Collective Bargaining in Public Education and State-Level Policy a National Invitation Conference Newport, Rhode Island, December 10-11, 2006

A N E W D I A L O G U E

Collective

A Presentation by Andrew J. Rotherham Bargaining

Interviews with Alan Bersin and Randi Weingarten Prepared by Collaborative Communications Group in Public

A National Invitational Conference Newport, Rhode Island, December 10–11, 2006 Education

Convened by The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri The Rhode Island Foundation

in partnership with The Education Partnership and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the Urban Education Policy Program at Brown University A New Dialogue on Collective Bargaining in Public Education and State-Level Policy A National Invitation Conference Newport, Rhode Island, December 10-11, 2006

Increased expectations for student outcomes – and higher standards of accountability – challenge policy-makers to examine how collective bargaining impacts education. It is time for a new dialogue between state policy-makers and teacher organizations. This conference is designed to engage key state policy-makers, national experts, union leaders, and educators to identify how state policy and the collective bargaining process may support the goal of improving student achievement.

Collective bargaining shapes much of education policy in school districts: for example, how resources are allocated, how teachers are assigned to schools and classes, the content of professional development, and the nature of teacher evaluation. Although bargaining is a district-level activity, it occurs within the scope of the state collective bargaining laws.

A contract provision negotiated in one district may have a ripple effect in other districts throughout a state. Alternatively, a state collective bargaining policy or education regulation may encourage (or discourage) local districts and unions to adopt (or refrain from) a bargaining out- come that the state desires.

Shaping local bargaining through state policy represents a central opportunity for state policy- makers to influence local negotiated outcomes. Collective bargaining should not only be the concern of superintendents and local union leaders, it must be on the policy radar screen of governors, state legislators, and state education commissioners.

A New Dialogue: Collective Bargaining in Public Education offers a first step toward examining the role of state policy-makers, teacher unions, and local school districts in creating the conditions and supports essential to promoting student success. As co-sponsors of this conference, we invite you to share your experiences and insights to enrich and deepen this critical dialogue. n g a Center for Best Practices Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri The Rhode Island Foundation in partnership with The Education Partnership The Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the Urban Education Policy Program at Brown University Contents

A Presentation by Andrew J. Rotherham ...... 1

An Interview with Alan Bersin ...... 13

An Interview with Randi Weingarten ...... 29

Appendices ...... 45

47 Conference Agenda

50 Conference Participants

A Presentation by Andrew J. Rotherham Andrew J. Rotherham was invited to give the

Opening Presentation at the conference on

Collective Bargaining in Public Education in

December 2006. In his remarks, he describes

the changing policy landscape in education as

well as in labor and politics and how those

changes can – and must – affect contract

negotiations. Emphasizing that the current mis-

alignment between educational goals and the

systems embodied in contracts is not caused

by those contracts but simply reflected in them,

he offers three recommendations – more trans-

parency, more research, more participation –

for developing contracts that best position edu-

cators and schools to meet the common goal

of how best to serve the nation's public school

students. Before I begin my prepared remarks, I want to say a word about the late Tom Mooney, former head of the Ohio Feder- ation of Teachers, who would have been here with us. Tom was at a conference I co-produced on teacher collective bargaining in Washington, D.C., in May 2005; he was a terrific speaker – one of our best panelists. He made an important contribution at the conference and continued to make vital contributions to that debate until his death earlier this month. These contributions reflected two valu- able traits of his that will be sorely missed. First, Tom was able to disagree without being disagreeable. That’s an increasingly lost art in politics and other Andrew J. Rotherham is co-founder and co- public discourse overall, and on this issue director of Education Sector, a national educa- in particular. Second, and the reason tion policy think tank, and a senior fellow at the behind the first, is that Tom understood Progressive Policy Institute. He has also served that there are no absolute truths in this on the Virginia Board of Education since his business. He understood that the debate appointment by Governor Mark Warner to that is very subjective – he never forgot that position in 2005. Previously, Rotherham served we’re moving around a pole and that this at the White House as special assistant to the President for domestic policy during the Clinton is very contested terrain. administration. He is the author of numerous That doesn’t mean he didn’t have strongly articles and papers about education and co-edi- held views and values – it means that he tor of three books on educational policy, most recently Collective Bargaining in Education: respected the views of others and under- Negotiating Change in Today’s Schools with stood that, collectively, we’re lumbering Jane Hannaway (Harvard Education Press). He toward something, not seeking or debat- serves on the board of directors of the National ing revealed truth. He was tireless in his Council on Teacher Quality and on advisory work and was truly in his prime when he boards and committees for a variety of organiza- was taken from us, much too soon. Tom tions, including the Bill & Melinda Gates will be missed by many – personally and Foundation, the Broad Foundation, the National Governors Association, the National professionally – and he leaves a void. The Charter School Research Project, and New world is better off for his having been Visions for Public Schools. here.

2 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue Detoxifying Collective to collaborate on a project, and we decided, Why not teacher collective Bargaining bargaining? A quiet, non-contentious, I’d like to start my remarks on a personal non-controversial, non-political issue! note. I’m always asked why I turned my attention to teacher quality and, in particular, to doing a book on teacher collec- A New Look at Collective Bargaining tive bargaining [see sidebar]. The queries Collective Bargaining in Education: Negotiating Change in tend to run in two veins. One is gen- Today’s Schools, edited by Jane Hannaway and Andrew J. Rother- ham (Harvard Education Press, 2006), grew out of a conference uinely friendly and curious: “Why did on teacher collective bargaining co-produced by Andrew Rother- you go down this road?” and the other is ham in Washington, D.C. The idea for the conference came from of the “Nice career you’ve got there; it realizing that there was a scarcity of school-reform research on collective bargaining across the country and that maybe it was would be a shame if something were to time to bring together a group of people who had systematically happen to it” variety. studied the area, those with well-articulated views about collective bargaining, and several well-respected education researchers and The answer isn’t that exciting. In late analysts to begin a conversation about collective bargaining. 2001, not too long after I left the White The work from that conference was presented in Collective Bar- House, Chester Finn [of the Thomas B. gaining in Education. In their introduction to the book, Hannaway Fordham Institute] and I did a bipartisan and Rotherham clarify their role as neither advocate nor antago- project on i d e a. We figured that if we nist of teachers unions and summarize seven conclusions about teacher collective bargaining: could come to some agreement there, we • Collective bargaining was the right intervention at the right might be able to detoxify some of the time, but the environment has changed, as have the public politics. If you remember the 1997 reau- demands on pubic schools. thorization of i d e a, it was terribly con- • The lack of empirical evidence on the effects of collective bargaining by teachers on education practice, finance, and opera- tentious, and partisan, and really ugly. We tions is striking. thought maybe we could lay the ground- • A vitally important distinction exists between collective bargain- work to head that off. The project actu- ing in the private sector and collective bargaining by teachers. ally turned out pretty well. We put out a • Many collective bargaining agreements have serious problems: what is good for teachers is not automatically good for stu- volume, and a lot of the ideas we came dents. up with ended up in the law – and it did • It is unfair to lay the blame for the current state of affairs at the take some of the partisan sting out. But it feet of the teachers unions. was an exhausting project. When that was • Asking teachers unions to look after the interests of their members and the children they serve is asking them to shoulder a done, I decided to turn to something less responsibility exceptional to organized labor. controversial. Jane Hannaway [currently • Too often, political concerns cloud analysis of the issues and at the Urban Institute] and I had wanted decisions. Adapted from the introduction to Andrew Rotherham’s presentation by Valerie Forti, president of The Education Partnership

Andrew J. Rotherham 3 Conversely, I could talk about how the Teacher contracts, or teachers unions teachers unions are being singled out, unfairly blamed, targeted by forces for that matter, are not the root problem opposed to their very existence. I could in American education. say that there is really no issue here at all and that around the country there are plenty of examples of why these contracts It’s because this issue is contentious that I present no problems, and why this is all a want to applaud the n g a Center for Best witch hunt. That one would make some Practices for taking it on and hosting this of my union friends cheer, because I hear forum. There are real questions here that that a lot, but it wouldn’t be honest, demand attention. There are complicated either. Because, in some ways, the teach- policy and political questions, and there ers unions – or more specifically, the are no cut-and-dried answers. But it’s an contracts we’re discussing – are part of issue that policy-makers must look at, the problem facing American public and the line-up at this conference today education. shows the dynamic people who are turn- You can find both those viewpoints in ing their attention to this issue from all our book. But the truth, as it often does, sides. lies in between these extremes. This Let’s be honest – this is pretty contested morning, I will lay out the landscape as I terrain. There are two strident talks I see it and the challenges that we, collec- could give today to set the stage for the tively, have to tackle together on this conference. First, I could give a bombas- issue. You’ll hear the key findings from tic one, blaming the teachers unions for the book woven throughout, but the idea all the various problems that face public that changing times demand changing education – for refusal to change, inflexi- practices animates the book and, I hope, ble defense of an unworkable status quo, will animate our discussion. and so forth. That one would make the critics swoon, but it wouldn’t be honest, Changing Times Demand because the teachers unions are not the root cause of our educational challenges. Changing Practices In fact, many aspects of teacher contracts I submit to you that teacher contracts, or that we’ll discuss at this conference are teachers unions for that matter, are not really symptoms of the larger problems the root problem in American education. we’re facing in public education today. And if you think we’ve got problems now, it’s worth reflecting on where American

4 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue education would be in their absence. charge, and it is a vital one for our Some of the things that contracts are crit- domestic social cohesion and our interna- icized for are merely symptoms of larger tional competitiveness. Consequently, problems in public education today – educators who joined the ranks of teach- namely, a system that is misaligned with ers in 1983 are being asked – less than a the goals it’s expected to meet. And, if quarter-century later – to perform a mis- you look historically at collective bargain- sion very different from the one they ing and the rise of teachers unions, I signed up for. think a convincing case can be made that Not long ago, compliance was the ethic; it was the right intervention at the right today, it’s performance. Not long ago, sta- time. bility was cherished; now it’s agility. We The thing is, times have changed since used to build policies around uniformity; then. A lot. And the practices and norms now we worry increasingly about cus- that are embodied in many of these con- tomization. tracts just haven’t kept up. And education At the same time, our labor market has is changing fast. It’s worth stepping back changed. One of the reasons I come to and reflecting on just how much, because work each day is that I believe positive what we’re asking our schools to do – the social change is possible. And the opening norms, the external culture, and so forth of various professional doors to women – has changed a great deal in just a few and minorities over the past forty years decades. If you think back to A Nation at validates that. But that particular success Risk in 1983, to the Education Summit in has also dramatically changed education’s 1989, to the Reauthorization in e s e a labor market – and we haven’t kept step. 1994 codifying the standards movement, We’re not an attractive field for many of to No Child Left Behind in 2001 – each the very people we need today – and the period marked a pivot toward a system cold, hard truth is that in some ways, focused on not just universal access, but we’re probably too attractive for the kind also universal attainment. we don’t. I don’t need to recount the significance of each of those events for the people in this room. We’re shifting from a society We’re not an attractive field for many of focused on “strong backs” to one focused the very people we need today. on “strong minds.” And our schools – particularly, what we’re asking them to do – reflect that: improving performance and closing achievement gaps are today’s

Andrew J. Rotherham 5 The Role of Contracts in We’ve already solved the easy challenges and problems. The issues we’re tackling a Changing Landscape today are by definition the harder ones – And contracts matter to all of this, since politically, substantively, or both. And they govern the norms by which schools there is evidence – compelling evidence – operate day to day. So, while you’ll hear that some practices codified in these from some circles that the increased contracts are misaligned with the goals of attention to teacher contracts is merely today’s school systems. part and parcel of a right-wing assault on Second, the political landscape has unions or an anti–public education theme changed. The old left–right delineations that’s loose in the land, that caricature don’t apply to this debate anymore; that’s misses the mark. True, a few years ago, why unions understandably feel under hardly anyone was paying much attention siege from all sides. But there is also a to this issue except a few conservatives. pretty clear signal in the alignment today. But in the time since Jane and I pub- It’s not just the conservatives expressing lished our book, groups like the Citizens an interest in these issues; there is a grow- Commission on Civil Rights, The Educa- ing, strong, and irresistible demand for tion Trust, the New Teacher Project, and reform from many on the left, too, and the National Council on Teacher Quality it’s forcing people to turn their attention were all undertaking substantial projects to these more fine-grained, subsurface to examine the impact of various provi- issues in education. sions in teacher contracts. Major founda- So what does all this mean in terms of tions are also interested in and supporting how we organize our industry? this work. This conversation is broad, and it isn’t going away. First, our industry is pretty hierarchical. We treat all our workers alike – as Julia The attention to contracts today is symp- Koppich [of J. Koppich & Associates] tomatic of two broader changes in the and Chuck Kerchner [of the Claremont education-policy debate. First, the low- Graduate University] have said, we treat hanging education reform fruit is gone. them like “mine workers, not mind workers”; we emphasize uniformity, compliance, and regulation. And we do this at a How to define, measure, and reward time when the most successful American performance in a field like ours is a dif- enterprises – both in the for-profit and ficult and complicated question.

6 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue non-profit sectors – generally reject these characteristics and, instead, are seeking to Contracts r e f l e c t the misalignment be more horizontal, embrace dynamism between goals and systems – they don’t and agility, and offer customization to their customers. Teacher contracts do not cause it. yet reflect a lot of those characteristics. Second, our industry is struggling with how to incorporate performance into our Contracts: operations. How to define, measure, and A Two-Sided Coin reward performance in a field like ours is a difficult and complicated question. But You’ll notice that I’ve said so far that the as we try to figure it out, innovate, fail, contracts reflect this misalignment and make progress, contracts will have to between goals and systems. That was reform to incorporate these ideas. deliberate – because I don’t think they cause it. The reality is that two sides sign Third, our industry is facing increased every contract and, as Rick Hess pointed pressure between consumers and produc- out in one of the chapters of our book, ers. This is an old story in other fields, management doesn’t fully exploit the con- from ice and railroads to modern busi- tractual language that exists today and nesses like airlines and telecommunica- often does not seek out such language. tions, but it’s relatively new in our field. That’s important to remember, because Narrowly, it plays out as an increasing often more of this is laid at the feet of the demand for quality and mass customiza- teachers unions than they deserve. tion – in other words, changing appetites on the part of parents. More generally, it And we can’t forget that this issue is a plays out as increased demand for per- two-sided coin. More dynamism also formance from policy-makers and stake- means sharper edges for workers, and holders such as business groups. But in more customization and choice means terms of that narrow demand, Americans, less stability for workers – more agility increasingly, want choice and customiza- can lead to unfairness. I think these tion in all areas of their lives – and educa- trends are positive ones, but we must tion is no exception. Around the country, acknowledge that they are complicated in fits and starts, we’re becoming more changes and we must not dismiss out of pluralistic in how we deliver public edu- hand the legitimate concerns that teachers cation. Contracts will have to undergo and union leaders raise about them. substantial changes for this new environment, too.

Andrew J. Rotherham 7 Workers – in this case, teachers – do rhetoric, they are actually conservative, deserve protections and rights. In this even in the face of the radically new envi- environment, we obviously have to pro- ronment public schools operate in. It’s tect workers’ rights as contracts evolve. hard to look at the body of contracts – not the exceptions that get highlighted as But, that said, the unions are not doing the rule, but the body across the country all they could to help tackle the problems – and not conclude that they’re very con- we face and, I’d argue, not living up to servative in how they approach schooling their promise as the powerful, tectonic today. institutions they are in our society. There are some exceptions, to be sure – some Of course, some of this is simply the examples of inspired thinking, brilliant, result of how large, complicated member- cutting-edge leadership, and leading-edge ship organizations have to operate; they’re ideas. Randi Weingarten opening a pair not designed to be leading edge. And we of charter schools in New York City and can never forget that the first charge of the teachers unions is, and should be, to look after the welfare of their members, Many teachers union members find many of whom find themselves whipsawed in a rapidly changing industry themselves whipsawed in a rapidly where the rules of the road are much dif- changing industry where the rules of the ferent than when they entered the profession. It’s easier to come to someplace like road are much different than when they Newport and talk about change than entered the profession. bring it about inside large, complicated organizations, and the critics of teachers unions have to respect that. Brad Jupp championing new models for But in the end, in today’s fast-changing teacher pay in Denver were as seismic in educational debate, it can put them out the union community as Dylan going of step; and the discussion we’re having electric here in Newport in 1965 was in about contracts is merely the flashpoint the music world. There are other exam- for that tension. ples of inspired leadership, but too often our teachers unions are behind the pace of where and how change has to happen today and where it is happening. And too often, despite unions’ avowed progressive

8 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue The Real Issue: How Best Contracts offer us a place to think about to Serve Students how we can change some of our basic Unfortunately, the debate too often devolves into a back and forth about practices to better reflect the charge unions good, or unions bad, or who is being put upon our schools today. more for the kids. And that obscures the issues. Excuse the double negative, but no one in this debate is not for the kids. of teachers that exists today within the What’s at issue is competing views about constraints of most current contracts, what the best ways to serve kids are. we also can’t expect to turn around low- And that’s a healthy debate for us to be performing schools without much more having. sustained support – things that can be Too often, of course, the debate gets codified in these contracts – for instance, framed in zero-sum terms. And there is shielding teachers from the constant plenty of blame to go around for that on churn of reforms that Rick Hess dubbed all sides. Whether or not to have con- “spinning wheels.” This is the direction tracts is an impoverished question and we need to be looking at today. isn’t a very productive discussion. First of In other words, the discussion we should all, as a practical matter, teachers unions have today – and the conversation policy- aren’t going anywhere – nor, in my view, makers and policy leaders should have – should they. For a variety of reasons, I’d is around what contracts should look like argue that an atomized teaching force isn’t in today’s environment in order to best desirable and that collective representa- position educators and schools to meet tion, if understood in context, is positive. the goals they’re now challenged with. Second, we can never forget that since That’s the foundation for a rich discus- education is a public-sector enterprise, sion, and nothing should be off the table. some codification of expected practices, We often talk of this in the language of rules, benchmarks, and so forth is neces- “thin” contracts, and I’m a fan of some of sary as we conduct our business. the innovations that are going on under And so these contracts, as much of a thin contracts. But that terminology may flashpoint as they often are, also offer us a be too limited – and, rather than “thick” place to think about how we can change or “thin,” the conversation really needs to some of our basic practices to better be about different. reflect the charge being put upon our schools today. So, while I’d argue that we can’t expect to address the maldistribution

Andrew J. Rotherham 9 What’s Needed Now struck that newspapers dutifully reprint the texts of presidential news conferences, For our part, Jane and I made three core even where nothing of any consequence is recommendations, which bear on this said, but don’t print the texts of these discussion. contracts, which are of enormous conse- First, we called for more transparency. quence in their communities. That’s a no-brainer. It’s striking just how Second, we called for more research and little hard data there are about some analysis. That’s a no-brainer, too, since we aspects of this issue, where the questions make our living doing that. But actually, are empirical. While some unions – for it is much needed – again, it’s striking instance, the one that Randi Weingarten how thin the evidence base is. Much heads in New York City – make it possi- more research is needed. ble to view their contract and associated Third, we called for greater participation documents with the click of a mouse, in the political process. There have been others make it a deterring challenge. calls to simply ban collective bargaining That’s starting to change. With the sup- by public sector employees like teachers. port of the Bill & Melinda Gates and We think that’s a cure far worse than Joyce foundations, the National Council the problem. Rather, we argued that the on Teacher Quality and Citizens Com- problem is not that teachers unions enjoy mission on Civil Rights are about to too much power in the process, but rather unveil a database that examines the con- that other groups exercise too little. There tracts in the fifty largest districts in the are a variety of political and non-political U.S. across a range of dimensions. Hope- activities to help change that mix, but fully, it will trigger greater attention to more voices are needed. what is in these documents. I’m always And, very much related, we called for greater participation in the bargaining The problem is not that teachers unions process. This is a public process, and these are, ultimately, public documents enjoy too much power in the process, codifying public practices. Only two but rather that other groups exercise too sides, ultimately, will actually sign a contract, but there is no reason more stake- little. holders cannot be actively involved in the framing, creation, and process of these agreements. This recommendation is often perceived as anti-union but, under the right circumstances, it’s actually a

10 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue powerful lever for the teachers unions. And that’s why this conversation, if we Union leaders like to quip that manage- have it in the right way, is a win-win. I ment gets the union it deserves, and there can’t imagine that my friends in the is a lot of truth in that. But I think that union movement don’t look to places like among many stakeholders, there is no Detroit – and I’m talking about the understanding of the often arbitrary, automakers, not the schools – with some capricious, and unfair treatment teachers trepidation. Industries, even ones as receive, especially in our larger school seemingly durable as public schools, can systems. slide toward irrelevance if they do not change with the times. That’s the chal- That’s not to say the problems do not run lenge we face, and this discussion of con- the other way, too, but merely to point tracts is one part of meeting it. out that it’s a two-way street, and that the desire of teachers, particularly in larger school systems, to want protection is completely understandable. More- Getting this right is not only good for involved stakeholders would increase kids, it’s good for teachers and good awareness of issues like that. These contracts are long and cover a lot of ground for public education. for good reasons, and public awareness of that is not inherently bad for the unions.

In Conclusion

We face a challenge that boils down to operating norms and procedures that are mismatched to goals. That’s a challenge that reasonable people should be able to solve. And, while I don’t minimize the political and substantive complexity, I also do not think that it’s Pollyanna to think that there are a number of grand bargains out there to be struck, from benefits and pay to professional autonomy and advancement for teachers. Getting this right is not only good for kids, it’s good for teachers and good for public education.

Andrew J. Rotherham 11

An Interview with Alan Bersin Alan Bersin met with Kris Kurtenbach and

Gloria Frazier of Collaborative Communica-

tions Group on October 10, 2006. In that

i n t e r v i e w, Bersin analyzed the historical

sources of the widespread gridlock in collec-

tive bargaining today and outlined some pos-

sible solutions. He described the new provi-

sions of the recently passed California Senate

Bill 1133, supported by the California Teach-

ers Association, which allows a separate

negotiating zone for low-performing schools,

and summarized his vision of transforming

teaching from an occupation into a profession,

including new compensation structures for

teachers. Collaborative Communications Group: Describe briefly for us the current state of collective bargaining and whether you see it as a help or a hindrance in getting all students to achieve at high levels. Alan Bersin: We are clearly and classically in a state of fixing blame rather than fixing the problem. Unions have evolved – unquestionably, in my mind – into the most powerful institutions in the education sector. Yet many of them perceive themselves as constantly under siege. These organizations then hunker down fiercely in blind defense of the status quo. School district management, itself often arthritically bureaucratic, has generally been unable to improve student achievement across the nation; it tends to point fingers at unions and at the intractability of labor contracts as the primary causes of trouble. This is wrong on both ends. The blame game leads to Alan Bersin was appointed California's Secre- paralysis and gridlock. tary of Education in July 2005. In an unprece- dented move, Republican governor Arnold The first bread crumb that could lead us Schwarzenegger simultaneously appointed Mr. out of this forest would be the recogni- Bersin to the state Board of Education, giving tion that neither unions nor manage- him a unique opportunity to put his stamp on ment alone can lead to a new, more pro- education policy in California. In December 2006, Mr. Bersin left Sacramento for a seat on ductive set of circumstances and results; the San Diego airport authority board. Prior to that result can only be achieved by suc- becoming the state's Secretary of Education, Mr. cessful collective bargaining by both par- Bersin was Superintendent of Public Education ties over time. Collective bargaining in the San Diego City Schools, the nation's right now is a joint labor-management eighth-largest urban school district, where he process that usually produces conflict oversaw an ambitious districtwide effort to strengthen instruction that produced gains in and mostly what are, at best, watered- student achievement. He is a former U.S. down solutions to pressing problems of Attorney. teaching and learning. That change will

14 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue occur only if both sides come to believe continue to use it. But now we must that it is in their individual, as well as ask whether collective bargaining mutual, interests. will get us where we want to go. . . . I am convinced that unless we go The Gridlock in beyond collective bargaining to the achievement of true teacher profes- Collective Bargaining sionalism we will fail in our major Today [imperative] to preserve public edu- The current gridlock we have in collec- cation in the United States and to tive bargaining results from the dispro- improve the status of teachers eco- portionate influence of the short term nomically and socially. on the actions and perceptions of the CCG: What’s the shift we need to make, and actors – both on the union side and on how do we make it? the district side. The tension we feel comes from the fact that the long-term AB: Seniority makes eminent sense in the interests of our public education fran- context of individual lives. A teacher can chise, understood in terms of what quite rationally conclude: “I’ve been would strengthen children’s learning and teaching for three years in a hard-to-staff achievement, is given short shrift in the school. I work my heart out, and I don’t current political calculus. get the support that I need. I have just had a baby to start our own family. I Al Shanker understood that the long- will use my seniority to bid out to a term health of public education after much less challenging school; this deci- Brown v. Board of Education required sion benefits my personal and profes- standards-based reform. He was among sional life.” its most ardent champions. He understood the need for standardized assess- ments. He understood the need for accountability systems. For Shanker, Seniority makes eminent sense in the standards-based reform was squarely in context of individual lives; but practiced the interest of the union members he represented, as well as the interests of systemically, it ends up producing an the community he was a part of and the educational catastrophe for poor kids. democracy he was interested in protecting. Andrew Rotherham used a powerful Shanker quote: C o l l e c t i ve bargaining has been a good mechanism, and we should

Alan Bersin 15 The outmoded factory model Factory-age unionism is not going to The model for public-sector unions function well as teaching becomes a when they were organizing in the 1960s was private-sector unions. Precisely profession, and teaching needs to when private-sector unions were on become a profession for the benefit their way out as a major force in the industrial and commercial arenas, they of both students and teachers. shaped the collective bargaining process for public employees. Teachers were reacting to the same kinds of problems For an individual, that’s an entirely sen- – inadequate pay and benefits and the sible chain of reasoning. But practiced lack of democracy and fairness in the systemically, it ends up producing an workplace – that had driven labor educational catastrophe for poor kids. organizing and resulted in the Wagner Teachers come and teachers go and the Act a generation before in the 1930s. children remain untaught year after year. Collective bargaining in the public edu- We know how we got there. It was not cation sector was borrowed from the by evil design, but rather by the opera- earlier private-sector model of labor rela- tion of a system that has placed adult tions and practiced without much employment interests above the educa- change. Industrial unionism was over- tional needs of children. This leads to laid onto the teaching occupation. The consequences that were not initially would-be profession of teaching that contemplated. But the result reflects real many seek today is far different from the interests and existing power relations. circumstances and paradigms that drove Unions from an industrial age are built corporate America and organized labor on the notion that the longer you are in the first half of the twentieth century. employed, the more experienced you The notion that all teachers are inter- are, the more value you bring to the job, changeable and, therefore, should be and the more rights you accrue in the paid the same and the notion that sen- job. Only the latter observation is neces- iority trumps all other considerations sarily true, and that’s only because col- come straight from the factory floor – lective bargaining has arranged it that not a professional classroom. way. But there was no other model. What Shanker is telling us in his quote is that factory-age unionism is not going to serve or function well as teaching

16 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue becomes a profession and that teaching needs to become a profession for the Districts and unions are partners in a benefit of both students and teachers. tango that hasn’t led to great results, but This historical contradiction accounts for the labor-management tension we expe- the dancers have grown accustomed to rience in public education. Neither man- one another and to the dance. agement nor labor is equipped to treat teachers as true professionals – and teachers, accordingly, are not acting as CCG: What are the key sources of the grid- such across the board. The hallmarks of a lock? true profession are group problem solv- ing, operational autonomy coupled with AB: The sources of the current gridlock are accountability for outcomes, and peer to be found in the sector’s historical review and evaluation. These, in turn, development. If we don’t know where are rooted in and emerge from an estab- our existing practices, processes, and lished framework of skill and knowledge perceptions come from – in other governing practice. words, how we got here – then we can’t and won’t find our way out. We have to Our tension results from the disparity move from the rhetoric of blame and between the theory of teacher profession- anger, but also from the reality of alism and the practical reality for most mutual comfort of both parties with the teachers in districts as they are conven- status quo on the ground. It’s clear that tionally arranged today. I believe we are districts and unions are two partners beginning to understand that the status dancing a tango in history. The modern quo is not a sustainable situation from dance hasn’t led to great results, but the the standpoint of either labor or manage- dancers have grown accustomed to one ment, let alone in terms of the continued another and to the dance. political survival of public education as we know it today. At the same time, we Short vs. long view proceed in a state of disequilibrium It’s a short-term versus a long-term per- because we are not able to resolve the spective. It’s the tension between teach- matter one way or the other. It’s ing as an occupation and teaching as a nobody’s fault. But it’s everyone’s respon- profession. The challenge of today’s sibility – and, I submit, in the long-term present is that we really are caught interests of all of us – to grasp our between the past that shaped us and a mutual dilemma and work out of it if we future that will be unforgiving if we do can. not change.

Alan Bersin 17 To take the San Diego situation – with to alter the contract. There was a rigid which I am familiar – as an example: allegiance to the contract, in an almost Our 100-page collective bargaining religious sense: “This is what we negoti- agreement grew, for the most part, out of ated in the past and we cannot and will individual grievances. Individual cases of not give any of it back.” It is very under- injustice, real or perceived, became a standable why a labor leader adopts source of work rules that applied across this position, but it is reflexive and non- 9,000 teachers. This happened in San reflective. It is also completely dysfunc- Diego and many other districts. You tional from the standpoint of developing could look at the different sections of the new ways of seeing and new ways of contract and see them as a zone in a geo- perceiving as a prelude to new ways of logical dig. Different periods brought acting. different negotiating aims, often driven by specific conflicts at particular schools. The Difficulty of Achieving Rule after rule was grafted on top of the a Paradigm Change

Paradigm changes cannot be negotiated Rule after rule was grafted on top of on an incremental basis in collective bargaining. At the same time, we lack the existing framework. Always the an intellectual framework to create com- approach was incremental, never common ground, a shared conception about how we might move from where we are prehensive. to where we ought to be in order to strengthen public education. On the one hand, proponents of so- existing framework. Always the approach called “new unionism” call for broaden- was incremental, never comprehensive. ing the scope of collective bargaining. And, over time, the district lost what in The new unionism would embrace the any rationally negotiated contract would profession and tenets of professionalism be considered essential management in the context of the teaching occupa- prerogatives necessary to proper function. This would include being account- tioning of the organization. able for results of practice, providing Union leaders and site representatives teachers with much more control over would acknowledge this situation pri- the tools of the profession and the vately but disclaim any ability or desire application of those tools, and a significant influence on curriculum in terms of professional development and instructional materials. It would embrace peer

18 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue review as a mechanism of evaluation, untested theory. The arguments of the and it would place student achievement traditional unionist and the critique at the center of the enterprise and at from the right turn out the same: One the heart of the labor-management should not expect the union as an discussion. organization to act in unpredictable From the right are heard views skeptical ways contrary to its nature. both of the theory and practice of the new unionism. For those critics, unions Levers for Change are organizations with political interests based on concrete political constitu- CCG: What are the key levers for change? encies. It is not in the nature of the AB: I have always identified community public-sector union organization to act dissatisfaction and loss of legitimacy as in ways that fail to benefit short-term embodying the greatest threat to public member interests. To expect the union education and, therefore, also poten- to take on educational needs of children tially the most significant lever for as a first priority is, from this perspec- change. Public education traditionally tive, to misconstrue the situational possibilities entirely. Moreover, there are compelling chal- Community dissatisfaction and loss of lenges to the new unionism based on legitimacy are potentially the most sig- results. Observers question whether districts where it has ostensibly been prac- nificant lever for change. ticed, particularly Rochester and Min- neapolis, have actually experienced significant gains in student achievement. has been a matter of local control; it has always relied for vitality on its link to The answer appears to be negative. acceptability by the public. This accept- That’s where the current debate is, and ance has been the key to public finance it’s not a terribly productive one. From and public support for public education. within the union movement, enormous It is the foundation for its legitimacy. pressure is placed on new union leaders. They are attacked by old unionists as If we don’t improve public education being soft and divorced from the pri- sufficiently so that it retains this support mary purposes of unions. This accounts broadly and deeply in the country, we for the periodic unseating of new union will lose the institution. The central leaders by the old guard who rely on unions to maintain the status quo rather than risk past gains on the basis of an

Alan Bersin 19 issue right now is the academic achieve- Data transparency ment gap. If we don’t narrow and then A remarkable transformation has taken close the academic achievement gap over place in the sector regarding data and time – and it will take time – eventually the need for data-driven decisions. we will lose the “mandate of heaven,” in While this is, in many places, still more the Chinese sense. The loss would occur rhetoric than reality, a decisive ideologi- first in the large urban centers, but cal shift has taken place. The appetite would follow in short order elsewhere. for “useable information” will grow, gen- The following are some of the other erating public demand for more and potential levers for change. more data to be made available, clearly and coherently, on the Internet. This is State and federal accountability bound to have reciprocal effects on systems responsiveness and accountability. Let- State and federal accountability systems ting people argue about what the data are major levers. No Child Left Behind mean is better in a democracy than [n c l b] and parallel state systems have restricting access. done more than just raise the stakes. Their focus on disaggregated student- The Democratic Party achievement results and on teacher qual- History has done to the Democratic ity has increased the demand for trans- Party what it has done to unions. It’s parency with respect to many arrange- taken progressive purpose and turned it ments that had been shrouded in into conservative instinct. The inability secrecy. The pending reauthorization of of Democrats to win the electorate cre- n c l b will facilitate necessary mid- ates a potential lever for change in terms course corrections that will enhance of power relationships within the party. transparency and accountability and The November 2006 election results are take the initial steps toward promulgat- not to the contrary. Democrats miscon- ing national standards. That’s going to strue these results at their peril; they accelerate change. Opinion leaders are communicate a sharp rebuke to the beginning to acknowledge the dynamic g o p rather than even a slight endorse- toward national standards as inevitable. ment of any Democratic direction. I’m old-fashioned enough to prefer local The fiscal situation facing public differences, but not when they hurt education students. Andrew Rotherham writes about “doing more with less.” As the population ages, there likely will be less money available for public education in the classroom.

20 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue The introduction of accounting stan- This option would be the so-called “thin dards that require disclosure of contract” that could, for example, pro- unfunded retirement medical benefits vide for differentiated pay, if necessary, (and unfunded pensions) will create a to attract math and science teachers in sea change but might also serve as a inner-city schools. It might provide for potential fulcrum for significant change differential teaching loads, in lieu of dif- that embraces notions of productivity ferential pay, with professional time set now foreign to the sector. aside for conferring with students or colleagues. It could provide for site- A Possible Solution: based options that would permit a faculty to reject a candidate for a teaching Negotiated Options for vacancy, seniority notwithstanding. Low-Performing Schools These examples are illustrative only. CCG: California recently passed SB 1133, There are numerous provisions that which outlines a new relationship with could be brought to bear in this separate unions and new options for schools. negotiating zone. Those would be avail- Explain its significance. able for individual schools or clusters of schools to opt into, in whole or in part, AB: Rather than rely on the new unionism in an agreement that would be parallel to create a new paradigm in one fell to but different from the conventional swoop, what we might consider doing is collective bargaining agreement. to have fully negotiated collective bargaining options that would apply to The “grand bargain” in California low-performing and low-achieving On behalf of Governor Schwarzenegger, schools. What a union and a district we recently negotiated this kind of might do is to offer a separate zone that “grand bargain” with the California would attach to the lowest-performing Teachers Association (c ta) at the state schools as a matter of site choice. It level regarding $2.9 billion over seven would facilitate conditions calculated to create what we know is essential for a turnaround – a superior principal, com- The so-called “thin contract” could pro- mitted teacher leaders, a stable faculty, a vide for differentiated pay or differen- coherent curriculum, and outreach to parents, who are welcomed to engage in tial teaching loads. the education of their children. The option could be selected by a group of teachers and a principal and a group of parents at a school primed for change.

Alan Bersin 21 After three years, the school will Agreements like SB 1133 create the h a ve a faculty whose experience index is no less than the average foundation for building the culture that is experience level in the district as a necessary to turn around a school and whole. You will have fully creden- tialed teachers in every subject area. produce sustained student achievement. You will have counselor ratios that are 1-to-300 at the secondary/high school level and 1-to-500 at the mid- years to be allocated to low-achieving dle school level. You can reduce class schools. size to 25-to-1 in grades 4 through 12, In a breakthrough that is a tribute to its but only as you meet the other leadership and executive board, the c ta benchmarks. agreed to permit departures from provi- Choice – with accountability sions such as seniority rules and the The possibility to choose a “thin con- single-salary schedule, if school sites tract” as part of a “separate negotiating elect to do so. Senate Bill 1133, agreed zone” could create and offer the same to by the Governor and the c ta and options in a broader context, applicable approved by the Legislature, provides to all schools in a district. Proceeding an incentive for schools that might opt this way would solve one of labor lead- into this separate set of provisions. The ers’ major problems: getting too far out funding will go to 500 of the 1,400 low- in front of their membership. By leaving est-achieving schools in California. In choice to teachers at individual school exchange for $800 per student over sites, labor leadership can best serve the seven years, the schools chosen to partic- new unionism. This choice carries with ipate must develop a plan to meet cer- it no guarantee of success – but it is cal- tain benchmarks. culated to multiply the chances for it. For the first time to my knowledge, Agreements like SB 1133 set benchmarks what we have done in California is to in terms of operations and create the say: “Here are the accountability bench- foundation for building the kind of cul- marks you must reach academically, as ture that is necessary to turn around a well as in terms of instructional opera- school and produce sustained student tions. But we’re going to leave it to you achievement. It focuses on inputs and to figure out how you are going to get doesn’t tell the schools how to do it. At there.” For example, the schools that the same time, it has a series of output will be allocated this money will have to meet an accountability benchmark:

22 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue performance requirements that must be out. The prospects that “outside in” pro- met; if they are not, the school loses the fessional development, in Rick Hess’s incentive funding. There are annual formulation, can have a positive impact milestones in the first three years on the are improved significantly. way to each of the benchmarks. One of the lessons from San Diego, CCG: Play this out. What’s the potential for where we spent a half a billion dollars on California, and what are the implications professional development, was that for other states? absent changes in “human resource” procedures, we could not get the bang from AB: The potential here is to help labor the professional development dollar that leaders and district leaders overcome the we should have been getting. We typi- usual causes for paralysis. Truth be told, cally focused mostly on the professional neither party wants to negotiate a development side. The separate negotiat- wholesale series of changes in the con- ing zone would permit a school to tract that will affect everything at once. address both professional development Because schools are at different places in and instructional operations by leaving a multitude of ways, the safe course is to key operational decisions in the hands of settle on the lowest common denomina- the principal and teacher leaders. tor: maintaining the existing contract with little change. Risk avoidance means Our sector is desperately in search of staying close to home. This prescription evidence about how to improve student is the “comfort zone” to which district achievement in an accelerated way for and union leaders regularly resort. low-achieving schools. In San Diego, we accomplished that with respect to a cer- What we do instead is to start customiz- tain number of schools that I know well. ing collective bargaining agreements We did not do it at scale or in a way that away from the old industrial model. leaves no doubt about how this could be This model posits the same provisions replicated. applying to everyone, at once, all the time. Politically, by providing choice and options to schools and their facul- By providing choice and options to ties, labor and management permit a school’s political dynamic to develop on schools and their faculties, labor and its own. When a talented principal and group of teacher leaders emerge to build management permit a school’s political their school and use a “thin contract” as dynamic to develop on its own. a vehicle for doing that, a necessary condition for change is satisfied from inside

Alan Bersin 23 The separate negotiating zone who teaches at their schools. The lower I believe the separate negotiating zone, the performance of students, the more which would not impose a solution on this flexibility and control is required. a school or a district or a union, but Charter schools are able to gauge the rather create the conditions and furnish suitability of teachers against perform- incentives for schools, faculties, and ance metrics in very direct ways. The communities to build a great school, is separate zone is an option for accom- politically vibrant and feasible in ways plishing the same thing without resort that another approach might not be. to the charter law. I’ve always thought – and I think some CCG: You’ve talked a lot about charters as an of my colleagues at the c ta in Sacra- end run around the inflexibility or inabil- mento agree – that it is peculiar, even ity of unions and districts. Do you think foolish, for us to grant charter schools this law now provides another point of all this flexibility while remaining so leverage? loathe to provide waivers, either of the AB: No question about it – that dialectic is contract or of education code pro- operating here. The c ta understands visions, to schools in the regular district that the dagger pointed at the heart of that want to do something differently. public education is the academic What’s wrong with that picture? achievement gap. We have to accelerate Charter schools, for me, are worthwhile the narrowing of that gap. We must do only if they serve children more effec- so to preserve the franchise as well as to tively. And if they serve children more meet a moral – and now legal – obliga- effectively, they become a legitimate tion in American history. To do that, we competitive pressure on the regular sys- must permit those local principals and tem. That’s my brief for charter schools. teachers who have the necessary skills I view the separate zone proposal as a and knowledge to have more say over rational political response to charter schools by district and union officials alike. For me, only the result counts: The separate zone proposal is a Are the children learning? Is student rational political response to charter achievement improving? Are teachers professionally engaged with students schools by district and union officials and with one another? alike. CCG: What would you say to the governor of another state – with a high-accountability system like Florida or Texas – about what

24 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue they should be paying attention to in what happens in California? What we cannot continue to do is oper- AB: At the end of the day, in a world of ate within a framework that will not har- professionalized teaching, instructional decisions about how to solve individual ness the enlightened self-interest of cases presented by students have to be teachers to improving student achieve- made at the local level, by professionals on the scene, confronted with the facts ment. The separate negotiating zone of the case. would create that potential. If teachers have the skill and knowledge they need to confront instructional problems, they need to be given distinguishing characteristic of SB 1133 decision-making power and the discre- and of the thin-contract option. The tion to apply that skill and knowledge. proposal accepts many points of the new What I would expect this model to pro- unionism but doesn’t attempt to trans- vide is the evidence that sufficiently form the collective bargaining sector by skilled professionals, principals, teachers, fiat; it does so by choice. and teacher leaders, in fact, can turn The trade-off schools around and can do it relatively quickly. They can do so if given the CCG: How do you manage the district-state framework of flexibility within which to financial drivers? apply the same kinds of incentives and AB: The first thing the separate negotiat- inducements that have been used to ing zone does is that it removes the col- increase productivity in virtually every lective bargaining agreement as a mecha- other sector in American society. nism by which the central office What we cannot continue to do is oper- imposes on a particular school site a ate within a framework that will not whole set of work rules and financial harness the enlightened self-interest of constraints. It creates a shield against the teachers to improving student achieve- power that the collective bargaining ment. The separate negotiating zone agreement has conferred on the central would create that potential. People bureaucracy. There’s nothing that would would have to choose to walk through prevent the local school, negotiating the door but they would not be running with the district, to be able to cut into a brick wall on the other side. strings from the funding that is fur- nished. For example, in SB 1133, one of What’s attractive here is that it does not impose; it creates potential. That’s the

Alan Bersin 25 its provisions, in addition to the $800 have a principal and teacher leaders provided for each student, is that cate- who can build the capacity for quality gorical funding received by the school instruction, then progress results in a can be streamed together and spent in a school or in a cluster of schools. different way, independent of any particular categorical direction. Steps toward a New CCG: That’s a major shift in state policy. Dialogue Streaming is something that schools have CCG: What are some of the obvious things we asked about for a long time. This would ought to do at a state level? What are the be a way for states to say that the account- steps to get a new dialogue or a new rela- ability is on the achievement side. tionship started? AB: We would provide fiscal and opera- AB: Here are some additional possibilities tional flexibility in exchange for I would suggest thinking about. accountability. The trade-off here is very straightforward; it is precisely the bar- Create a separate due-process gain we make with charter schools – and mechanism need to enforce with much more This goes to one of the central areas of integrity. It is one we talk about but gridlock: the union’s legal obligation to never seem to be able to get to in the defend the jobs of teachers who are “regular” district setting: set the obviously incompetent. This obligation accountability benchmarks, provide the precludes unions from “actualizing” resources, and hold people accountable. their understanding of teacher quality But when adequate leadership, skill, and and working on the issue without reser- knowledge are in place, let them get to vation. To accomplish this aim would the issue and determine the resource require that unions create a legally sanc- applications their students need. If you tioned due-process mechanism for protecting teachers that is separate and dis- tinct from unions as local collective bar- The trade-off here is very straight- gaining agents. This change would alter the adverse cir- forward; set the accountability bench- cle in place – that each grievance leads marks, provide the resources, and hold to a contract provision. Each protection of an incompetent teacher weakens the people accountable. local union’s credibility in the district and in the community. Local political leaders are aware of it and so are parents and the public.

26 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue What might be considered is the cre- in teaching has shifted because of the ation of a defense “office” that would be removal of the glass ceiling and the countywide, statewide, or districtwide, mitigation of racism. Talented people in which collective bargaining agree- of color and women are no longer con- ments would allocate funds to support a fined to the teaching, nursing, or secre- group of professionals – like a medical tarial arenas. We are no longer in a situ- review board – who would be responsi- ation where women and people of color ble for protecting teachers charged with are paid differently and dramatically so. incompetence or conduct violations. The top two-thirds of college classes are no longer entering teaching. This would lift the individual dispute to an administrative setting removed We need to increase the compensation from the local political and professional level – at the beginning, middle, and situation. It would provide continuous end of the spectrum. We need a pay sys- due process for teachers without tem that would pay $150,000 to our distorting the union’s involvement in teachers who succeed in teaching our improving teacher quality and student most at-risk students. Teachers have not achievement. broken through because of lockstep Build bridges with newer union industrial salary arrangements. There is members no profession that pays significant Internal polls of n e a and a f t show compensation to its practitioners that that both younger and newer teachers does not at some point link compensa- are not where diehard industrial union- tion to performance. ists were and remain. There is emerging Create career ladders a whole different set of attitudes and The way in which we ought to approach professional aspirations. The mismatch pay for performance, however, is to between traditional unionism and start from another end of the problem. Gen Xers is significant and offers an Changes in compensation should be tied opportunity to support innovative union to changes in duties and responsibilities policies. in the context of professional teams. The Rethink compensation creation of new career ladders, geared to One other suggestion pertains to com- improve productivity and facilitate pro- pensation. How do we increase teacher fessional mentoring, is needed. This is pay and at the same time increase so not only because of the potential of teacher accountability? These are critical new career ladders to change models of issues on which labor and management have much to say, but neither typically says anything at all. The labor market

Alan Bersin 27 compensation, but also because educa- Toward Teacher tional delivery systems associated with teaching and learning are in significant Professionalism need of overhaul, renovation, and mod- If we’re serious about teacher profession- ernization. alism, we must sooner or later attach to There is no need to insist on maintain- the occupation some of these features ing one teacher for one class with one and dimensions. We need to pay high set of students during the entire school levels of compensation in return for the day, except because of force of habit. A successful resolution of instructional better way of structuring instruction problems by a professional teacher. might be a team of teachers, led by a Why should we not compensate teach- master teacher, that has responsibility ers who significantly raise academic for 150 children. This team would shape achievement for students who are far the instructional day to the needs of below basic – who bring them up to children and allocate teaching talent proficient and can do so, year in and based on the needs of the instructional year out? If we don’t acknowledge that program. That would permit us not value and compensate that value added, only to begin to modernize the educa- we’ll continue to wait for progress in the tional delivery system, but would also sector. start to generate concepts of suitable Legislatures can provide resourced career ladders for educators. This devel- incentives to proceed down these paths opment, in turn, would open up possi- – and can do so on a large-enough scale bilities for differential pay on a glide so that we’re not talking about pilots. path to merit pay. This scenario com- We can start to encourage the seismic pares well with the rocky road we’re changes that many union and district currently on regarding “pay for perform- leaders recognize need to happen – ance” that seems destined not to pro- Albert Shanker, for example, would have duce any positive result in the foresee- stated the case more precisely and much able future. more eloquently than I can. Professions are based on accountability and high standards. With that comes status and Professions are based on accounta- compensation – not by reason of power bility and high standards. With that and process, but because of the results our society seeks and secures. comes status and compensation.

28 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue An Interview with Randi Weingarten Randi Weingarten met with Kris Kurtenbach

and Gloria Frazier of Collaborative

Communications Group on November 7,

2006, the day after agreement was reached

on a two-year contract that would boost the

most experienced New York City teachers’

salaries to more than $100,000 and would

mean that between 2002 and 2009, teacher

salaries will have risen by at least 40 percent.

Weingarten said that the current conversation

on merit pay presupposes a condition that is

not valid for teachers, whom she says work in

a framework of social justice, not capitalism.

Weingarten also said she wants to put an end

to the debate of whether unions will or should

exist and focus, instead, on creating a climate

of collaboration. And she outlined what it

would take to develop an environment in

which collective bargaining could be used to

move toward a commitment to collective

responsibility. Collaborative Communications Group: Describe where you think collective bargaining is today and how you see it as a help or a hindrance to getting all students to achieve at high levels. Randi Weingarten: There has been a shift of responsibility – without the wherewithal – onto individual schools and individual schoolteachers. It’s been both good and bad. The good news is that society has said, through the President and many other elected leaders, that schooling is important for all kids. There is universal acknowledgment of that now. It used to be just us progressives who said that! But all of a sudden, now the capitalists think that too because given how information and goods and services and commerce can be transmitted so quickly, you do have a global economy. And you no longer can have, in the United States of America, good working- and middle- class jobs without having at least a Randi Weingarten is president of the United decent high school education. Conse- Federation of Teachers, representing more than quently, the economic transition has 140,000 active and retired educators in the New now pushed a political transition: York City public school system since 1998. She is regardless of where you are on the politi- also a vice president of the 1.2 million-member cal spectrum, you realize that kids have American Federation of Teachers and a board member of New York State United Teachers. She to have good, decent educations. So served on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's transition that’s the good news. committee following his election in 2001. Previ- The bad news is: There is an ideological ously, Weingarten was a high school history template in terms of how to get all kids teacher in Brooklyn, where she helped her students win several state and national awards. educated. And so you see a whole bunch Before becoming a teacher, she practiced law in of people say, “If those teachers just New York. worked harder, all kids would learn.” It

30 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue just shows an absence of understanding and knowledge about the education of Teachers work plenty hard, and con- children. So that’s one line of argument. tracts help create fairness that enables The second line of argument is: “And if we didn’t have collective bargaining con- teachers to work effectively. tracts, we wouldn’t have impediments.” For people in the trenches – rank-and- file educators, people who woke up one piece there. They may not talk about it day and said, “I want to be a school- that way. They may talk about it in teacher” – both arguments are wrong. terms of “I care about kids.” Teachers work plenty hard, and con- So when you start compensating them tracts help create fairness that enables based on a capitalist or entrepreneurial teachers to work effectively. How can model, that’s not the incentive base that you say that somebody who came into they work on. They work on an incen- education to make a difference in the tive base that says, “This is my social lives of kids is not working hard contract: I will work really hard because enough? I love this work. Give me the conditions that I need to do my job well. And give The Right Incentives me a middle-class salary so that my family does better than my parents did.” It What’s pay-for-performance about? “We doesn’t matter if you talk to new teach- give you this incentive to work harder.” ers, teachers of the X generation, the Y It’s totally antithetical to who school- generation, the baby boomers. If you teachers are. People make a decision to persist with them, you’ll hear that same become schoolteachers not because they message repeated over and over again. are entrepreneurs; they make a decision What’s the root of this big push on to become schoolteachers because they these kinds of incentives? It’s rooted in want to make a difference in the lives of two things. One, there’s not enough to children. pay everybody, so let’s pay just a few. The whole notion of merit pay – I’m And second, it’s rooted in: If manage- not talking skill and knowledge differen- ment does this sorting process, it will tials, I’m talking about paying people for motivate people to work harder. Both of the test scores of their students – pre- those notions are problematic for us. supposes a condition that just is not valid for teachers. By and large, teachers go into teaching to make a difference in the lives of kids. There is a social justice

Randi Weingarten 31 thousands of different decisions (if Contracts are annoying for the same you’re really good at it) in a differentiated manner over the course of a day. reasons democracy is annoying: It’s And the person who has a real stake in annoying to engage and give everyone it – the person who feels on top of her a voice. game, who feels like she has the confidence to teach, the knowledge to teach, is willing to take risks and be totally in It’s so easy for conservatives to say – just it – that person is going to be a far bet- like they do in the corporate sector – ter teacher than someone who is always just get rid of the union and get rid of looking over her shoulder and thinking, the contract. It’s no different than some- “Oh my goodness, what will the super- body wanting not to be bothered or visor say? Am I doing my ten minutes hampered by workers having a voice of guided reading or direct instruction anywhere. I am sure that contracts are the right way? Am I doing my whole- annoying. And that union presidents language script or direct-instruction like me, or union officers and chapter script?” They script the teacher’s behav- leaders, are annoying to managers ior, not the content. But scripts are because they have to engage. They have scripts. to engage in a conversation; they can’t So, who do you think is the better just unilaterally implement ideas. I’m teacher? The person who says, “I got my sure it is annoying for the same reasons content down; I have a toolkit of how I democracy is annoying: It’s annoying to transmit this information so I can differ- engage and give everyone a voice. entiate based on the kids in my class- But the payoff is huge – because educa- room; and I have the latitude to do tors are physicians of the mind. In any things in the way I see fit” – is that the classroom you’re in, a classroom teacher better teacher, or is the better teacher is managing somewhere between fifteen the one who is scared silly that she is and thirty, or thirty-five, or forty young going to be rated unsatisfactory because minds. You are trying to pull out infor- her classroom is not arranged in groups, mation from them. You are trying to because the bulletin boards aren’t done engage them. So you are a physician of as prescribed, or because the mandated the mind. And you are making and number of minutes in a particular lesson dealing with probably hundreds, if not has not been followed? What I would say is that collective bargaining can create a huge opportunity

32 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue here, where the focus is on quality and trusting, less “gotcha” environment, giving qualified teachers the professional teachers would not be fearful of the latitude they need. The collective bar- word accountability. gaining process can actually be used in a hugely positive way to try and focus on CCG: What would it take to create that envi- what needs to be focused on. And in ronment? this environment, what needs to be RW: Last year, we did a lot of so-called focused on is teacher quality. contract reforms. Joel Klein’s responsibility was to implement them fairly and Sharing Responsibility creatively, not as a way to do “gotcha.” You have to be very careful when you and Accountability are seen as having more authority. You CCG: So you would move collective bargain- can’t be abusive. This is why the pendu- ing in a direction similar to what you did lum is now swinging back the other in this most recent contract? way. I saw it in terms of other things, too. RW: The new contract is about respect and We created a swap of time in 1995, so stability. The teachers do not trust man- that teachers were no longer monitoring agement because they have been treated the cafeteria or halls, but doing profes- in such an arbitrary and unfair manner. sional things instead. It’s a huge, very Some of that’s because of No Child Left positive change. But principals didn’t Behind and the focus on test scores to know how to use the time. So they the exclusion of all else. Some of it is advocated for teachers going back to the because of the climate created by the cafeteria. It’s ridiculous. city’s chancellor, in which teachers don’t feel respected for their work. Our mem- I’ll give you another example – profes- bers like this contract; but with the sional development. We had professional exception of the salaries and new peer development in the 2002 contract: fifty intervention program proposals, it is not innovative. Innovation requires trust, and right now that is in short supply. If we could create a more trusting, less So the big difference is not in where the “gotcha” environment, teachers would responsibility lies but in how. Because if you’re willing, we can use the collective not be fearful of the word accountability. bargaining process to share responsibility and share accountability. And I would argue that if we could create a more

Randi Weingarten 33 minutes a week of professional develop- where it worked. And in those places, ment and fifty minutes a week of small- they are angry that they lost it. group tutoring. That’s what we agreed Unfortunately, the conversations at the to. On the tutoring, the mayor got criti- bargaining table and in implementation cized, because not every single student are always about the abusers, not about was going to get small-group tutoring. figuring out how to enhance learning And so, instead of fighting it out and and teaching conditions for the vast saying, “it’s important that kids who are majority of people who do a good job. falling behind get small-group tutoring,” The union wants to curb abusive super- the city immediately said we should visors, and management says it wants to make it full-class instruction. And we stop what it perceives as people taking said, “That’s not what the deal was; advantage. we’re not going to do that.” And the so-called professional develop- Union-Designed Charter ment – instead of looking at this as fifty minutes that could be used for common Schools CCG: How do you change that paradigm? RW: First, there has to be trust and respect. You could use a chartering process to One reason I like the public charter experiment with how to cope with these schools (when there is not the issue of union versus non-union) is that I think new paradigms, focusing on teacher you could use a chartering process to quality and professionalism and on the experiment with how to cope with these new paradigms, focusing on teacher union’s role in those things. quality and professionalism and on the union’s role in those things.

planning time, or as a time to do things We have two charter schools. It’s not teachers really needed and time to allow perfect. The philosophy behind our teachers to engage with one another – charter schools is that the union con- instead of doing it that way, it was top- tract is an aid, not an obstacle. It’s the down, patronizing, condescending. So if same contract as for all schools. The you talk about professional development contract itself has a school-based option in my membership these days, you get a waiver process. So it can be imple- collective “yuck,” except in some places mented differently, based on the site.

CCG: What’s different about how the union or management are working in those

34 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue charters? And what you are learning that real. The State University of New York can go forward? forced me to be the chair of the board of the charter schools. They said, “You have RW: It was a democratic process. We to have direct accountability, not indi- started with a rank-and-file committee, rect.” So, I am the chair of the board. plus some staff people, many of whom were the nay-sayers: “We hate charter So, the responsibility here is that it’s very schools!” Frankly, there are some charter important to me to have an arms-length schools that I really disliked, too. But relationship with the staff, so that they some people said, “Let’s put our money know the collective bargaining contract where our mouth is. We have this prevails. In some ways, it’s a safeguard teacher center. We know what we’re for us. We believed that collective bar- doing.” They came up with a design of gaining was a positive, not a negative – an elementary and a secondary school, that you could use the contract and the and we went to the delegate assembly, flexibility that the contract provides as two meetings of this 3,000-member an opportunity to take risks. Because body. The first meeting (January) was to when you have a contract that’s fair and put it out there and the second meeting (February) was to take a vote. Because we thought this was such a significant When you have a contract that’s fair change in policy, we wanted to make sure the delegates had the information and people have trust in it, then you cre- ahead of time. ate conditions for teachers to take risks. And it was an amazing process. The vote was 95 percent to 5 percent. The people have trust in it, then you create committee did a presentation, not me; I conditions for teachers to take risks. just presided over the debate. The u f t Delegate Assembly voted to give us the Remember what I said about “physicians authority to submit a charter school of the mind.” You want a teacher walk- proposal. By doing it in this manner, it ing in who has the confidence to take a was clear that the members, through the risk, the confidence to say: “Let me try delegate body (there’s one delegate for this. Let me see if it works. Oh, shoot, it every sixty members), gave us the doesn’t work; let me try something else.” authority to proceed. You want people who spend their nights thinking, “This didn’t work, but if I try We wanted to prove that the contract is not an obstacle. The responsibility became that of the leadership to make it

Randi Weingarten 35 this, maybe it will.” Somebody who will it was creating a climate of teacher pro- go into a common planning time and fessionalism and teacher voice. And part say to other teachers, “You know, this of it is creating a climate of parental thing didn’t work, but this really responsibility and input – then finding worked, and somebody else should try the resources so that the teachers not it.” So it’s the confidence to take a risk only feel confident to take a risk, but and to share. Part of the charter is creat- also have the resources to do their jobs. ing that climate; the collective bargain- The two charter schools are in East New ing agreement doesn’t create it on its York (Brooklyn). I’m a secondary school own, but it’s a huge plus. educator and a lawyer. So I’m not going CCG: Do you see it happening? to pretend or profess to understand how to do this for elementary school chil- RW: Yes. I see it happening more this year dren. The staff spent a lot of time creat- than last year in the elementary school. ing and then perfecting that positive cli- The secondary school is quite different mate model. And what has happened is and had a smoother opening than the that this year, when you walk into the elementary. We actually learned a lot elementary school, the teachers feel that from our mistakes last year. You have to they “got it.” Even the new teachers. We work the climate all the time. You have have the more experienced teachers lots of people – and people together in paired up with new teachers. There’s a any organization can become a dysfunc- mentoring process and things like that. tional family. But you want them to be a They spent a lot of time on that. And family. You hope that you are creating they also lowered class size in the lower enough of a positive climate and that grades. they feel that way. Part of this was the collective bargaining agreement. Part of We also spent a lot of time focusing on the culture of the school – especially in terms of behavioral methodologies. We You have to work the climate all the have a very positive behavioral reinforce- ment process called c r e s t and paid a time. You have lots of people – and lot of attention to promoting positive any organization can become a behaviors. dysfunctional family. But you want them to be a family.

36 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue Taking Innovation to Scale Both sides have to agree on a goal you CCG: How might you take it to scale? both want. Both sides have to walk in RW: You cannot take any of this to scale unless there is trust. I’m sorry to each other’s shoes. dampen people’s views on this. There is no way to take things to scale unless others thought: We’re going to get the management is willing to walk in the union out of there. Now whenever you shoes of labor and unless unions and attack the viability of somebody’s exis- members feel the same responsibility as tence, of course they’re going to fight public management does. You need to back. When someone says, “I want to have that trust on both sides. destroy you. Will you cooperate with us We don’t have it on either side. There in trying to destroy you?” – who would are individual schools that have it. But answer that question by saying, “Fine, when you bring something to scale, roll right over me”? both sides have to take responsibility. And what tends to happen these days is CCG: How can both sides get together on cre- that the more a union leader takes it, if ating a collective bargaining agreement the management side does not, then the that is not negative? union leader is in peril. You can’t do it RW: Both sides have to agree on a goal you on your own. both want. Say that goal is teacher qual- The easiest role for a union leader is to ity. Then figure out how to get there, say no; the easiest role for management and what your needs and limitations are. is to blame the union. And then figure out what the other side’s needs and limitations are. Both CCG: The relational issues between union sides have to walk in each other’s shoes. leader and superintendent are key. You might not be able to live with each RW: Relationships are key. There’s always a other’s needs; you may be frustrated by power relationship that exists, but there the other side’s limitations; but you have has to be a trusting relationship, where to put all of that on the table. And I you trust and respect the other side’s have to articulate management’s needs as role and responsibility and display a well as I can articulate my own. And willingness to compromise as a way to vice versa. It’s the only way to get to an further the work – in this instance, help- implementable result. And then you can ing children learn. For a long time in say, “This is what we do, this is what we New York City, I think that Joel and a need – where’s the common ground?” lot of conservatives and foundations and

Randi Weingarten 37 started this. We said to uncertified If teacher quality is important, then what teachers, “We’ll help you get your certi- fication, but it’s not acceptable to have are all the things that help promote uncertified teachers.” teacher quality – pay, safe schools, Then, in 2004, in that a b n y speech, I lower class size? You put all of that stuff proposed another iteration of this p i p program. I said, “Look, let’s have inter- on the table and try to figure out how to veners work with people who are strug- address each issue. gling in the classroom. And if they can’t help them, let the fact that they tried and failed be admissible in a disciplinary Because if you actually want to get some- hearing.” Because if teacher quality thing that works, then it’s less about really is important, then it’s important what’s written in the paper. It’s not about in both ways: it’s important in the posi- what happens the day the contract is tive way, and it’s important in the nega- announced. It’s about what happens in tive way. the schools and how it gets implemented So that’s the kind of thing you could and whether people have a stake and buy actually get to in an exercise. If teacher into it. quality is important, then what are all the things that help promote teacher CCG: So the work really starts after the con- quality – pay, safe schools, lower class tract is negotiated. size? You put all of that stuff out on the RW: That’s how get to scale. Take our peer table and you try to figure out how we intervention program [p i p]. If you read address each of these issues. Indeed, our my Association for a Better New York new contract has adopted a form of this [a b n y] speech, you’ll see that in 1987, p i p proposal at the same time as it we embraced a peer intervention process. raises salaries to $100,000 for experi- This was a way to help floundering enced teachers. tenured teachers. We would mentor them, and if we couldn’t help, we would A Commitment to counsel them out of the profession. And some of my members were scared. Collective Responsibility They’d say things like, “People are going A union might say to you, “We need to to see us make mistakes,” or, “This will address all these issues.” You might erode due process.” Sandy [Feldman] think the union would say, “Just raise salaries.” Management would say, “Just

38 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue get rid of bad teachers.” But the best put pressure on them, and if they do deal would be one where you have the well, we’ll reward them.” It’s clever. It’s trust to address both. not terribly dissimilar to the Bush administration saying, “We’ll get rid of CCG: That’s a shift of paradigm in this Social Security and you can do your country. own investing.” RW: Right. The shift is superintendents It’s this whole notion of individual ver- acting “tough” with teachers. Superin- sus collective responsibility. I’m a big tendents get up and say, “You know, I’m believer in collective responsibility. not like those old superintendents. I There are some people – and God bless know that we have to fire bad teachers. them – who become rich and have all And I will fire bad teachers. And I the individual responsibility and author- will go against the union to fire bad ity they want. But for most of society, teachers!” American democracy is based on collec- So what if management says that? Man- tive responsibility. We cede some of our agement saying that is just like my say- individual rights to have collective ing, “Management is terrible. They are responsibility and representative democ- the ones who are incompetent, not the racy. That’s not socialism; that’s not teachers. What really matters here is that communism. That’s ceding certain teachers need a raise. They work hard, things to have a democratic structure. so they need more money.” That’s like Hillary Clinton and others saying, “It takes a village.“ That’s not crossing the Rubicon. It’s not crossing the Rubicon when a c e o or an CCG: Focus on the implementation phase entrepreneur says, “Let me start a char- versus the collective bargaining ter school.” It’s crossing the Rubicon contract–signing phase. Legislative types when a union leader says, “I will be an entrepreneur and take responsibility for what this charter school looks like.” And American democracy is based on col- I said, “Tell me, New York Post (for lective responsibility. We cede some of example), who has taken as much risk on your side of the debate as I have our individual rights to have representa- taken to do this?” tive democracy. The paradigm right now is: Education is important and we need to help all kids. So today some people are saying, “Let those teachers do their job. And we’ll

Randi Weingarten 39 tend to think that once the contract’s how many years? Each year, a new signed, that’s the incentive to make change. panacea gets implemented top-down; But the contract is only a limited numbers and then when it “fails,” it’s replaced by piece; it doesn’t drive trust. a new fad.

RW: Look at the difference between Tony CCG: Just to close on the charter piece, you Alvarado’s lack of success in San Diego had said you hoped to have indirect, not versus his success in New York. Why direct, authority. At the end of the day, do was Tony so successful in New York? you still think one is better than the other? Tony had a partner in the u f t – first Sandy Feldman and then me – who said RW: It could have gone either way. I that failure was not an option. And frankly would argue that given my time when all the pushback happened, as it constraints (since the accountability always does when there is change – even would have been there anyway), it with positive change, you are going to would have been better if it had been get pushback and you try to work delegated authority. The chair would through it – when the pushback hap- have been someone who could devote pened, we engaged. Tony didn’t have more time to it. I would argue that dele- that in San Diego. The blaming and fin- gated authority can be just as effective as ger pointing happened instead. direct authority. The governor is not the chair of every single task force or agency. The only way to effect change systemati- The governor appoints people who have cally is when people see that it really can delegated authority. work. So you start with models that people can touch, can feel, and can put CCG: So there’s the importance of making it their arms around. Instead, schoolteach- public. ers have seen the “fad of the year” for, RW: What you want is transparency. The term accountability has been manipulated and, like professional development, The term accountability has been though it is good, it has a negative cast manipulated and has a negative cast to to it. Public accountability is a good thing, except when it’s used as a weapon it. Public accountability is a good thing, – when it’s used as a sword against peo- except when it’s used as a weapon. ple – instead of as a way to create a collective responsibility. That’s why people fear it rather than embrace it.

40 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue CCG: What do you see as the state role here? The Tasks Ahead RW: Whether or not there should be CCG: What next steps would you suggest in unions should not be a debate. We are regard to N C L B and state accountability? here to stay. In terms of the state role, if you want to create incentives, I RW: There is a two-step answer. First, we would create incentives that promote need to get the balance right. Right collaboration. The state can’t imple- now, the balance is too skewed toward ment, but it can create a climate and an testing in math and English. I’m not environment. sure how much teaching is going on in the schools in the United States of CCG: What would be an example of an America, even in English and math, incentive for collaboration? because the consequences for not doing RW: The school district would get a signif- well on standardized tests are so great icant infusion of funds, a grant, if they that in many schools and classrooms, worked together with the collective bar- education has been transformed into gaining agent about how that money simply test prep, test prep, and more would be spent. That would be a pretty test prep. big incentive to work together. Of The second step is the balance of course, the state would earmark it for an accountability as a process for continu- education reform area, such as teacher ous improvement versus accountability quality. The union might want it ear- as such a punitive measure that we are marked for teaching and learning incentivizing really bad behavior, such conditions; namely, what it is that teach- as test prepping and cheating. ers need to do their jobs or what schools need to do their jobs. But the money’s CCG: What could happen in N C L B or at the not available unless there is a plan for state level to shift that balance? how they work together and do the follow-up steps, the implementation. Consequently, it puts the pressure on Implementation of NCLB on the federal, both sides to talk about how to use resources effectively. state, and local levels has not worked as envisioned. Part of that is money, part is implementation issues, and part is how the law was initially launched.

Randi Weingarten 41 Now here’s a really controversial subject, We want virtually all kids to succeed. and one I’m not sure how I feel about. Why not look at the n a e p tests and Nobody is going to accept a 50 per- make them a single, national academic cent, 60 percent, 70 percent gradua- testing standard? There are negatives and positives to that – lots of them. But hav- tion rate. ing the conversation is important. As I said before, I believe we’re assessing more than we’re teaching. And tests are a key RW: We need to come up with a different to that measurement. Yet if you want measure of what constitutes success and standards, you need to have measures so failure. That’s why AYP needs to be you know what kids can do. reevaluated. The notion of transparency, When I talk about the balance between the notion of looking at kids individu- testing and teaching, I mean that we’ve ally, the notion of focusing on achieve- seen far too much narrowing of the ment gaps – all those notions, in the curriculum – in terms of both a con- abstract, work. What happens is that tent-rich curriculum and variety (social implementation on the federal, state, studies, science, and art). and local levels has not worked as envisioned. Part of that is money, part is Incremental, sustainable change implementation issues, and part is how CCG: Those issues come up all the time in the law was initially launched. national hearings and community forums. But you don’t hear a lot of discussion CCG: So dialogue at the state level could help about what to do about it. People are to start to address that. happy that test scores go up but, more and RW: All states have to have accountability more, the public and educators are very systems. Look at the dialogue that critical of the over-reliance on testing. started on standards. It started with What do we do instead? the state governors. It started with Bill RW: You have to figure out how to change Clinton and Al Shanker and others. It the conversation. The best long-term started with the governors saying, “How success in education is incremental and can we do this? What’s the midcourse sustainable. The same is true with most correction?” And they see it in their public issues. Take crime. When crime states that way. goes down incrementally, the governor stands up and says, “Great! That’s success.” Nobody expects there is going to

42 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue be a murder rate of zero. In the city of to incentivize improvement that is incre- New York, when there are fewer than mental and sustainable. Right now, the 700 murders in a year, that’s success. climate is: “If you don’t make ayp, hor- rible things will happen.” But in education, we want virtually all kids to succeed. So nobody is going to Beyond literacy and numeracy accept a 50 percent, 60 percent, 70 per- CCG: Teachers in the field are starting to cent graduation rate. We say and believe make the point that measuring growth is that virtually every child must succeed. important. We often hear it more in teach- Our obligation is to help all kids. So ers’ language than in leaders’ language. this is where the rubber hits the road. Nobody is going to be able to say: RW: Teachers get it. But what teachers also “Sixty, seventy percent graduation, that’s get is that education has to be more than great.” No governor can get up and say literacy and numeracy. We have a job in that. But what I’m saying is, each year public education to help kids develop you want to see incremental, sustainable social and life skills. Kids need a sense of progress, however you define that. right and wrong and to know that there are consequences for bad behavior. We If the incentive is in the public praise need to help them learn how to be on when you get galloping scores, well, time and how to dress and how to take that’s what makes testing, testing, testing responsibility. Whatever you call that, the dominant dynamic. I don’t know that’s taken a back seat to the focus on about the rest of the country, but look math and English test scores. at the scores in New York City. In the third, fourth, and fifth grades, they go You start it when kids are in kinder- steadily up. Then, after that, they go garten. How do kids play? Playtime was down. Some would argue you can test about social development. It was about prep to get to better results in the lower getting along with others. Playtime has grades, but you cannot test prep to get been squeezed out of kindergarten. You to better results in the mid-level to see it in boys. Many are bored to death upper-level grades where kids need higher-order thinking skills. We did a survey and found there was The best long-term success in education more test prep per week in New York is incremental and sustainable. City elementary schools than there was social studies and science teaching com- bined. So, the accountability system has

Randi Weingarten 43 myth perpetuated in the last few years The teacher union leaders I know talk that if we put enough pressure on, the unions will be gone. That’s not going to about how to help all kids learn. We happen. But those who believe that will look at collaborative collective bargain- never engage with a union in construc- tive dialogue on how to promote stu- ing as the vehicle to do that – and we dent achievement. talk about how the union can facilitate CCG: You hope to bring focus to a shift in this process. thinking about professionalism. RW: Really think about who teachers are. The focus must be on how to promote in junior high school with double peri- and honor professionalism. Educators ods of English and math. We’ve been are not entrepreneurs; they are people saying, “Why don’t we engage them in who believe in helping children learn. music and art and other things that kids They want to be treated fairly and given care about?” the wherewithal to do their jobs well. What we do in our secondary charter Your question about scalability pushed school is that we have an internship me to think about implementation and each week: teachers during that time can trust. So the third thing I want to leave do professional development; the stu- people with is this: there are many of us dents tutor younger kids in reading. who would be quite willing, in a trustful Here’s an idea: maybe there should be environment, to take collective responsi- a requirement that all kids have an bility. The teacher union leaders I know internship – maybe do it in junior talk about how to help all kids learn. We high school, to help build a sense of look at collaborative collective bargain- citizenship. ing as the vehicle to do that – and we talk about how the union can facilitate Promoting teacher professionalism this process. We talk about how you CCG: What is the one thing you want others treat teachers as professionals, because to get from this conversation? they are the opportunity agents. RW: I want to change people’s opinions. Unions are not the enemy. If that does- n’t happen, positive educational change won’t happen. The teacher unions are not going away. We have to debunk the

44 Collective Bargaining in Public Education: A New Dialogue Appendices

Conference Agenda

Conference Participants

m e e ting age n d a

A New Dialogue: Collective Bargaining in Public Education Hyatt Regency on Goat Island | Newport, Rhode Island | December 10-11, 2006

S u n d a y, December 10 At the international tennis hall of fame (trolley service provided from and to the Hyatt)

7:00 p.m. d i n n e r Welcome by Dane Linn, Director, Education Division, n g a Center for Best Practices Welcome by the Honorable Donald L. Carcieri, Governor of Rhode Island keynote address "What Next? Collective Bargaining and the Evolution of the Teaching Profession" speaker: Marc Tucker, President, National Center on Education and the Economy

M o n d a y, December 11 At the hyatt regency on goat island

7:00 a.m. continental breakfast foye r 8:00 a.m. opening presentation b a l l r oom a–b Welcome by Dane Linn, Director, Education Division, n g a Center for Best Practices Welcome by Valerie Forti, President, The Education Partnership

Collective Bargaining in Education: Negotiating Change in Today’s Schools speaker: Andrew J. Rotherham, Co-Director, Education Sector This session will provide an overview of the role that collective bargaining has played and the influence it has had on education. Mr. Rotherham will provide an overview of the findings and issues presented in a book that carries the same title as this session and presents a variety of viewpoints on the issues at hand. The presentation will provide a foundation of information for the day’s discussions.

9:00 a.m. panel discussion i b a l l r oom a–b State Law: The Context for Bargaining State laws dealing with collective bargaining vary considerably, and these laws shape the role that teachers’ unions play in each state and determine what gets negotiated in collective bargaining agreements. In turn, these agreements have an impact on how education is delivered and, ultimately, on teaching and learning. The panelists will provide their perspectives on a range of issues including the effect of state laws on the scope of negotiations in their states. panelists: Alan Bersin, California Secretary of Education Randi Weingarten, President, United Federation of Teachers, New York City 10:30 a.m. moderator: Warren Simmons, Executive Director, Annenberg Institute for School Reform

1 M o n d a y, December 11 continued 10:30 a.m. b r e a k foye r 10:45 a.m. panel discussion ii b a l l r oom a–b Challenges and Opportunities Traditionally, discussions about collective bargaining were approached from either a pro-labor or anti-labor position. In recent years, research has confirmed the impact of teachers on student learning and has highlighted the inequitable distribution of experienced and more effective teachers among schools. Whatever the initial good intentions, collective bargaining in education is increasingly seen as posing barriers to education reform and improved student achievement. What is the role of collective bargaining in education today? What are the implications for state efforts to improve teaching and learning? Panelists will discuss the scope of collective bargaining in the context of their states’ policies and negotiated outcomes in areas such as teacher working conditions, evaluation, assignment and dismissal, principal management of schools, and improved student achievement. panelists: Marcia Reback, President, Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals Richard Stutman, President, Boston Teachers Union Gene Wilhoit, Executive Director, Council of Chief State School Officers moderator: Peter McWalters, Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education

12:15 p.m. luncheon presentation b a l l room c–d A New Compensation Model in Denver, Colorado introduction:Kenneth K. Wong, Director, Urban Education Policy Program, Brown University speaker: Brad Jupp, Senior Academic Policy Advisor, Denver Public Schools, former member of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and member of the Denver ProComp Design Team Mr. Jupp is a former classroom teacher and union leader actively involved in the design and pilot of the ProComp teacher pay system in Denver. ProComp is a collaborative project of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and the Denver Public Schools and provides an interesting example of innovative practices for supporting teachers and promoting student learning. Mr. Jupp will discuss his experience with ProComp, explain the challenges of implementing this program in the context of Colorado’s collective bargaining policy, and share the lessons policy-makers in other states can learn from this local experiment. discussant: Louise A. Sundin, Past-President, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and 1:30 p.m. Co-Director, Teacher Union Reform Network

2 M o n d a y, December 11 continued 1:30 p.m. panel discussion iii b a l l r oom a–b National and Research Perspectives Panelists will discuss what their research and experiences tell us about the impact of the collective bargaining process on teaching and learning. panelists: Julia Koppich, Education Consultant Michael Podgursky, University of Missouri Michelle Rhee, President, The New Teacher Project Adam Urbanski, Director, Teacher Union Reform Network, and President, Rochester Teachers Association moderator: Bridget Curran, Program Director, N G A Center for Best Practices

3:00 p.m. state team and small group discussions b a l l r oom c–d introduction: Valerie Forti, President, The Education Partnership Participants will divide up according to state teams or in small groups of individuals to reflect on the day’s presentations and on collective bargaining in their own states. Facilitators will help guide the discussions and will ask participants to consider such questions as: What are the key issues or concerns in our/my state? What impact do collective bargaining laws have on negotiations and, ultimately, teaching and learning? What changes might we consider?

4:45 p.m. wrap-up and next steps b a l l r oom c–d Dane Linn will summarize key lessons and next steps from the conference and offer information 5:00 p.m. about assistance and information available to help state leaders with their next steps.

3 p a r ticipants list A New Dialogue: Collective Bargaining in Public Education

Warren Simmons s p e a k e r s / m o d e r a t o r s / p a n e l i s t s Executive Director Alan Bersin Annenberg Institute for School Reform Secretary of Education California State Government Richard Stutman President Bridget Curran Boston (MA) Teachers Union Program Director, Education Division n g a Center for Best Practices Louise Sundin Co-Diretor Valerie Forti Teacher Union Reform Network President The Education Partnership Marc Tucker President Brad Jupp National Center on Education and the Economy Senior Adademic Policy Advisor Denver Public Schools Adam Urbanski President, Rochester (NY) Teachers Association Julia Koppich Director, Teacher Union Reform Network Education Consultant Randi Weingarten Dane Linn President Director, Education Division United Federation of Teachers, New York City n g a Center for Best Practices Gene Wilhoit Peter McWalters Executive Director Commissioner Council of Chief State School Officers Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Kenneth K. Wong Director, Urban Education Policy Program Michael Podgursky Brown University Professor, Department of Economics University of Missouri–Columbia Marcia Reback national part i c i p a n t s President Judith Berg RI Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals Education Program Officer Michelle Rhee Wallace Foundation c e o & President Leo Casey The New Teacher Project United Federation of Teachers Andrew J. Rotherham Lori Crouch Co-Director Assistant Director Education Sector Education Writers Association

1 Dana Egreczky D E L AWA R E Vice President, Workforce Development Emily Falcon New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Budget Analyst Kris Kurtenbach Office of Management & Budget Partner and Founder Jerry Gallagher Collaborative Communications Group_ Director of Finance Sandra Licon Delaware Department of Education Policy Officer for Education Paul Herdman Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation President and c e o John Luczak Rodel Foundation of Delaware Program Officer, Education Michael Morton Joyce Foundation Chief of Fiscal Policy & Analysis Ray McInerney Office of Controller General State Policy Analyst Jack Polidori National Education Association Delaware State Education Association Dennis Slaughter Marvin Schoenhals Organizational Specialist c e o National Education Association w s f s Bank Kate Walsh Jeff Taschner President General Counsel National Council on Teacher Quality Delaware State Education Association Constancia Warren Director, Urban School Reform Initiative I N D I A N A Carnegie Corporation of New York Marcie Brown Policy Director for Education Ruth Wattenberg Office of Governor Daniels Editor, American Educator American Federation of Teachers M A I N E Jay Dwyer Deputy Executive Director p a r ticipants by state Maine Education Association CO N N E C T I C U T Susan Gendron Kevin Hennessey Commissioner Staff Attorney Maine Department of Education Connecticut Business and Industry Association Mark Gray Lauren Weisberg Kaufman Executive Director Vice President Maine Education Association Connecticut Business and Industry Association Joe Stupak Mark Stapleton Director of Collective Bargaining Director, Legal Affairs Maine Education Association Department of Education Richard Voigt, Esq. McCarter & English, l l p

2 M A S S A C H U S E T TS RHODE ISL A N D David Driscoll David Abbott Commissioner Deputy Commissioner Massachusetts Department of Education Rhode Island Department of Education Jill Norton Andy Andrade Assistant Director Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy Legislative Affairs Rhode Island Department of Education Paul Reville President Mike Ayotte Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy Director of Government Affairs c v s Corporation Jeffrey Wilson Associate Commissioner Leo Blais Massachusetts Department of Education State Senator Rhode Island General Assembly Lisa Blais M I C H I G A N Director of Contract Research and Negotiation Sue Carnell Programs Education Advisor The Education Partnership Office of Governor Granholm Colleen Callahan Member N E W YO R K Rhode Island Board of Regents James A. Williams Superintendent Robert Camara Buffalo Public Schools Member Rhode Island Board of Regents O H I O Anna Cano-Morales Craig Cotner Senior Program Officer Assistant Superintendent The Rhode Island Foundation Cleveland Public School District David Cicilline Joanne DeMarco Mayor, City of Providence Cleveland Teachers Union Vice Chair, U.S. Council of Mayors Cleveland Public Schools Michael Cronan Mary Lou Prescott Director of Legislative Affairs Third Vice President, Senior High & Special Office of Governor Carcieri Schools Cleveland Teachers Union James DiPrete Chair Lou Staffilino Rhode Island Board of Regents Associate Superintendent Ohio Department of Education Paula Dominguez Senior Education Policy Analyst Cynthia Yoder Rhode Island House of Representatives Executive Director Ohio Department of Education

3 Tim Duffy Nick Long Executive Director Newport County Fund Rhode Island Association of School Committees The Rhode Island Foundation Donnie Evans Robert MacKenzie Superintendent Senior Assistant Vice President and Secretary Providence Public Schools Amica Mutual Insurance Todd Flaherty Jan Malik Deputy Commissioner State Representative Rhode Island Department of Education Rhode Island General Assembly Jo Eva Gaines Ellen Murphy President Coordinator, Newport County Fund Rhode Island Association of School Committees The Rhode Island Foundation Ronald V. Gallo James Parisi President and c e o Field Representative The Rhode Island Foundation Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals John Golden Executive Director Ken Payne Rhode Island Association of School Principals Director Rhode Island Senate Policy Office David Gordon Advisor, Newport County Fund Larry Purtill The Rhode Island Foundation President National Education Alliance, Rhode Island Patrick Guida Vice-Chair Hillary Salmons Rhode Island Board of Regents Vice President of Community Engagement The Education Partnership James Halley President Steve Smith Rhode Island School Superintendents Association President, Providence Teachers Union State Representative, Rhode Island General Owen Heleen Assembly Director of Special Funds The Rhode Island Foundation Susan Story State Representative Stacy Jordan Rhode Island General Assembly Education Advisor to Mayor Cicilline City of Providence Mary Sylvia Harrison President Steve Kass Rhode Island Children's Crusade Communications Director Office of Governor Carcieri Willard Van Horne Director, Data and Strategic Analysis Elliot Krieger The Education Partnership Media Relations Specialist Rhode Island Department of Education

4 Donna Vigneau-Carlson OFFICE OF GOVERNOR CARCIERI Vice President of Leadership Programs Janet Durfee-Hidalgo The Education Partnership Education Policy Advisor Jeffrey Weiss Michael Maynard Member Director, Public Information The Education Partnership Steve Kavanagh Martin West Assistant Professor of Education, Political Science Gary Padula & Public Policy Brown University RHODE ISL AND DEPA RTMENT OF E D U C AT I O N Jennifer Wood Peter McWalters Chief Legal Counsel/Chief of Staff Commissioner Rhode Island Department of Education

co-sponsors conference staff conference planning team A N N E N B E R G INSTITUTE FOR SCHOOL B R OWN UNIVERSITY REFORM, BROWN UNIVERSITY Michael Grady Mary C. Arkins Decasse Deputy Director Annenberg Institute for School Reform Margaret Balch-Gonzalez Kenneth K. Wong Jacob Mishook Director Robert Rothman Urban Education Policy Program, Education Joanne Thompson Department Carol Walker THE EDUCATION PA RT N E R S H I P THE EDUCATION PA RT N E R S H I P Lisa Blais Anabel Cunha Director of Contract Research and Negotiation Progams Arlene Cabral Valerie Forti Janelle Suriel President

NGA CENTER FOR BEST PRAC T I C E S John H. Blacksten Press Secretary Bridget Curran Program Director, Education Division

Copies of this document are available from:

Brown University Box 1985 Providence, RI 02912 www.annenberginstitutue.org