Third party attempts to insert itself into teacher-school district talks
PETER CALLAGHAN; STAFF WRITER
It may not be unprecedented, but it’s not commonplace either.
And it illustrates how rapidly the politics around education are changing in Washington state and across the nation.
A coalition of parent groups, minority-student advocates and business organizations has been formed to try to influence the outcome of bargaining between a school district and its teachers union.
Certainly, groups and individuals have tried to change district and state policy before. But it is unusual for any to try to play in what has been a one-on-one relationship between school labor and school management.
That it’s Washington’s largest district and the largest union – Seattle – and that it could be exported to other districts makes it even more interesting.
The group calls itself the Our Schools Coalition, but it holds many of the same groups and people who tried to lobby the Legislature for a more-sweeping school reform bill this year as The Excellent Schools Now Coalition.
But as with many attempts to reform public education, how Senate Bill 6696 is implemented via union contracts makes a lot of difference. One criticism of the new law is that it left too many details to local bargaining. So the new coalition wants to become active at that level, too.
These reform groups always walk a line between challenging the teachers unions and not appearing to pick a fight with them. They definitely think unions have too much power over education policy. But they prefer to both push a reform agenda along the lines of the Obama administration’s Race To The Top program and work with teachers when they can. Kind of like Obama, himself.
So while advocating issues popular with union leadership such as more paid time for teachers to collaborate with one another, more preparation time and more mentoring programs, they also want some stuff that isn’t as accepted.
Performance pay is at the top of the list. So are stronger evaluation methods that identify both top-drawer teachers – those deserving of performance pay – and those who need more work. And if struggling teachers don’t get better, the coalition thinks it should be easier to get rid of them.
It gets even more controversial. The coalition wants any new contract to require student test scores to be a factor in teacher evaluation. That is called for in the new state reform law but it allows local bargaining to determine how much a factor and whether test data is appropriate to any and all teachers. The coalition wants it to be a “substantial” factor.
The coalition members also take aim at some things even the Legislature hasn’t had the nerve to address. One is higher pay for teachers who teach in struggling schools and teachers with “subject-matter expertise.” That’s code for math, science and special-education teachers who are hard to find and hard to keep because their skills – especially for math and science teachers – attract better pay outside of education.
Finally, the coalition touches the electrified fence of union politics – seniority. It wants teacher performance – not longevity – to be used to make staffing decisions, including layoffs.
Only district administrators and union bargainers get inside closed-door negotiating sessions. Often, details emerge only when a deal is done or when talks break down. By then, the taxpayers and parents are bit players being forced to choose sides.
The coalition wants other voices heard earlier to influence the outcome and provide a yardstick to measure results. Will it succeed? It hasn’t been tried be-fore so that’s an open question. But school board members run for office and need to pay attention to voters. School unions are a potent source of support in campaigns, but if parent and business groups become more active they could be another constituency that must be responded to.
Expect similar efforts to begin showing up in districts across the state.
“Regardless of the outcome, we may want to try it out in other places,” said League of Education Voters executive director Chris Korsmo.
Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657
peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
