Middle ground is scarce when it comes to collective bargaining for East Baton Rouge Parish public school teachers: You love either love the idea or hate it.
Both views are represented in roughly equal parts on the school board, which will vote next month on allowing teachers to choose whether to adopt collective bargaining and join unions.
If it goes through, teachers would have the power to collectively negotiate salaries, working conditions and other standards related to employment in the parish. As members of a union, they could also be called to strike unless specific provisions prohibit it.
Teachers unions represent 67% of the country’s three million active public elementary and secondary school teachers, according to Teachers Unions and Students Performance: Help or Hindrance, a 2007 study in The Future of Children, a policy journal from Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.
A strike staged by EBR teachers in 1979 failed to win the right to bargain collectively. And the last time the EBR school board voted on the issue was 1998, when collective bargaining was voted down. The vote split along racial lines, with the board’s white majority prevailing. This time around, the 12-member board is equally divided between black and white—as of press time, at any rate.
District 11 representative Juanita Sanford, who supports collective bargaining, faced a strong challenge on Oct. 20 from challenger Randy Lamana, who opposes collective bargaining. Whoever occupies the seat will likely provide the swing vote on the issue.
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Derrick Spell, who was elected to the EBR board last year, opposes collective bargaining “in any way, shape or form,” seeing no benefit to his District 11 constituents, though conceding it “may help certain individuals,” i.e., teachers. The Princeton-Brookings study found unionized teachers earn 5% to 15% more than their non-unionized counterparts around the country. Working conditions and job security are also better in collective bargaining school systems, the report found.
Spell says he’s all for anything that will help student performance, but has seen no evidence that giving teachers collective bargaining will do anything to accomplish that.
“I’d like to see any data that suggests that collective bargaining is going to improve school performance,” he says.
Spell says he’s offended that the board is wasting time on the matter when it should be dealing with the real issues, such as lifting academic performance and re-engaging Baton Rouge’s middle class with its public school system. The collective bargaining push is just another attempt to diminish the power of local school boards, he says. Spell argues that it’s not a white vs. black issue, but rather a “liberal-conservative thing.”
He’s also concerned that it’ll be rushed through a board vote without the parish’s business community having a chance to adequately respond. Spell shouldn’t worry; the Baton Rouge Area Chamber is taking aim at collective bargaining.
BRAC CEO Stephen Moret says if collective bargaining goes through, Baton Rouge’s business community likely will withdraw future support for school board tax elections, since implementing the school reform proposals BRAC put forward last year—aimed at student achievement—would become much more difficult.
“This is a huge issue for Baton Rouge and the future of public education,” he says.
Moret says BRAC is opposed to collective bargaining partly because it puts union interests ahead of students and offers no clear link to better student achievement.
The Princeton-Brookings study found “students of average ability who attend school in union districts perform better on standardized tests, whereas low-achieving and high-achieving students perform worse.” The study concluded the overall achievement gain doesn’t make up for the higher cost—15% or more—of running a unionized school district.
Moret says collective bargaining also impedes reform initiatives that rely on incentives to reward good performance, reduces the power and accountability of school boards, increases the likelihood of teacher strikes and isn’t necessary to improve communication between school board members, teachers and administrators.
Steve Monaghan, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, argues that there’s plenty of evidence that collective bargaining does result in better school performance. He notes Louisiana is one of only 16 states—most of them in the South—without some kind of state-guaranteed collective bargaining rights for public employees, including school teachers. Louisiana law gives teachers the right to strike but no tools—such as collective bargaining—for resolving disputes. Monaghan says the vast majority of U.S. collective bargaining laws also contain anti-strike provisions.
Meanwhile, in the face of a historical predilection to resist collective bargaining for teachers, problems at EBR schools continue to fester, teachers are afraid to speak out lest they get fired and teachers continue to leave the system, Monaghan says. The solution is to make teachers part of the conversation about how schools are run as opposed to the top-down management system most Louisiana districts operate under, which means giving teachers the choice to collectively bargain if they want to.
He disputes BRAC’s arguments, suggesting the chamber’s anti-collective bargaining stance is based mainly on economic self-interest. Monaghan doesn’t think it’s right for wealthy and powerful decision-makers, who regularly use negotiation and compromise in the course of business, to deny the same opportunity to school district employees who provide services.
“If we can’t get over this hump we are going to be looked at as a state, as a city, which is trying to move in a progressive way but that looks nothing like other major progressive cities in America,” he says.
Jay Augustine, who also was elected to the school board last year, says the November vote won’t be whether to implement collective bargaining automatically; rather it’ll be whether the process toward collective bargaining proceeds. Augustine, who says he supports charter schools and other reform efforts, doesn’t believe collective bargaining would stymie reform efforts. He does think it would give teachers fairer compensation, better working conditions and due process, among other things.
“Thus far what I’ve seen it appears to be that the right to engage in the collective bargaining process is something that should be extended to employees in the public school system,” Augustine says. “We’re dealing with individuals who are grossly underpaid for the invaluable work they do in our society.”
Comments
Posted by carolejwhite on October 23, 2007 at 3:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have a two part comment. This is Part 1:
It’s about fear.
Some people are afraid that if educators in EBR have collective bargaining rights, the teachers will go on strike.
Some people are afraid that if educators in EBR have collective bargaining rights, the people in power will lose power.
Some people are afraid that if educators in EBR have collective bargaining rights, educators will make unreasonable demands.
And…some people are afraid that if educators in EBR have collective bargaining rights, it might turn out to be a good thing.
So let’s clear the air.
Strikes.
Strikes are most likely to happen in non-bargaining situations, because bargaining allows a school board and its employees to sit down together to find agreement. Collective bargaining is a procedure that allows issues of concern to be addressed before frustration and lack of communication lead to strikes.
Power.
Power is the ability to get the job done----the ability to win. When the LSU Tigers beat the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa on November 3, that will be a demonstration of power. When the EBRP school board, the administration, and our employees come together to tackle and solve the serious problems this system is dealing with, it will be a win for us all. Nobody loses----we’ll all win.
Unreasonable demands.
Those educators who have remained loyal to this system have not done so because they relish coping with the requisites of the No Child Left Behind act, which has set public schools across America up for failure. They have stayed because they care about our children. These soldiers in the frontline of the war on ignorance have been in the trenches. Therefore, they have first-hand, practical knowledge about curriculum development that meets the needs of our children, about instructional strategies that meet the needs of our children, about professional development that meets the needs of our employees, about student assessment that accurately reflects the progress of our children, and about effective means to close the achievement gap. It’s not unreasonable to hear their ideas----it’s just common sense.
And…what if collective bargaining should turn out to be “a good thing”?
There are individuals in this community whose agendas clash with the idea of collective bargaining. They’re the most fearful of all. They say,
“We’ve never done it that way before.”
“We don’t know what will happen if we try it.”
Being a member of the EBRP school board carries a mandate to act with courage, to be bold in leading this school system forward to meet our challenges and solve our problems. Voting to allow employees in this parish to hold an election for collective bargaining is the right thing to do.
Carole J. White, President,
East Baton Rouge Parish Association of Educators (the local affiliate of the Louisiana Association of Educators and the National Education Association)
Posted by carolejwhite on October 23, 2007 at 4:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Part 2:
It is uninformed to equate collective bargaining in a school system with the type of bargaining that takes place in the industrial workplace. In education, the expectation is that the bargaining process will be carried out by the representative association, administration, and school board members in good faith and in an atmosphere of cooperation.
Collective bargaining would strengthen the ability of the EBRPSS to recruit the best certified and highly-qualified educators. Today, EBR must compete not only with surrounding schools districts but also other states, for university graduates from a shrinking pool of applicants. We must face the fact that many new college graduates will come from states where collective bargaining exists, and they will expect to work for a system that allows bargaining for its employees.
Collective bargaining would strengthen the ability of the EBRPSS to retain our excellent educators. According to a report from the Academic Distinction Fund, entitled “Teaching Matters: Promoting Quality Instruction in East Baton Rouge Parish,” the “EBRP System has a high turnover rate, which means that there is a steady flow of teachers into and out of our schools.” In 2002, almost 20 percent of all EBRPSS teachers had three or fewer years of experience. Experience matters. Students with more experienced teachers do better----as measured by their scores on standardized tests----than their peers with less-experienced teachers.” Plainly, EBR is hemorrhaging experienced educators. It’s going to take more than money to get them to stay. It’s going to take listening to them and giving them a rightful place at the bargaining table.
Collective bargaining supports the goal of the EBRPSS of improving student achievement. A study by the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future demonstrated clearly that student performance on standardized tests is “significantly better” in states with collective bargaining. Average student scores on the SAT exams were 43 points higher in places where the teachers belonged to bargaining units. Why is this? People in general----and that includes educators----who feel empowered tend to have higher morale on the job. Teachers are more personally invested in their work when they have a voice in what happens to their profession. Teacher morale and student achievement are related!
I am challenging you to take a risk, to engage in a new and different level of dialogue and open exchange with your employees. Our system is struggling. It is time that we use every tool at our disposal. Collective bargaining in one of those tools. Let’s not miss this opportunity!
Carole J. White, President,
East Baton Rouge Parish Association of Educators (the local affiliate of the Louisiana Association of Educators and the National Education Association)
Posted by carolejwhite on October 23, 2007 at 4:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Steve Clark did not consult the President of the Louisiana Association of Educators, Joyce Haynes, in preparing his article. LAE is the largest professional organization for educators in this state. Had Mr. Clark done so, he would have learned that LAE bargains more contracts in the state of Louisiana than any other education organization. Furthermore, the National Education Association (NEA) bargains more contracts in the United States than any other union for educators.
Carole J. White, President,
East Baton Rouge Parish Association of Educators (LAE, NEA)
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