August 18, 2008

“Two Million Teachers Forced Into Unions”

Court Agrees Parents Have a Right to Homeschool Their Children in California

AFL-CIO and Teachers’ Unions

Dispute Over Merit Pay Plan

“Extracurricular Politics”

Survey on the State of Education in 2008

“Two Million Teachers Forced Into Unions”

Forced unionism and monopoly bargaining laws have subjected millions of teachers through the years to pay union dues or agency fees as a condition of employment, but the extent of how many teachers are affected each year were not known until now.  The National Institute for Labor Relations estimates that 2.0 million, or 65 percent, of all K-12 public-school teachers nationwide are subject to monopoly-bargaining while 1.3 million or 43 percent of teachers are required to pay union dues in order to teach. 

The National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are the sole beneficiaries of these laws and as a result take in a total of $1.3 billion a year in forced union dues and agency fees, where teachers are required to pay an amount, determined by the union, that covers their collective bargaining, contract maintenance, and grievance resolution.  The NEA and AFT also collect dues from thousands of support employees, individuals in higher education and other individuals not involved in education. 

A significant portion of the NEA and AFT’s income comes from teachers in forced unionism states; however, the number of parents with school aged children (five to 17-year olds) is declining.  “Parents find that Right–to-Work states, with their generally higher real incomes and lower living costs, are more attractive places to live,” stated National Right to Work Committee Vice President Matthew Leen.  The number of K-12 public-school teachers in forced unionism states has continued to increase despite the fact that the need for more teachers has declined.  “However, there is a limit to how much money even the well-oiled NEA and AFT union machines can bilk out of taxpayers to hire more forced dues-paying teachers when schools are closing for want of students,” stated Mr. Leen.

The Association of American Educators has partnered with National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation to launch an informational campaign to help make educators aware of their rights and to inform policy makers of the difficulties facing many teachers when they try to exercise their right to join a union or not.  There are two options for educators who do not want to become union members but are still required to pay fees to the union in order to keep their jobs.  They can become agency fee payers or they can become a religious objector and have a dues equivalent sent to a charity rather than the union.  While it is important for educators to know their options under forced unionism laws, the best solution would be to have Right-to-Work laws, giving teachers the freedom to decide to join an education organization of their choice. 

For more information about the awareness campaign, please go to http://www.aaeteachers.org/forcedunionism.shtml.

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Court Agrees Parents Have a Right to Homeschool Their Children in California

Parents that homeschool their children in California received good news recently when it was announced that a state appeals court has ruled that parents have the right to homeschool their children if they wish. A prior court ruling stated that parents were not allowed to educate their children at home unless they had teaching credentials. The ruling on August 8 allows parents with or without teaching credentials to homeschool their children.  The court did emphasize that homeschooling is not an absolute right and can be revoked if the children are abused or neglected.

Governor Schwarzenegger who has been supportive of homeschooling stated the new ruling, “confirms the right every California child has to a quality education and the right parents have to decide what is best for their children.” 

The California Teachers Association, the state teachers’ union, has been critical of parents’ rights in the case.  “Parents do not have an unfettered right to dictate the terms of their children’s education,” stated a lawyer for the union.  “Unregulated, unsupervised homeschooling, the lawyer said, is an invitation to ‘educational anarchy.’”

For more information about the case, please read the article titled, “Homeschooling OK, Appeals Court Says” at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/08/MNE5127NLJ.DTL.

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AFL-CIO and Teachers’ Unions

Recently 3,000 NEA members from California, Massachusetts and Wisconsin joined the AFL-CIO.  The NEA chapters that joined the AFL-CIO will now work with AFL-CIO labor councils and state federations to “meet the needs of teachers and students and all working families in the fight for health care retirement security and good jobs,” according to AFL-CIO president John Sweeney.  NEA affiliates are able to join the AFL-CIO through the Labor Solidarity Partnership, an agreement between the NEA and AFL-CIO, formed in February 2006. 

“We’re pleased that working families are coming together to advance the right of every student to attend a quality public school. Opponents of public education are not letting up in their attacks, with school vouchers schemes and resource cuts. We need to work together, building coalitions and fighting back with a unified voice,” stated NEA President-elect Dennis Van Roekel.

The NEA is not the only teachers’ union working with the AFL-CIO, as Randi Weingarten, the newly elected president of the AFT, has recently been elected to the executive council of the AFL-CIO.

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Dispute Over Merit Pay Plan

The Professional Compensation Plan,  known as ProComp, a merit pay plan for Denver Public School teachers, has often been held up as an example of a groundbreaking pay system.  For the last few months, however, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, the local NEA affiliate, and the district have been in tense contract negotiations over the future of ProComp.  The district wants to increase pay for beginning teachers from $35,500 to $42,413 and allow the average teacher to receive $9,000 in bonuses.  According to the district 95 percent of voluntary resignations occur in the first 11 years and they believe in order to attract and retain new teachers an increase in the beginning salary is needed.

The union, however, wants a 3.5 percent increase for all teachers and to raise the starting teacher salary to $38,000.  One reason the union is not in favor of the district’s plan is that every teacher will not receive the same bonuses.  Under ProComp, bonuses are given to teachers for teaching in hard to staff schools, teaching hard to staff subjects such as math and science, receiving positive evaluations, helping their students meet objectives, and taking professional development classes.

“What’s happening now is disappointing because it has the potential to put the brakes on a reform that a lot of people thought was promising,” said Elena Silva, senior policy analyst for Education Sector, a Washington, D.C. think tank. 

Some union members are frustrated with the union’s unwillingness to work with the district.  “People are sick of this, and they want a change,” said Greg Ahrnsbrak, a Denver teacher and union member.  “You are heading toward more sickouts, demonstrations and strikes.  That will be devastating to everyone.”

Another Denver teacher, Jessica Buckley, has expressed her frustration with the contract disputes as well stating, “The majority of teachers I've talked to want a settlement. I feel the union is not representing the majority.”  She went on to say, “I feel we as teachers need to step forward and make it clear how we feel as the majority.  We need a settlement. We need to focus on the kids.”

Mediation between the union and the district is scheduled to start August 20 and is expected to continue for three days.

For more information about the contract dispute, please read the article titled, “Dissension in DPS Ranks Over Contract Talks,” at http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/15/dissension-in-dps-ranks-over-contract-talks/. 

Also, please read the article titled, “Merit Pay Splits DPS, Union,” at http://www.denverpost.com/education/ci_10160873.

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“Extracurricular Politics”

It is no secret that the NEA spends a great deal of money on politics but a recent Wall Street Journal piece has highlighted some of their political expenditures, not all of which are for education. 

Based on research by Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency, the union has spent $3.3 million fighting the voucher referendum in Utah.  The NEA has also given $20,000 to the Hawaii State Teachers Association and $60,000 to the Massachusetts Teachers Association to oppose a state income tax repeal, and $200,000 to Florida Education Association to fight property tax cuts. 

Many people expect to see the NEA spend more money in 2008-09 as a surplus of collected dues gives the organization almost $20 million to spend on other political causes. 

To read the article from the Wall Street Journal, please go to http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121789217510411697.html.

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Survey on the State of Education in 2008

Education Next, a publication of the Hoover Institution, and the Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG) at Harvard University have surveyed teachers and members of the general public in an effort to find out people’s views on a variety of education issues, including No Child Left Behind, the public’s confidence in public schools, mainstreaming disabled students, and online education. 

The survey found the number of people who support renewing NCLB has dropped from 57 percent in 2007 to 50 percent in 2008.  Only 26 percent of public school teachers support renewing the law. 

When asked about their confidence in public school, sharp declines were seen, particularly among some of the groups surveyed.  Only 20 percent of African Americans have confidence in their public schools down from 27 percent in 2007.  A low percentage of Hispanics, 16 percent, expressed confidence in public schools.  This is down 50 percent from last year.

On the issue of mainstreaming disabled students, only 25 percent of teachers and 28 percent of the public support the practice of placing students “who have been diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disabilities,” in the regular classroom.  Many of those surveyed believe these students should be taught separately.

As a result of the survey, it was discovered that a majority of American parents (two- thirds) would be willing to have their children take some high school courses online.  On the issue of funding for online classes, 40 percent of those surveyed support funding for online classes that help students that have dropped out.  That number declined when asked if funding should go for online classes for home schooled students. 

More information about these topics and others can be found at http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/26840054.html.

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