Adult vs. Kids: The Surprising Consequences of Local Teachers’ Contracts

By Karen Helland, JD, Evergreen Freedom Foundation

The debate on how to reform education is heating up again. This fall’s ballot could include initiatives on charter schools, increased education funding, and guaranteed teacher pay increases. But the contract negotiated between local school districts and teachers’ unions may have a far greater impact on education here than anything placed on the ballot or passed in Olympia.

If collective bargaining is considered at all in the context of education, it is as a way to ensure that teachers have fair pay and job protection. But collective bargaining has a much broader impact– and that impact is not necessarily beneficial for students or teachers. The contracts negotiated between school districts and teachers’ unions control topics ranging from how many days and hours children will be in school to the selection of curriculum.

The nature of collective bargaining shifts the focus from educating students to a power struggle between the elected school board and a private entity, the union. Unfortunately, that power struggle can have disastrous results for local control of education. Through contract terms, a private organization, the union, controls key aspects of how the elected school board manages the district. Because of the union’s ability to influence elections, the union can even impact who sits on the other side of the bargaining table.

Contract terms control how most of the money in a district is spent, limiting the school district’s ability to manage its own budget. Frustrated taxpayers may vote down levy requests, but the school district must still satisfy multiple contracts–leaving cuts to be made in other areas, such as textbooks, equipment, or the number of classroom teachers.

Collective bargaining is not necessarily in the best interest of teachers, either. Collective bargaining requires all teachers to work under a contract they may not support, and most contracts require teachers to pay for union activities even if they disagree with them. Seniority rules for pay raises and work assignments treat all teachers as interchangeable units. This is good for union solidarity–everyone knows their turn will come. It is not good for excellent teachers, who must watch ineffective and indifferent teachers receive exactly the same benefits they do.

The whole point of public schools is educating children. But collective bargaining leaves the students on the sidelines. Collective bargaining structures stay in place whether they are good or bad for students. These structures make it next to impossible to fire poor teachers and may also give students less contact time with their teacher. Restrictions on class size and schedule often prevent districts from making the best use of available time and money. When contract negotiations break down, illegal teachers’ strikes stop education altogether.

If the collective bargaining process is to help rather than hurt public schools, it must change. Some of these changes will need to be made at the state level; others can be accomplished by informed school boards and school district negotiators. Following are some positive changes to be made at the local level:

1. Ensure that principals can fill vacant positions based on who can do the best job, not on who has the most seniority.
2. Eliminate overly cumbersome procedures that shield incompetent teachers from consequences.
3. Remove "agency fee" clauses that force teachers to financially support the union even if they do not agree with it. If we want real education reform, the focus of education must turn from the employment of adults to the education of children. Collective bargaining must be re-examined in light of the consequences it has for students.

Karen Helland, J.D., is a research analyst for the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. Her study, Collective Bargaining in Public Schools: Turning the Focus to Students, contains analysis of the language in 260 school district contracts. It is available from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation or on our website here.

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org