The Local School Board Just Raised Taxes For The Fourth Year

Over the years unions have provided many benefits to union workers through collective bargaining. One of the biggest union forces in the United States is the teachers union. With almost close to 5 million members nationwide, the teachers union is one of the most powerful unions. Through collective bargaining, problems have been created for the public school system which takes place at local school districts; rules have been imposed to create ineffective forms of organization at schools. The rules that are currently in place by collective bargaining are also creating a big disconnection with many public schools, that being the interest of the children. The teachers union is one main role

Mark Biller describes the educational system like a delicate ecosystem, all parts of it need to work together if things are going to last. If the community does not support a school, odds are the school will have to close-down. If the teachers don’t work with parents, then kids will not get the support they need. If parents do not support teachers, students loose an

Schools frequently cite a variety of social problems like poverty, broken homes, and bad parenting as excuses for their own poor performance (Greene, 289). In the article of The Myth of Helplessness it touches on a few reasons why it is believed that some schools have great reviews and others don’t. Greene talks about what others believe helps the school systems and what is believed that causes students to fail in school. I agree with author Jay P. Greene that, yes poverty, broken homes and other social problems pose a significant challenge but the evidence simply does not leave room for the conclusion that these challenges are insurmountable (290).

Bureau Valley’s school board is comprised of seven members. Each member represents a section of the district. These board members are very prominent figures in our communities; they have much of the communities support. Although popularity, may not be what is best for the students. Looking at the Bureau Valley school board mandates, they are ultimately only required to do 4 hours of training and attend a few meetings when elected (Bureau Valley 2013, 120). Unfortunately, it is 2016 and the board member with the most recent training of any sort happened in March of 2014, almost two years ago. David E. Lee and Daniel W. Eadens, authors of “The Problem: Low-Achieving Districts and Low-Performance Boards,” find that school boards like Bureau Valley’s are not uncommon. Lee and Eadens find that most school board members only receive about “six hours of training per year,” compared to Bureau Valley’s four per election, our board is severely undereducated (Lee and Eadens 2014, 3).

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.

One of the main reasons why teacher unions were created was to provide the teachers with rights, give the teachers better working conditions, and for the students so they could have a better learning environment. “The Federation fought for teachers' rights and improved working conditions, but it also played a prominent role in Chicago progressive reform (Rousmaniere, 2005).” The CTU’s and the Federation’s main purpose when they were created was to reform the rights of teachers and the school quality for the students that attend them. Teachers realized that they needed better conditions for the students when they saw, heard, or had been to private schools. Working together, the teachers set up organized strikes that were not violent and made the Board of Education meet the demands of the teachers. The outcome of the strike was the increase in the pay the teachers received, better environments for the students, and the teacher

Lawsuits for sexual harassment, physical abuse, and racial discrimination have grown steadily in the last few decades and can threaten a teacher 's job and reputation. Another benefit is defense against harsh treatment fom board members with petty criticisms through the local collective negotiating. Unfortunately, both are necessities in the education business. These teachers also feel that the NEA is their best hope for obtaining higher salaries and a voice in the administration of their schools. The other group joins because they have to, their school district has agreed to allow a closed shop to exist, where all teachers must pay some level of union dues. Few teachers join because they wholeheartedly believe in the political and social agenda of the NEA. The union is often far left of its membership on many issues. One thing that can be agreed on by everyone is that the NEA is very large, very wealthy, and very powerful. Recently surpassing the Teamsters in size, the NEA has over 2 million members, making it the largest union in America. Past Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander once said that, "After the post office, schools are the most unionized activity in America.

In chapter 5, of The Death and Life of the Great American School System, she focuses on how the public school system is run like a business and Bloomberg’s reform program called “Children First”. She discusses how programs that are implemented in the public school system are

There could be disruption in the school environment if no union was present, and some teachers fear, that a principal could quickly decide that a teacher no longer suits the school’s needs. The complete end to collective bargaining would “almost certainly mean more frequent walkouts and strikes”

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.

I was not too surprised by information in the article entitled, “A Revitalized Teacher Union Movement.” I remember reading some time ago, about how unions moved to a more corporate model with the leadership having all of the control and ignoring the foundation that built strong unions in the first place, grassroot organizing in the communities. I did not realize there were educators’ union doing exactly the same thing. That much did surprise me.

In the United States approximately 60% of teacher have join the union. The unions continually have issues with negotiating proper wages for their members. When most employees file a grievance against their employer it end up being about some form of wages issues. The teachers union has increase dramatically over the past decade, since state official has pass the new law that encourage school regions to bargain with teachers union in the way of duty to bargain. Duty to bargain law was created for unions that are seeking power during collective trading process; however the union made it unlawful for school districts to reject any bargaining with them due to arbitration would be needed if both parties were deadlock. A significant number of teachers join the union due to the new law of duty to bargain which result in a number of bargaining contracts (Lovenheim, & Willen, 2016).

Teacher unions are one of the main reasons the American public school system is failing. All the rules and regulations put in place by teacher unions it makes it hard for schools to, try new things. They even protect teachers “rights” such as Job security to all teachers, even the ones who cannot properly teach a class. What can we do to fix the system? We can remove most of the regulations put in place by teacher unions. So Teachers can be fired if they are not effectively teaching Students. Schools can be shut down if their students perform poorly on state tests. Schools should have a choice on how much rules and regulations they have, That way it gives schools freedom to do what they want.

Across America, many school districts are consolidating their smaller schools and sending the students to one large one. They are doing this to save money, but there are many downsides to this. While logic would say that one school is cheaper to run than multiple smaller ones, evidence shows that this is not the case. In addition, larger schools disadvantage the students who are learning in them. Studies show smaller schools have less bullying and violence. They also show that smaller schools allow students to do better in classes. Finally, smaller schools have an atmosphere that allows students to be treated like individuals and fit in better. We must take action against the consolidation of public schools because of student safety, student performance, and school atmosphere.

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.