11th in a series. 

Re: “Public Education Always Is the Answer” 

In the entirety of America, there lives not an educator more fiercely passionate about public education than David Mielke, president of the Teachers Union.

Thirty-seven years after landing in Culver City, the native upstate New Yorker can be awakened at 3 in the morning and expound lengthily, extemporaneously about the merits of public ed. vs., oh, say, charter schools, his longtime nemesis. Typically, charter school teachers are non-union, and Mr. Mielke is the quintessential champ of labor unions, especially for teachers.

A Mielke classroom at Culver City High School this year bulges with 38 students.

“That is a lot,” he says.

“I always have had 40 desks in the room, and I am not complaining,” he says, enthusiastically as ever. “I am happy to have the kids, obviously. One of the questions I ask my kids is, ‘How come there are so many in here?’

“We work our way around to the answer that public education is funded by taxpayers.

“Taxpayers generally don’t want to pay high taxes.”

Mr. Mielke plants his feet firmly and declares his opinions with the clarity and self-assuredness that parents hope their children acquire.

Mr. Mielke did not require any pause time to reply to the question, “Is there any upside to charter schools?”

“No,” he said immediately.

(To be continued)