Op-ed: Taking Back Mexico’s Schools

The Dallas Morning News, 3/3/2013

Mexico’s decrepit public education system is heading for a historic and long overdue shake-up. If President Enrique Peña Nieto is successful with a bold new reform effort and bid to break the powerful national teachers union, he could engineer the biggest societal transformation in Mexico since seven decades of one-party rule ended in 2000.

The 1.5 million-member teachers union has a long and well-deserved reputation for corruption. Leading it is Elba Ester Gordillo, 68, who has a penchant for luxury living, expensive cars, multiple face-lifts and Neiman Marcus shopping sprees. Gordillo was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of embezzling $156 million from union funds.

After 25 years of her education leadership, here’s where Mexico’s education system stands: In standardized measurements among all 34 member nations of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, Mexican 15-year-olds rank dead last in literacy, dead last in math, dead last in science.

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Weekly News Summary: March 1st

The Mexico Institute’s “Weekly News Summary,” released every Friday afternoon summarizes the week’s most prominent Mexico headlines published in the English-language press, as well as the most engaging opinion pieces by Mexican columnists.

What the English-language press had to say…

This week, Elba Esther Gordillo, the powerful leader of the SNTE, Mexico’s teachers’ union was arrested for allegedly embezzling over $150 million in union funds to support her lavish lifestyle. The arrest shocked the nation and came only a day after President Enrique Peña Nieto signed into law a new education reform package. Many interpreted the move as an attempt by the Peña Nieto administration to reassert state authority over special interests, and as a warning to other industries (e.g. telecommunications and energy) that reform is on the way. NYT columnist Thomas Friedman gave much to talk about following two very optimistic pieces. He suggested Mexico will become a dominant economic power in the 21^st century, and praised Mexico’s young ‘just do it’ generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya mirrored Mr. Friedman’s optimism by suggesting a reinvigorated energy sector will transform Mexico into the world’s “new Middle East.” Meanwhile, north of the border, looming automatic budget cuts prompted ICE to release several hundred low-risk immigrants from deportation centers across the country.

Mexico’s Arrest of Teachers Union Head Part of a Much Bigger Story

World Politics Review, 2/28/2013

Elba Esther Gordillo, the leader of the most powerful teachers union in Mexico, was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of embezzling millions in union funds for personal expenses, including paying for private property and plastic surgery.

The arrest of the Gordillo, known throughout Mexico simply as “La Maestra,” or “The Teacher” and previously seen as being above the law, came a day after Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed a sweeping educational reform that the union she led had opposed. …

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Arrest of union boss rivets Mexico

Los Angeles Times, 2/27/2013

The reversal of fortune could not have been more striking. And for many Mexicans, the images, broadcast live on national television Wednesday, could not have been more unexpected.

Here, once again, was Elba Esther Gordillo, the powerful boss of Mexico’s massive, sclerotic teachers union. But instead of the image Mexicans were used to — Gordillo standing in front of adoring followers, defiantly speechifying, dressed to the nines — her famous face was now barely visible through the bars of a Mexico City jail.

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Mexico Sends Hint With Union Arrest

The Wall Street Journal, 2/27/2013

The arrest on corruption charges of the head of Mexico’s teachers union was widely seen Wednesday as a double win for President Enrique Peña Nieto, striking a blow against a controversial political figure and reasserting state authority over special interests. Elba Esther Gordillo, one of the country’s most powerful political figures of the past two decades, appeared in a televised courtroom inside a grim Mexico City prison to hear charges of money laundering and organized crime read out against her.

The government alleges Ms. Gordillo, arrested Tuesday, embezzled as much as $160 million from the coffers of the public teachers’ union. The somber-looking union leader declined to speak to the court, except to say it was a matter for her lawyers. Her lawyers didn’t speak in court, nor could they be reached for comment.

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Elba Esther Gordillo – The Expert Take

By Duncan Wood, 2/27/2012

La jugada del experto-The Expert Take in Spanish

Yesterday’s PGR arrest of Elba Esther Gordillo on charges of embezzlement marks a bold step forward by the Pena Nieto administration to establish its authority and legitimacy in the eyes of the Mexican public, and to send a message to Mexico’s most powerful unions. The arrest comes after the successful passage of an education reform bill through Congress, earning the government plaudits from international observers, who saw it as a much-needed attack on the power of the teachers union, the SNTE, but receiving a skeptical response from many national critics who believed that the government would not follow through with implementation of the new laws. This new development destroys those doubts about the seriousness of the Pena Nieto government to take on the union, and to mobilize the sovereign power of the state against vested interests.

Education Reform in Mexico is Passed

El Universal, 1/16/2013

Los estados de Yucatán, Campeche e Hidalgo aprobaron la reforma educativa en sus congresos locales, por lo que los cambios a la Constitución quedaron avalados. Con estos estados, suman 18 las entidades que dieron su aval a la reforma enviada por el presidente Enrique Peña Nieto y que fue avalada por el Congreso de la Unión. En Yucatán, los 25 diputados del Congreso (15 del PRI, 7 del PAN, 2 del PRD y 1 del PVEM) aprobaron por unanimidad las reformas a la Constitución Política sobre la reforma educativa.

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The 2012 Education Reform in Mexico: From Intention to Action: The Expert Take

By Eduardo Andere M., 12/19/2012

For decades education in Mexico has been trapped by suspicious arrangements between the national agency for education and the main teachers union.

It is commendable, that new President Peña Nieto aims to recover, from the Teacher’s Union (SNTE), the education policy decisions that the National Education Act confers, mainly, to the National Department of Education (SEP) and other local education authorities (articles 12 and 13).

Mexican President Peña Nieto announces education reform plan

Los Angeles Times, 12/11/2012

President Enrique Peña Nieto on Monday announced a broad reform aimed at improving Mexico’s sclerotic educational system, a plan that also seems aimed at weakening the enormously powerful teachers union.

Mexico has some of the worst public schools in the hemisphere, consistently placing low on international surveys of education quality. Many blame the union and its autocratic boss, Elba Esther Gordillo, who have perpetuated a system that allows teachers to buy or inherit their jobs, regardless of skill or qualifications.

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Nine Key Changes for Mexico [In Spanish]

Nexos, 5/1/2012

In its May edition, Nexos features nine articles that comprise a guideline for national change to: improve the education system, eliminate regressive subsidies, unleash Pemex, open the Federal Electricity Commission, punish violence, integrate the Army to civic life, have governments make responsible purchases, make social protection a universal right, and adequately invest in the development of babies.

This post features a summary of each of these nine articles and their proposals for improving Mexico.