Duncan says teachers unions can help solve challenges of education system

From The New York Times: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says teachers’ unions can help solve many of the challenges facing public schools. But that view was under challenge in a number of state capitals. Republicans in several states have proposed legislation in recent weeks that would bar teachers’ unions from all policy discussions, except when the time comes to negotiate compensation. Education historians say the unions are facing the harshest political climate since states began extending legal bargaining rights to schoolteachers decades ago.