n.r.a.est: i think it's important that people understand that groups like the n.r.a. and advocate groups is really important to the function of democracy and important for them to have a vote heee. what the issue is, is money and politics, what we're getting down to. money and politics. and who is funding what? and how big a role money plays in elections. to many people the spring court's ruling in january was a major setback and setback decades of campaign finance law. for others it was a victory for free speech and first amendment laws. that there's no reason individuals individually or collectively why they shouldn't have their voices heard. i think it's important to note that as a journalist, for me, disclosure is the important thing. i would like to know who is paying for ades -- ades. -- ads. why they are paying for it. to advocate for a governmental outcome for legislation for a bill, for an administration to take some action. so i think there's a lot of difficult issues here. >> when

he provided money to the states to provide for school teachers, firemen, policemen, people working in government jobs not protected by unions. i do not want to see anybody losing their job, but we are losing lots of jobs in the private sector. we have lost over 7.5 million jobs since 2006. vice-president biden said a few days ago those 8 million jobs that we have lost are not coming back. i think that is the wrong mindset. we have to do what we can to help the private sector create jobs. that means less tax burden, less obligation. i spoke to some people in my area at home of a few weeks ago and they have no idea what is coming down the road. they are concerned about taxes, what health care is going to do to them. they do not want to hire more people that they will just have to turn around and play golf. the uncertainty is gripping the country. host: angela in maryland. caller: i am not necessarily for the war, but if you are going to have a war, joe biden recommended a strategy -- i cannot say this to accurately -- but a smaller counter terrorism type of group. let them come back into afghanistan, find out where they are s

host: so it sounds like his wife is a member of a teacher's union and he is a member of the n.r.a. guest: i think it's important that people understand that groups like the n.r.a. and advocate groups is really important to the function of democracy and important for them to have a vote here. what the issue is, is money and politics, what we're getting down to. money and politics. and who is funding what? and how big a role money plays in elections. to many people the spring court's ruling in january was a major setback and setback decades of campaign finance law. for others it was a victory for free speech and first amendment laws. that there's no reason individuals individually or collectively why they shouldn't have their voices heard. i think it's important to note that as a journalist, for me, disclosure is the important thing. i would like to know who is paying for ades -- ades. -- ads. why they are paying for it. to advocate for a governmental outcome for legislation for a bill, for an administration to take some action. so i think there's a lot of difficult issues here. >> w

the leaders of the union and say the spending has to stop and we will not raise taxes. >> mr. chafee, he took a swipe at you. was that the biggest race? >> i inherited a an incredible teacher dispute. they did not known if clauses would be open that day and parents to know they should go to work for it was disruptive to warwick. i think the race was 18% over six years. the city council approved was a good contract and i was reelected that election year. >> mr. bloch, you have supported an increase in the tax rate. will that trickle down to cities and towns? >> we see our recycled politicians kicking the can down the road. the legislature tries to push the pension mass of generalissimo it. -- pension off generally. we have to fix the problem. we are not getting the problem fixed. there is a frustration that we are not getting the problem seriously addressed. we have a chronic budget deficit for 20 years. we took stimulus money and many states have taken and created a venture fund and attracted businesses with the venture fund. we took our stimulus dollars and spent them to plug our budget deficit. we're witnessing short-term solutions that are our undoing. no one is thinkin

teachers. >> secretary marshall, we are seeing a growing amount of union activity in our state, up to and including unions back opponents, north carolina congressmen who voted against reform, and even the state employees association, for lack of a better term, affiliated with a union. what do you think about this trend? >> well, they are certainly free to exercise their rights under the law, recruiting candidates, seeking a third-party status, or doing a petition drive. it is all certainly within their rights. if they have made it clear that they're unhappy with certain votes that have been made. i would support their right to exercise those. i am not sure they have achieved their goals, but people collectively together have the right to do things, the right to make up their mind korea that is the american way. that is one of the freedoms that we have -- the right to make up their minds. that is the american way. some of their signatures may not work, but i think they have a large amount as a cushion there, so they are just exercising their right in this great country. just that anything can happen in politics and always does. secretary marcia, you are right. >> -- secretary -- >> secr

teachers. and we need to be putting these you will back to work, having massive road-building, whatever. all of these plans that president obama talked about in the state of the union address when he laid ... -- laid out of this jobs agenda, most of that is out the window now because the democrats cannot get together and say, ok, we're going to support one last burst of deficit spending. they are out of gas. it is because they are pulled in these two different directions. and in the senate as well, you know. it is not just a house issue. in the senate they are having a hard time even passing unemployment benefits extension saw, things that two or three months ago they passed with road to adis -- relative peacease. part of it is that senate republicans as well as house republicans alike they are in a stronger position in dinardo they need to give the democrats much help. -- end of day and feel they do not need to give the democrats much help. >> what are your thoughts on the cool stimulus spending? >> there has been -- your thoughts on the u.s. global stimulus spending? >> there has been an issue with not having much credibility here. it is hard for president obama

revival of the end green eyeshade republicawho does t ca about tho issues if my kelso gets nominad you ve more than you do now. chris christie is not social issues guy. hes anti-teacher unionbe eatest hit but i believe he is pro-life. now you have a pro-life republican governor of new jeey a which is not what you would have expected six years ago. soci issuesot enngled with a north-south culra divide were a lot of people who were pro-choe or o-lifet did not like the religious right to because they werethought of as southernnd i think not having the rublins in power has opened moreoom for a noh east tour western pro-life republican to not be automatically associed or southern evangelicals but don thin we really know the lo term answer the is just some interesting ends. >> a push from the libertarians on the other side the lertari writer who said they have to have good equalization and my responseas, th is crazy. whatever the mets may be, itould just be politically disastrous. >> but what if it picks up the ght to life? they have to state off messagand pple forget what happens to the refo party. in 1982 it was centrist, charts, ross perot but within eight years it was like t

teachers. >> elaine marshall, we are seeing a growing amount of union activity in our state up to and including unions backing opponents of north carolina congressmen who voted against health care reform and even the state employees association affiliating with the union. what do think about this growing trend of union activity? >> they are certainly free to exercise their right under the law. recruiting candidates, seeking third-party status, or building a petition drive -- they are within their rights. they have made it clear that they are unhappy with certain votes that were taken. i would support their efforts to exercise their rights. i am not sure they achieved their goal, but people collectively together have the right to do things, the right to make up their mind. that is the american way. that is one of the freedoms we have. from everything that i have been understanding, they have been following the law as best they can carry some of their signatures may not work, but i think they have gotten all larger amount is a cushion there. they are just exercising their right in this great country, where is we found out and the last couple weeks, just about anything can happen in politics and alwa

they had one organization that accepted donations from the colorado state teachers' union and another organization that was designed to run in those districts where they had already endorsed their republicans. what is interesting is they are not supposed to coordinate with local parties. they can coordinate with each other. finally you have a shadow organization that has a lot less scrutiny attached to it. it is not working with the traditional party organization. for that reason, it can be more effective than the traditional party organization. a third party cannot come out of nowhere. they have to use innovative new tactics. the have to apply these to politics. this goes to our future. a. but at media organizations in this country. basically, you have a model that started with an idea where you will sell advertisements in bundle things together. you bundle together real estate listings, sports coverage, and it does not work out very well. there are many little organizations that have nibbled away at the pieces of this point. you could argue that this media is not as a viable as it o