Here’s an interesting take on a policy that’s apparently new to South Kingstown:

A local chapter of the nation’s largest teachers union has acknowledged the importance of school choice, at least for its own members.

Thanks to an agreement quietly reached between the South Kingstown, Rhode Island, chapter of the National Education Association and the South Kingstown School Department, teachers there now have access to an exclusive school choice program.

Under the formal agreement, teachers who live outside the South Kingstown Public Schools district may send their children to schools there at no additional cost.

Other parents outside the school district, however, cannot do the same for their children.

With a familial connection to the business, so to speak, I’d say this policy isn’t unusual.  Indeed, I’ve always thought of it in the category of employee discounts and that sort of thing, and it’s not objectionable for employees to have special relationships with the organizations for which they work.

Still, when the union actively fights on the political stage to prevent parents from increasing their access to school choice, it does cast a different light on the question.