Teacher Union

There are many problems in the American public education system today. Some of those include the quality of teachers, who have no real passion for the job, and are only allowed to remain in the position because of tenure privileges. Another issue is the state budgets that are allowed for public schools, with some states investing billions of dollars, and others prioritizing it lower on the list. In hot debate today is standardized testing, and the negative effect that it has on high school education, with the limits it places on teachers and what they have time to teach in the classrooms.

As explained in Diane Ravitch's article, “American Schools in CRISIS,” educators are provided with little job security under Bush's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Obama's Race to the Top educational reform initiatives; where teachers can be fired based on poor standardized test scores from their students (50). The majority of new teachers already quit within five years of entering the field; “demoralized” (Ravitch 50) by the effects of such high stakes and low resources (Ravitch 52). To combat this figure, many states have decreased the requirements for becoming a teacher, even allowing online licensure in Texas (Ravitch 51). To lower the standards of the “conservators of our common future” (Barber 122) is an irresponsible practice that must be reversed if students are to succeed. Barber proposes paying early childhood educators as much as lawyers to attract better teachers. Higher wages would encourage more ambitious individuals to enter the fields of primary and secondary education. Without highly-trained and intelligent educators, who are dedicated to progress and change, students will continue to stumble through a broken system, woefully unprepared for the task of becoming productive citizens.

LEWIN, D., KEEFE, J. H., & KOCHAN, T. A. (2012). THE NEW GREAT DEBATE ABOUT UNIONISM AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN U.S. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. ILR Review, 65(4), 749-778 Retrieved from https://web-b-ebscohost-com.bethelu.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=71a03270-ad95-41f9-a574-414b59891617%40sessionmgr103&hid=101

The conservative view of education extends to the parents of the students as well. Salaries for public school teachers and administrators come primarily from state taxes which has been an issue for them for years. School faculty has been fighting the state for years to have an increase in pay but that would mean an increase in taxes as well. So when the parents of the students weigh in they often side with the legislature since a pay raise for teachers would mean a raise in taxes for them. This is sadly the same case for funding school equipment such as computers, books, playground equipment, ect.. Since parents are unwilling to have their taxes raised to pay for all of that, our schools will always fall behind, leaving teachers unable to properly teach our students.

A teacher union is an association of teaching professionals who work to secure their rights and interests. The first thing that pops into my head when I hear “teacher unions,” is that they are beneficial not only to teachers, but also students and families. Being protected and having stable conditions is given to the families of both the students and teachers. It is to be true that teacher unions help to have a positive influence on the academic performance of the students, additionally, the quality of public education. Currently, not all will be certain that this is true, but in Taking Sides it goes in depth on whether teacher unions are positively and/or negatively affecting schooling. Andrew Coulson argues that yes teacher unions stymie school reforms, whereas Louis Malfaro argues that no teacher unions are absolutely influencing the improvements of teaching and learning positively. Both Coulson and Malfaro have significant points to back up this argument on what they believe about teacher unions.

In June of 2014, the Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu filed his final ruling on the educational debate of the teacher tenure laws of California, ruling out five California Educational Code laws. However one day after said ruling, Attorney General Kamala Harris filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of California. The Superior Court favored Vergara’s side claiming the Teacher’s tenure of California unconstitutional because it violates children’s civil rights to an education. “Student’s Matter,” a non-profit organization founded by David Welch, organized nine students to file this case. Their plea was that every student around the world deserves a good education taught by good teachers and the tenure principles in this state makes firing bad teachers almost impossible, giving students in poorer districts an unfair education in comparison to other wealthier, privileged districts. The defendants officially include the State of California, Teacher’s Union supporters Jerry Brown and Tom Torlakson who are the State governor and State Superintendent of Schools respectively, the California’s Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers and the Teacher’s Union of California. This ruling and it’s immediate appeal was and remains a strong source of tension between the Teachers Union and it’s supporters as well as the “Student’s Matter” organization and thousands of impoverished

The Texas AFT wants to influence the legislator because the school districts have been left to try to make up for inadequate state aid by raising local tax rates, even as the state has continued to make it much harder for them to accomplish this. Basically, all they want to do is handle the budget crisis in the school districts of Texas. To analyze the successes and failures of Texas AFT in influencing legislation is short and sweet; school systems are still under budgeted and local taxes are still being raised to help the schools. The only break educators have received was in 2006 with “surplus” dollars tax swap for which the bill is now belatedly coming due.

American Federation of Teachers, also known as AFT was founded in 1916 and today represents 1.6 million members in more than 3,000 local affiliates nationwide, founded in Chicago by President Samuel Gompers. (“About”) The AFT also represents 80,000 early childhood educators and about 250,000 retiree members. (“About”) AFT targets to help students, families, and communities to target fairness, democracy, economic opportunity, high-quality public education, healthcare and public services. (“Mission”) The organization and members advance these principles through engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism. (“Mission”) The AFT addresses multiple issues that they believe has an importance to the union and our country,

In my position as a union leader, I have seen teachers fight tirelessly for these causes. Also in this position, I have worked with teachers who do not understand that the role of unions as well as the relationships that they have with their districts must change to survive. This change in relationship status must be made by both the union as well as the district their teachers serve. I am lucky to be a part of union and district that understands this need for change. I have witnessed a shift in the mentality of the people I work with. Someday, I would like to play a role in other districts changing their “us against them” mentality by taking what I have learned about empowering teachers; the people who play the biggest role in educating students and giving them a bigger say in how our students are

Especially the CA teachers association, largest professional employer organization, working to advocate for student and teacher’s needs. This makes it a special interest group, is very powerful in getting

On September18th, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted to end its strike. After seven days of rumbustious protects, the CTU accepted the suggestions made by the city of Chicago. And there are many things we can think about through this strike.

For the second time in almost 4 years, over 350,000 Chicago Public School Students may not be able to go to school because of the CTU Strike that is currently in progress today (The Washington Post). The issue between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools has not been solved yet due to disagreements about the income received. The Chicago Teachers Union has made offers to school administrations; however, the responses were not in their favor. The union has been in progress of agreeing on a contract “since November 2011, [and the strike that occurred at the time] was the first to hit the Windy City in 25 years” (Liebelson). The issue must have erupted due to a misconception or a realization of problems occurring. Chicago Teachers Union choosing to strike does not affect charter schools since they are not a part of Chicago Public Schools. The issue of school strikes can be fixed by increasing the budgets and providing useful resources to teachers in order to improve the level of education.

Clarify the agreement bar teaching. How might it impact the arrangement of the main work assertion? (Holley, Jennings, Wolters 222)

Since only 13 states are still allowed to strike and 60 percent of the strikes in the last ten years have been in Pennsylvania, the best solution to school striking is to make it illegal (Lange). In order for this to be possible, changes would need to occur in the way schools are run now in Pennsylvania. When teachers feel that they deserve a pay raise, they need to talk to their boss, who is unreachable. This person also does not understand what the teachers do. Their head boss often do not go to college for education. Instead, they major in business. This person does not make for a good person for the teachers to talk to. They do not realize what these teachers do for their students and often never even see the teachers teach. They look at

Teacher Unions have evolved over time and have been essential in education equality and reform. Some now question the motivation behind these unions and whether or not they are now a barrier to reform, rather than a assistant. This paper will explore the evolvement of not only Teacher Unions, but the purpose and motivation behind said unions. Two of the most predominately known unions are American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association, NEA.