In New York State, teachers are prohibited from striking by the Taylor Law and the Triboro Doctrine (Amendment) which keeps all terms and conditions of teacher contracts in full force and effect until a successor agreement is negotiated.
There is no arbitration in teacher contract disputes, although there is non-binding mediation available if negotiations reach an impasse. If mediation does not work, another similar approach called super conciliation may help school districts and teachers resolve their differences. If not, then there is always the passage of time which inevitably will heal all wounds, as the expression goes.
Many people have strong negative feelings about the Triboro Doctrine. Calls for repealing this part of the law seem endless and on-going. The main issue for tax payers is the continuation of step-and-grade increases to teachers sometimes for years after a contract has expired. There is a distinct impression that Triboro has removed incentives for teacher unions to bargain meaningfully with their school districts. There is some truth to that viewpoint.
So let’s look at the other side of the coin, where the Triboro Doctrine does not exist, such as Illinois. As it did in New York, school started in Illinois on Tuesday. Next week, however, the teachers in Chicago are set to go on strike, having already filed the legally required 10-day Notice of Strike with the city. Two nearby suburban school districts have also voted to strike, and may hit the bricks later this month.
Here’s my question:
Are we better off in New York where teachers cannot strike under penalty of heavy fines (two day’s pay for one day on strike plus seizure of union dues), and the possibility of jail time (which has been meted-out to violators in the past), but we keep on paying step raises…
Or, are they better off in Chicago, where teachers unions can take a strike vote, file a 10-day notice, and then walk off their jobs indefinitely? The city of Chicago would save not only step increases, but also the entire teachers payroll and all benefits costs except retirement premiums. Of course, no teaching, no education would be taking place during the strike, and relations would not be improving, either.
What do you think?
The author can be reached at chriswendt117@gmail.com
Source Info:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/09/04/teacher-strikes-may-be-coming-in-evergreen-park-lake-forest/
Background: http://www.empirecenter.org/Reports/2007/10/TaylorMadeReport2.cfm
We are better off here. I believe that a strike, especially in the case of educators, does far more harm than good for all those involved.
The federal acts also discriminate selectively on the basis of the impact of private sector strikes on commerce. So there is ample precedent for lawmaking that applies different standards for the ability to strike or arbitrate or not to strike or not to arbitrate, depending upon the judgment of the lawmakers who write/re-write the laws, and the executives who decide to enforce those laws (selectively) and the opinions of jurists who hear cases brought before them under the laws in varying and changing circumstances.
I bridle when trimming waste turns early to cutting programs & services for students, including activities that (even a few) students enjoy but which helps their development and keeps them off the streets. The cost of clubs is negligible in the equation of trimming waste in schools. However, I agree with you that county and town political posturing to not raise taxes (and then turn around and blame the school district for everyone's financial predicament) is false economy. I am modestly satisfied with the fact that, in 19 years on the Wantagh school board, we raised taxes moderately for 18 years, and zero in one year. For most of those years Wantagh had the lowest cost per student in Nassau County, but we sent 95%-98% of our graduates on to college. You have to look at taxes as a value proposition, and understand the concept of efficacy. School taxes have been efficacious in Wantagh, delivering excellent value in services and results for the money spent. Seaford readers would have to evaluate the efficacy--the results and value delivered--of Seaford's school taxes over the past 20 years. Living in a high-tax county and seeing county services cut while the deficit looms ever larger is a negative value proposition, like the MTA and its fares and tolls increasing. Failure of efficacy.
parents would now have to PAY for anything OTHER then a sound basic education which by law is all we are legally responsible for. Taxes would drop immediately and substancially.
Lorraine school is about much more than academics whether it's sports , music , art or any other club. It goes a long way on educating a young person how to interact with their peers and adults. Learning isn't limited to the classroom.
Current educaiton law and regulations provide liberally for bussing, as well as textbooks, some technology, music, art, and.at the discretion of the Board of Education, extracurricular activities such as clubs and sports. All of these activities and functions are easily recognizable as beneficial to the education, developement and rounding-out of school children, or to put it differently, children of school age. But even some of the educational offerings of current public schooling could be called into question vis-a-vis the constitution's sound basic education: specifically honors, AP, IB, and college-level courses taught in high schools. Not that these coursed should not be taught in public high schools, as they are in private/parochial high schools. But in the latter, of course, parents foot the bill. But we are not ready for this debate, and will not be for about 5 years.
Music , Art, Drama, Elementary Level science labs, computer technology, orchestra, foreign language arts. These should all be IN school programs funded by the taxpayers. We limit our educational experiences because we claim dont have th efunding , yet we DONT limit after school experiences , we dont reduce THAT funding ? Explain that one to me? I am not saying do without after school acitvites i am saying let the parents of the children participating pay for them. SO WE the taxpayers can focus our funding and tax dollars on their education.
Interest groups have powerful influence on this process, and not just unions. Special education services are sacrosanct, and bussing is inviolable except with voter approval of any changes. However, some interests lack the universality of appeal and the political clout of sports: those include drama, music, and art for examples. As stated, we are not ready yet for this debate, meaning to have the debate and hash out solutions. This is primarily because emergent technologies have yet to fully emerge, and the political landscape has not shifted sufficiently to support broad or deep changes.
Teachers agreed to teach an additional period beyond a full day's schedule for a stipend rather than require hiring additional people. Teachers provide extra help with no additional pay. WUT Executive Board and the Board of Ed formed the Educational Leadership Council (ELC) which met evenings to discuss issues and non-grievance problems in a non-adversarial manner. One teacher agreed to teach Calculus B at 6:00 AM to students who agreed to come in that early to take the course which had not been budgeted; this led to the formal adoption of Calc B the following year during the regular school day. A teacher developed and ran a computer repair service performed by students who learned computer repair as a result. Another teacher developed and ran a printing service staffed by students who learned offset printing as a result, while saving the district money by not having to buy that printing outside. Over the course of years the school year increased along with state guidelines. The WUT agreed to additional classroom days which in some other districts were non-teaching days. At one point, we needed the Supervisors to agree to teach a minimum of 4 classes in addition to their supervisory duties to which they agreed. We also asked for cooperation consolidating some departments' heads to which their unit also agreed and did.
The media is backing away from this story very quickly. (Not) surprisingly, nobody in the media is asking what the annual value of the step raises is for Chicago teachers; that value should be added to the value of the settlement raises (3% + 2% +2% = 7% PLUS the step raises). For comparison purposes, the value of Step increases in Wantagh would average out to 2.2% by my recollection. I am looking forward to seeing a more thorough assessment of the actual contract once it has been ratified by the rank-and-file members of the CTU. More importantly, I am looking forward to hearing how Chicago will pay for the increases in the face of a $3B deficit.
That is nothing to become squeamish about. It is just the way of the world, and has been all the way back to Tammany Hall in old New York. To his lasting credit, Rahm Emanuel stood up to the union and took the strike. That demonstrated a lot of political courage.
I understand your curiosity about how this will fly with the people of Chicago, but I am more interested to watch the graduation rate, first and foremost, as that is really the bottom line for 13 - 15 years of public education. I also will be curious about assessment scores, but not all that much. How will the 52,000 Charter School students taught by non-union teachers fare compared to the 348,000 students being taught by union teachers? Will Charter Schools be expanded by an additional 100 in Chicago?
What's missing are a set of "big hairy goals" that places all of this in a larger context, having to do with educational qualtiy. You know, an actual vision that imagines the kind of schools we want to have. In NY we have a higgedly-piggedly system involving hundreds of different evaluations schemes rendering any attempt to come up with a standard means of measuring success all the more difficult. Maybe someone has done this and I just need to be enlightened. Could be. But I doubt that I'm the only one. In fact I think to most taxpayers and anyone not directly connected to the public education system, the whole controversy surrounding teacher evaluations often appears to be little more than a bureaucratic and legislative shoving match, that will have, at best, an uncertain impact on what actually happens in the classroom.