Collective Bargaining and Educational Quality Review What is
Collective Bargaining and Educational Quality
Review • What is mediation and what do mediators do? • Getting the most out of mediation • What is fact finding and what do fact finders to? • Getting the most out of fact finding
Today I. Impact of Collective Bargaining on Educational Quality II. Improving Educational Quality in a Unionized District III. Case of the Salary Schedule Dispute
I. Impact of Collective Bargaining on Educational Quality • Goldhaber – “Relatively little empirical work directly links unionization and student achievement. ” • Tremendous level of rhetoric • Things which are clear – Unionized school systems spend more – Unionized teachers earn more • Very little else is clear
I. Impact of Collective Bargaining on Educational Quality How might collective bargaining improve educational quality? What does research you read find? • Improve pay and attract/retain better candidates • Can help convince teachers to engage in experimentation • In some areas, have negotiated smaller class sizes
I. Impact of Collective Bargaining on Educational Quality How might collective bargaining damage educational quality? What does research you read find? • Single pay scale applies to everyone • Use of seniority in transfers and assignments • Issues related to tenure • Overall
Administrative • Exercise next week, mediation and fact finding. Let’s organize that now • No class the week after • Grievances and arbitration the following week. Note that neither reading is in the text • Grievance and arbitration exercise the following week. Let’s organize that now too
II. Improving Educational Quality in a Unionized District Issues of Concern • Flexibility of scheduling and issues like parent meetings, etc. • Ability to get teachers into situations where they are needed the most – Transfer – Assignment • Termination of incompetent teachers
II. Improving Educational Quality in a Unionized District • Best results where teacher unions and districts work together cooperatively over a long period of time and take a problem solving approach • Don’t just enlist union’s help in reaching your goals, make them partners in setting goals • Use their professional expertise to help solve problems • Treat them as the enemy and they’ll become the enemy!
III. Case of the Salary Schedule Dispute • • What should the outcome be here? Why? How could this have been avoided? What should be the remedy? What did the union propose as a remedy and what did the district have to say about it? • Follow-up case
Next Time • Grievances and Arbitration
- Slides: 11