Teacher’s Union sends spoiled apple to Senate President

The state’s largest teachers’ union continues to criticize Republican legislators as plans for a teacher pay raise fall through. On Thursday, Senate President Mary Kramer, a republican from West Des Moines, received a black apple from Iowa State Education Association members.Kramer says a petition accompanied the apple. It was signed by a few teachers, and declared that republican legislators were “front-running candidates for black, rotten apples” because the G-O-P has broken its promise to raise teacher pay.Kramer, who was once a teacher herself, says it felt awful. Kramer says the incident shows it’s time for a change in the education establishment. Kramer was a key architect of the bill which revamps the way teachers will be paid by introducing merit pay in the schools.