The News Journal, July 15, 2008

The executive board of the state teachers union couldn’t decide which Democrat would be Delaware’s best governor.

So the Delaware State Education Association, which claims 11,500 members statewide, announced Monday that it endorsed both Lt. Gov. John Carney Jr. and state Treasurer Jack Markell — the first time the association has endorsed two people in the same party’s primary.

The vote of the 26-member board was not unanimous, DSEA spokeswoman Pam Nichols said, and “it was very difficult for people.”

In the end, she said, “the majority felt they could show real leadership by telling people that on these education issues we have two outstanding candidates.”

Board members were sure, though, that they want a Democrat to be governor and either candidate, they decided, is better than the Republican options — retired Superior Court Judge Bill Lee and Hockessin pilot Mike Protack. They were decisive in the lieutenant governor’s race, giving Democratic Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn their nod over Republican Senate Minority Leader Charles Copeland.

The DSEA board found that Carney and Markell both have “outstanding ideas and excellent records when it comes to public education,” President Barbara Grogg said in a prepared release.

Protack was strong on collective bargaining, the board decided, but his understanding of education issues was shallower than either of the Democrats’. And Lee was unable to persuade the board that he had any understanding, offering no specifics and promising only to “start a revolution,” including a reorganization and greater efficiency, according to Grogg’s statement.

“DSEA just declared war on me by making an asinine statement and we’ll go from there,” Lee said. “I am shocked by the tone of their statement. That was not the sense of the meeting I had. But it tells me their attitude. I answered every question they had. To make a statement like that is insulting and asinine.”

Protack was not surprised that DSEA endorsed the Democrats.

“That’s business as usual for them,” he said. “They were receptive to about 90 percent of what I had to say. Consolidation of school districts and support for charter schools probably were not the answers they were looking for, but they are answers most of Delaware is looking for.”

The Democrats were pleased by their endorsements:

“Establishing a world-class school system will be my top priority as governor,” Markell said, “and I’m proud of the tremendous support I enjoy from many teachers. What’s really important in the end is the fact that people throughout the state are looking for a change in direction. It’s going to be up to tens of thousands of individual voters and I will keep doing everything I can to get my message out to them.”

Carney also was pleased to be on the union’s list.

“I grew up in a household with two teachers — my Mom and Dad — and I learned from them the importance of a good education,” he said. “In order to make improvements in our schools, we’re going to have to work with teachers. They are the most important component of a student’s education.”

In the lieutenant governor’s race, the board decided Copeland’s view of education reform was focused on a belief that competition from private and public schools would improve community schools. Denn, they said, had concrete goals and a sound education agenda.

“Matt Denn understands public education from the classroom to the school board conference room like few public officials,” Grogg said in the statement.

Denn said the announcement reaffirms his platform, which has been focused on children’s issues.

“People who are concerned about children’s issues will look at the people who work every day with kids,” Denn said. “I view it as unequivocal good news.”

Copeland said he was not surprised by the announcement, and attributed the decision to his support of school choice and partisan politics.

“For the six years I’ve been in the General Assembly, I have been a constant supporter of school choice, and that sometimes puts me on the opposite side of special interests,” Copeland said.

Copeland voted against Senate Joint Resolution 11, a measure that placed a one-year moratorium on new charter school applications with the exception of five planned schools. DSEA had lobbied heavily for the legislation, which eventually passed.