"We know that Rahm is not going to support our campaign, but on this issue and this day we stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. We stand with the children and we stand with the families and the parents of Chicago because education reform, that's a bipartisan issue."
Is he deranged? Of course he sides with the mayor. There are no deep pockets in education, so why should Ryan care about teachers? His bill is cutting their funding anyway, so why not vent his spleen? The Chicago teachers had their contractual pay raises canceled by a majority of one. They had their day lengthened by 90 minutes without that pay raise. (90 minutes a day for 180 days is 270 hours. I've seen convicted criminals get sentenced to less community service) Some teacher's aides are responsible for nearly 100 elementary students each at recess. Now, the city is willing to give the teachers a 2% pay raise each year for 4 years, when the inflation rate is higher than that?
No, education reform in a bipartisan issue. The difference is that the Democrats and the republicans differ on how teachers should be treated. Only one party thinks they should be treated like slaves.