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Via Politico | By Stephanie Simon

Teachers unions framed this election as a referendum on their vision for public education.

Their vision was thumped.

Tens of millions in advertising portraying Republican governors as reckless ideologues who sold out kids’ futures to give tax breaks to the wealthy failed to move voters in Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas or Maine.

Unions and their allies sought to use education as a wedge issue in Senate races, too, from North Carolina to Arkansas to Iowa to Colorado. They lost every one.

And in one of the toughest blows, organized labor failed to protect Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn in his tough fight for a second term. He lost to Republican Bruce Rauner, who has made no secret of his disdain for “union bosses,” his desire to rein in the teachers unions or his determination to overhaul public education by expanding charter schools and subsidizing private-school tuition through a targeted voucher program.

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