Union Goons: "We're Only In It For Us"

Well, this should establish once and for all that it’s not about the children. After Idaho’s Senate President Pro Tem Robert Geddes (R-Soda Springs) proposed an educational reform that would reward Idaho teachers for good work, the teachers’ union and the politicians on the union’s leash objected that the proposal was “union busting.”
A major part of Geddes’ proposal would permit teachers to opt out of the “continuing contracts” they now gain after 4 years of employment. The continuing contract, a.k.a. tenure, makes it almost impossible for teachers to lose their job regardless of their quality of work. The reform would offer teachers an immediate $3000 annual pay increase in exchange for giving up continuing contracts. Teachers who believe that their work is deserving of renewed employment could, in effect, give themselves a raise. As long as the teacher’s performance is found commensurate with that self-evaluation, the teacher keeps the job and the money. Geddes believes that teachers who have to earn their continued employment annually will work harder and be more accountable for the quality of their work.
Sherri Wood, the unintentionally ironic president of the Idaho Education Association, the teachers’ union, argued that, “Teacher pay is a huge issue and needs to be discussed. But we don't believe a continuing contract has anything to do with how you pay teachers.”
Of course the continuing contract has everything to do with how teachers are paid. Ms. Wood must surely know that the current system rewards length of service far more than quality of work. And, as the proposed reform immediately offers a pay raise, that means that the continuing contract absolutely does impose a $3000 penalty upon teachers who are confident in their abilities.
The union’s concern is that the proposal would allow teachers to make individual determinations of their own employment circumstances and that would weaken the union’s authority over teachers. This is all about protecting turf and power.
Washington should try this. In Washington, legislators have had to lower standards and push back implementation dates for Washington Assessment of Student Learning graduation standards. If Washington’s teachers were held accountable for the quality of their work and faced possible termination for poor performance, it’s likely that more of Washington’s pupils could pass the WASL.
John Stanford, the legendary former Seattle Superintendent of Public Schools once complained that too many people treated schools as employment programs for adults rather than educational opportunities for children. He may have been too kind. Idaho’s teacher union seems to believe that the Idaho public schools are not even for teachers, but for the union leadership.
Education establishment groupthink has created a reverse Darwinian condition that culls the finest from the profession. Incoming education majors have the lowest college entrance examination scores on campus. Other majors see their graduating class’s average scores rise as those least capable flunk out or drop out. Education schools experience a lowering average as the most able transfer to other majors, and the least capable from other majors transfer into education. This trend actually persists after graduation, as the most capable grow frustrated with stifling conditions that do not reward effort or excellence and leave the profession all together.
At the very least, Geddes’ reform could keep those in this final group in the classroom.
Another interest group the union fails to consider is the taxpayer. You’ve heard of them. They pay the bills. Don’t they deserve a system that makes the people who pocket the taxpayers’ money responsible to the taxpayer for the quality of their work? I recently had a bad experience with an auto repair shop. I fired that garage and it will never get my business again. On the other hand, I’ll gladly pay more for a mechanic whose work I trust. Taxpayers should not be forced to pay poor teachers anymore than I should be forced to patronize incompetent mechanics. On the other hand, I’m sure that most Idahoans would reply that they’d be happy to reward teachers who do quality work in the classroom.
This is a case where what was not said spoke more loudly than what was said. Nowhere did the union or their lapdog politicians consider what might be in the best interests of the pupils or the people paying the bills. For that matter, they really didn’t even consider the teachers.