No, this is an extremist union proposal and the union brass are clearly in the wrong here. Davis may even be telling the truth when he says his opposition to these proposals is due to his principled stand, not a lack of contributions. Of course the teachers don't want to contribute to his campaign because they hate his principled stand. Would Davis sell out his principled stand for $1 million? That question deserves to be watched closely; if he flip-flops and gets the money, we should be prepared to call him out on it.
Testing actually works best in the losing inner city schools, as explained in an earlier FR article which I have no idea how to find again. The affluent schools hate testing because their students already do better than the tests require.
Again, this is net good news for Simon, since many teachers aren't going to see much difference between the two, perhaps not enough to campaign actively and enthusiastically for Davis.
The only thing that would get teachers to back Davis intensely are vouchers. Simon clearly (and rightly) supports vouchers, but previous voucher proposals have flopped at the polls. If it looks like Simon's going to win, the teachers may have to return to generous support of Davis to avoid vouchers. Because they can be well-organized when they need to be, teachers can be decisive in elections.
I think Simon would have a tough time getting a voucher plan passed, but teachers definitely don't want to take that chance; their budgets are at stake.
D
Some questions answer themselves, don't they?