Last week, as charter school supporters pushed back on an NAACP resolution calling for a moratorium on new charter schools, Chicago’s teachers union actually put one in place. In a new, eleventh-hour labor agreement, reached last week to avert a strike, Chicago Public Schools agreed to a temporary cap on charter[Read More…]
Tag: collective bargaining
Charter schools are like Snoop Dogg, and other reflections from #NCSC16
When he first came on the scene, he was in and out of prison, recording freestyles with his cousins in Southern California. But more than two decades after he first made it big, parents no longer fear him. He’s at home in Katy Perry videos and Old Navy commercials. In[Read More…]
Charter schools and collective bargaining
On this blog, we’ve aired views from current and former teachers who feel collective bargaining creates stifling rules that prop up a centralized school bureaucracy, or that teachers unions would be better off functioning as professional advocacy organizations, akin to the NRA and AARP, rather than industrial-style bargaining agents. We don’t claim[Read More…]
Terry Moe: Dilemma of teacher union power won’t go away
Editor’s note: This is the first of four guest posts on the future of teachers unions. At the heart of any discussion of the unions’ role in American education, whether that role is now or in the future, lies a fundamental dilemma. On the one hand, it is clear that[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: parent trigger, merit pay, mentors & more
Parent trigger. Joe Henderson from the Tampa Tribune on parent trigger: “In my opinion, it started from the flawed premise that it’s always the institution’s fault when a school fails.” Tallahassee Democrat: “What we don’t need is to have for-profit corporations lobbying parents to shut down or privatize a public school.” The[Read More…]
Charter-like? Not quite. But more flexibility may be coming to some Florida schools
It’s an idea gaining momentum in Florida this legislative session: letting a few district schools choose curriculum, lease buildings and enjoy wiggle room when it comes to class size. Sound familiar? The concept, coined “district innovation schools,’’ would allow high-performing public schools to operate with some of the same freedom[Read More…]
Wishing for a progressive teacher union
My holiday wish is for teacher unions to expand their business model to include all public education teachers, and not just those employed by school districts. The industrial model of unionism that teachers borrowed from the auto and steel workers 50 years ago assumes a large number of employees working[Read More…]
Equitable funding, independent authorizers top wish list for charter school backers
If the chatter among Florida charter school supporters is any indication, expect to see proposed legislation next spring that calls for equitable funding for charter schools and the return of charter authorizers who are independent from public school districts. “This is a forced marriage that needs counseling,’’ joked Ralph Arza,[Read More…]