An effort to link teacher performance to student test scores in Sacramento has been abandoned after the unions flexed their power.

The Sacramento Unified School district had been selected to receive $4 million in federal money for aid-low income students, but by cowering to the unions, the school district will most likely lose control over how to spend that money.

Marcos Breton with the Sacramento Bee wrote, “But the union hated the idea of test scores factoring into teacher evaluations even more than it hated the law [the federal No Child Left Behind-– and got its way. To some, last week’s announcement spoke volumes about the balance of power in the district.

“‘They own you and everybody knows they own you,” said Jonathan Raymond, the former Sac City superintendent who resigned last year after exhausting years of tussling with the union. “The only thing that bullies respect is when you stand up to them.’”

You can read Breton’s story Here