The nation's largest teacher's union brought up a proposal to prevent educators accused of cheating from being prosecuted as criminals, as were the Atlanta educators involved in the cheating scandal.
During the National Education Association’s annual membership meeting earlier this month, a proposal to craft model legislation to amend state Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) laws was referred to the union’s legislative committee. The model legislation would be used to lobby for changing the laws so they couldn’t be used to prosecute educators.
The committee will consider the proposal over the coming year, NEA spokeswoman Staci Maiers said.
RICO laws were created to prosecute organized crime groups such as the Mafia.
But Fulton County prosecutors used RICO to prosecute 12 former Atlanta Public Schools educators in the district’s test-cheating scandal. Eleven of the 12 educators on trial were found guilty. Some got sentences of up to three years in prison and stiff fines.
Supporters of the APS defendants, including former United Nations Ambassador and civil rights icon Andrew Young, have also criticized the criminal prosecution of educators for cheating on standardized tests.
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