September 2nd, 2010
In a recent letter to the editor from Terryl Grembowicz, at-large director for the National Education Association-South Bend, the union leader went through great lengths to explain how his organization is “always concerned with providing a quality education to all students.”
We disagree with his rhetoric, and we want to put his comments into perspective.
Just weeks ago, the NEA-SB threatened to sue its local school corporation if it signed an agreement with the state to enact reforms necessary to turn around Bendix, Riley and Washington high schools, three of the worst performing schools in the state. The intimidation worked, and South Bend Superintendent James Kapsa recommended against the move to save South Bend schools from a costly lawsuit. The Indiana State Teachers Association’s regional representative told the South Bend Tribune that it is threatening other schools that are in the same situation.
The problem is that the agreement with the state would require the struggling school districts to make employment decisions based on how effective an educator is, instead of the union-contrived seniority system that has contributed to the South Bend’s problems for years. As state Superintendent Tony Bennett mentioned in his recent State of Education speech, research shows that the most important factors in a child’s education are effective teachers and school leaders.
But putting the best teachers in front of South Bend’s struggling students could violate its employment contract with the union. Unfortunately, that contract is more important to NEA-SB and the ISTA than its supposed commitment to quality instruction.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
September 2nd, 2010
A July 2010 Gallup Poll found that only 34 percent of Americans have trust in the nation’s public school system; that’s down four points from 2009.
Most Americans believe that the public schools are failing the nation’s children. But as a new column from Anthony B. Bradley makes clear, it is black male students who are being hurt the most by inferior public schools.
And sadly, many leaders in the black community are still siding with the national teachers unions and fighting efforts to help minority kids escape failing inner-city schools.
Bradley writes “that only 47 percent of black males graduate from high school on time, compared to 78 percent of white male students.” In urban school districts throughout the nation, the graduation rates for black males get even worse. In New York and Philadelphia, for example, only 28 percent of black male students graduate high school.
But the situation isn’t hopeless. Certain charter schools throughout the country have helped black male students to not only graduate, but to excel.
“This summer, Chicago’s Urban Prep Charter Academy, with a 100 percent graduation rate, graduated a class of 107 black male students, all of whom are attending college in the fall,” Bradley writes. Another all-male charter school in New York “boasts a graduation rate of 82 percent.” Charter school success stories such as these ought to be celebrated by all Americans—but they’re not.
Opponents of charter schools include the usual suspects: the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. Oh, their websites say they support charter schools, but read further and it becomes clear they support charter schools only if they can organize their staffs and control them.
But here’s the bigger story: Civil rights groups such as the NAACP, the National Urban League, and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition also oppose the efforts of charter schools. According to Bradley, “Even though there is overwhelming evidence supporting the success of charter schools for children from low-income households, the civil-rights groups resist the opportunity for parents to exercise freedom to choose schools.”
How can this possibly be? It’s just old-fashioned politics.
Civil rights leaders, like most politicians associated with the Democratic Party, know that if they want to get ahead in the party, they need to play nice with the NEA, which has a huge influence on the party and its policies. So-called leaders in the black community are more concerned about their own political power than they are about the future of young black students.
On its website, National Urban League officials write that they “wholeheartedly” support charter schools. Yet a few sentences later, they warn, “While some charter schools can and do work for some students, they are not a universal solution for systemic change for all students, especially those with the highest needs, and should not be considered as the sole useful reform.”
Let’s review, once again, graduation rates for black males in major urban school districts: 34 percent in Atlanta, 27 percent in Detroit, 38 percent in St. Louis, 35 percent in Baltimore, 28 percent in both Philadelphia and New York.
Those numbers reveal an educational catastrophe for black male students, and the National Urban League responds by preaching a “wait and see” approach to charter schools. The only explanation for this is the old saying used for worthless politicians: “They came to do good, and stayed to do well.”
It’s an outrage that there are powerful adults who are willing to sacrifice the well-being of children for their own selfish political interests.
Bradley writes, “As long as teachers unions have influence in the black community and in institutions pledged to black empowerment, and black parents are not financially empowered to opt out of failing public schools, black males are doomed.”
Still, there is one reason for optimism: more and more Americans are coming to the realization that parents everywhere should be allowed to choose where their children attend school. But Americans need to understand that it’s more than just a good idea. It’s the most important civil rights issue of our time.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
September 2nd, 2010
September 1, 2010
ISTA in hot water, again
Pike Twp schools accuse union of fraud, conspiracy and racketeering
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana State Teachers Association often uses the catchphrase “We fight for what’s good for students and fair for teachers.”
But a recent lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis is the latest in a mounting body of evidence that suggests that the ISTA’s true priorities have nothing to do with either. It seems as if “show me the money” may be a more appropriate slogan.
Late last month, the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township filed a six-count complaint charging the ISTA with fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering activities for bilking the district through a years-long insurance scam. The ISTA administered the school’s health insurance plan, and the lawsuit specifically states that the union’s actions were intentional.
It’s the second time in as many years that the ISTA has been up to its neck in insurance troubles. In 2009, the Indiana secretary of state accused the union of fleecing $23 million from school corporations across the state in another insurance-related con that eventually forced its parent organization, the National Education Association, to take over operations.
That case remains unresolved.
So far, it appears that ISTA leaders are denying responsibility for the most recent lawsuit, and union bosses aren’t interested in discussing the case or responding to the allegations. We believe that Hoosier students, teachers and the taxpayers who fund the union’s unscrupulous activities deserve an explanation.
What is the ISTA’s reaction to mob-like accusations of fraud, conspiracy and racketeering?
Does the ISTA believe the lawsuit further erodes what’s left of its credibility?
Does the ISTA plan to repay Pike Township schools for the money it allegedly stole from the district?
Who, specifically, was responsible for processing Pike’s insurance claims? Does that person still work for the ISTA? Why?
How many other school corporations did the ISTA defraud?
Why is the ISTA in the insurance business in the first place?
These questions and a slew of others will continue to fester until the union files a formal response to the lawsuit sometime over the next few weeks. ISTA President Nate Schnellenberger referred all questions to the union’s executive director, Brenda Pike, during an interview with the Report Card last week. She did not return multiple messages for comment.
Perhaps it’s because the Pike Township lawsuit isn’t good for students or fair to teachers, no matter how the union spins it.
What we do know
On August 19, 2010, the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township filed a six-count complaint against the Indiana State Teachers Association, the now-defunct ISTA Insurance Trust, and the ISTA Administrative Services Corporation, in U.S. District Court, Indianapolis Division.
ISTA Insurance Trust CEO and Trustee Edward P. Sullivan was served with the lawsuit by certified mail the next day, court records show.
From September 26, 2005 through August 18, 2009, Pike schools agreed through a collective bargaining contract with the ISTA to provide medical and drug benefits under the Choice Plus Health Benefit Plan administered by the union.
|
“Periodically, the (ISTA) sent bills to Pike, at first via mail, but mostly via e-mail, for the amounts that (the ISTA) claimed were owed by Pike to pay for benefits under the plan and the cost of administration,” court documents said.
“The invoices would from time to time include a line item amount purportedly as the costs of the drug benefits for Pike employees paid pursuant to the plan provisions. Pike paid the (ISTA) for the invoices believing and relying on the representations by (the ISTA) that such payments were in the amount required to cover the proper costs of claims and administration of the plan,” the lawsuit reads.
“Recently, Pike has become aware of discrepancies in the handling of payments relating to the plan, and as a result, Pike believes the invoices sent by the (ISTA) were fraudulent.
“Specifically, instead of all eligible employees paying a required co-pay of 20 percent of the costs of prescription drugs, the (ISTA) caused some Pike employees to not have any co-pay whatsoever, and caused other Pike employees to be charged less than the required co-pay, while causing other Pike employees to pay the full 20 percent co-pay.
“Defendants’ conduct was intentional,” according to the complaint.
The ISTA over-rode the required co-payments on a case-by-case basis for some individuals “without the authority, consent or knowledge of Pike,” the lawsuit alleges.
To top it off, the ISTA billed Pike schools for “benefits for individuals (and their dependents) who were never employed by Pike,” court records show.
The result, according to the complaint, was that Pike schools was duped by the union, and ended up paying much more than it should have, including premiums for people that aren’t even on its payroll. Pike schools attempted to confront the union about the problem in February, when its attorney sent a letter to the ISTA.
The union never responded.
The lawsuit doesn’t specify how much the union allegedly stole from the school district, but evidence submitted with the complaint shows that the Pike district was billed for at least $3,115,396.08 in prescription drug coverage alone while the ISTA served as its health insurance administrator.
The district’s attorney, William “Tuck” Hopkins Jr., told the Indianapolis Star that Pike schools became aware of the problem near the beginning of the year and the district plans to go through the legal discovery process to determine exactly how much is owed.
The ISTA’s Brenda Pike told the newspaper late last month that “right now it doesn’t look to us like there is much there.”
“We don’t find anything that leads us to believe that it’s a valid claim,” she said.
|
Count I – Fraud
The first count of the complaint is based on the alligation that the invoices the ISTA sent to Pike Township schools were false because they included people not eligible to participate, and were further inflated because the ISTA waived some or all the prescription drug co-payments for some individuals. The ISTA is liable for the amounts the district overpaid for benefits, as well as damages, prejudgment interest, costs and other relief, the lawsuit says.
Count II- Common Law Conversion
Count two contends that the ISTA used the district’s money to cover co-payments for beneficiaries and for individuals not eligible for coverage in violation of the insurance plan. The ISTA and its affiliates “are therefore liable to (Pike) common law conversion for all damages and injuries to Pike proximately caused by their unlawful conduct,” according to the suit.
The ISTA, its insurance trust and its administrative services company “are therefore jointly and severally liable for each other’s conduct in furtherance of the conspiracy,” the complaint reads.
Count III – Civil Claim
The civil claim contends that because the ISTA “knowingly or intentionally” exerted its control over the district’s money it violated Indiana code and the union is liable for three times the actual damages and costs of its actions as well as reasonable attorney fees and other amounts allowed by state law.
Count IV – Damages Due to Conspiracy
“The defendants agreed to take the actions alleged … and conspired to acquire (Pike’s) funds by unlawful and tortuous means, including fraud, deception, and conversion,” the lawsuit said.
Count V – RICO Claim
This claim, based on the federal “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act,” is best known for nabbing Mafia members who have helped to facilitate racketeering, murder, extortion or other heinous crimes. Under this count, the district argues that the ISTA constitutes an enterprise because its insurance trust, administrative services, financial services corporation and welfare benefits trust all worked together under the name ISTA Financial Services Program. Basically, the ISTA operated like the Godfather, according to the lawsuit.
The school district is entitled to damages, treble damages and other costs under the claim because the union “engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity” that affected interstate commerce, the lawsuit says. Those covered by Pike’s benefit plans lived in more than one state, and the union therefore “committed many dozens of RICO predicate acts of mail fraud and wire fraud over multiple years, including, but not limited to the violations specifically alleged,” according to the lawsuit.
Count VI – RICO Conspiracy
The last count claims that the ISTA and its associated organizations conspired together to “conduct an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity” in violation of RICO and other laws.
|
Is that all?
We are proud that Pike Township school officials took the bold move to stand up to what they believe is another insurance scam perpetuated by an organization that supposedly fights for “what’s good for students and fair for teachers.” It’s our hope that other school corporations across the state will look closely at their finances to determine if the ISTA has had its hand in their pockets.
The whole situation is more infuriating when one considers that Pike Township voters recently approved a substantial bond proposal to help fund the district. If true, the lawsuit could do much more than simply expose another instance of ISTA corruption. It may just be the final straw for Hoosiers who are tired of seeing their tax dollars wasted.
The ISTA lawsuit, and supporting evidence, is available at ISTAexposed.com.
|
READERS WRITE IN
Why is the Hoosier Report Card produced in Muskegon, Michigan?
I belong to my local union. I belong to ISTA. I belong to the NEA. There is nothing wrong with belonging to these unions. They protect me from administrators who are more interested in saving money than helping students learn and grow. They protect me from administrators who give the choice classes to their drinking buddies or to their current love interest. I have watched 4 superintendents come through my school system with the plan to save our corporation money by cutting teachers. Number 3 found out we could save money by purchasing all supplies from the same company instead of each building purchasing from their favorite store.
No matter what you say, unions protect good teachers from unfair practices. If you believe bad teachers are kept on by unions, you are mistaken. Bad teachers are kept on the payroll by bad administrators who do not know what they are doing. Have you never noticed that inept teachers usually become inept principals, and then inept superintendents because they can no longer stand to be in the classroom? I have!
Nancy Winn
English teacher
Richmond Community Schools
(Editor’s note: the Hoosier Report Card is sent from Muskegon, MI because that is where the Education Action Group, the newsletter’s publisher, is located.)
|
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
August 27th, 2010
EAG press release – August 26, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS – As school corporations across Indiana struggle to remain afloat during the economic downturn, the Indiana State Teachers Association continues to scam scarce dollars from the classroom, according to a recent lawsuit.
For the second time in as many years the ISTA is neck deep in insurance troubles after the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township filed a lawsuit last week accusing the union of fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering activities.
The union, which administers Pike’s insurance plan, intentionally fleeced district funds through a years-long insurance scam, according to a six-count complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Union officials over-rode required prescription drug co-payments for its members and sent inflated, fraudulent invoices to the school district, Pike officials claim.
The ISTA also billed Pike schools to cover benefits for individuals that were not employed by the district and were ineligible for coverage, according to the lawsuit.
The union’s conduct, if true, serves as yet another fist in the eye of taxpayers who fund the ISTA’s unscrupulous activities, as well as the school corporations that rely on the union to administer its health benefits.
The discovery of the ISTA’s alleged racket also erodes what’s left of the union’s credibility after it was charged with similar allegations on a statewide basis last year.
“The leaders of the Pike Township school district have taken a bold stand for taxpayers and should be lauded for it,” said Kyle Olson, EAG vice president. “They appear to have provided the necessary documentation to back up their accusations. EAG encourages other school leaders to look at the lawsuit and evidence posted on ISTAexposed.com to determine if the ISTA is trying to pull a fast one on them, as well.
“If so, other school corporations should join Pike Township in its demand for legal action. School corporations must not allow the ISTA to treat them as a money making machine and they ought to redouble their efforts to ensure every dollar is being used appropriately,” he said.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
August 26th, 2010
August 25, 2010
Supt. Bennett: Hoosiers must put students first, now!
ISTA pres takes wait and see approach on new teacher evaluations
INDIANAPOLIS – From a packed middle school auditorium on Indianapolis’ far east side, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett this week laid out his educational priorities in an inaugural state of education address.
His focus in one word: students.
“The bottom line is this: we have to do what’s right for kids. Academic excellence can and should be the norm for our children – not the exception,” Bennett told hundreds of educators, parents, media and other Hoosiers who trekked to Creston Middle School Monday.
Bennett’s passion for a more student-centered system was obvious as he enthusiastically acknowledged the impressive gains in student performance and the critical education reforms implemented since he took office 19 months ago.
“Across the board – in urban and rural schools, and in high-poverty and high minority schools – our students performed better,” Bennett said. “Two Warren Township schools in particular, Sunny Heights and Brookview Elementary, reduced the achievement gap between black and white students by over 15 percent in students passing both English/language arts and math” sections of the state ISTEP test.
But as Bennett celebrated numerous schools that made great strides in 2009-10, he also spoke of the current financial realities and debunked some long held beliefs perpetuated by teachers unions, namely that money equals better student performance.
Through 14 consecutive years of funding increases, academic gains were small, he said.
“Now, when money is tight, our students have seen some of the biggest improvements in the state’s history,” Bennett said.
Hoosiers, however, must continue to push forward with urgency to address a lingering achievement gap between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as other issues facing Indiana’s chronically underperforming schools, Bennett said.
“During my time as superintendent, two things have become clear. First, there’s no more room for excuses; the stakes are too high to continue putting adult interests ahead of our children’s needs. Second, our students have shown they will meet, and even exceed, the high expectations we set for them,” he said.
“Instead of trying to figure out how to get more money for education, schools across the state are figuring out how to get more education for our money. We should all follow their examples. And while we are at it, we must channel the resources we do have directly to student learning.”
Transparency and accountability
Bennett made it abundantly clear that transparency and accountability will play key roles in shaping education policy over the next year. To that end, the state has changed confusing accountability categories for schools from vague terms to a more easily understandable A through F grading system.
|
“Everybody knows what letter grades mean, so parents and other concerned citizens will be able to both celebrate school success and hold schools accountable,” Bennett said. “This new system allows a great school to be recognized. Likewise, if a school is failing, parents will know and will demand more for their children. When we achieve that level of transparency, healthy competition will lead to better approaches that will benefit all students.
“Our state’s chronically underperforming schools have been identified, and those schools are charged with implementing transformational change to offer students the quality instruction they deserve. And I say it’s about time,” Bennett said.
As the state’s lowest performing schools struggle to craft plans to improve student achievement, the Indiana State Teachers Association has threatened to sue schools that may violate teachers’ collective bargaining agreements to do so. While Bennett did not specifically address the ISTA’s obstruction in his speech, he reiterated his support for those working to turn around the schools and alluded to the potential of more help on the horizon.
“My duty as superintendent is to recommend any and all steps necessary to turn these distressed schools around for the students. To address this issue, we will bring aggressive proposals to the General Assembly in the months ahead,” he said.
|
The “game-changer”
Bennett stressed his support for the “Indiana Growth Model” and its potiental to transform the state’s education system.
Perhaps the strongest element of Bennett’s speech, and the state’s education reforms in general, is the potential of the Indiana Growth Model to transform the system. The Growth Model is “the game-changer for education in our state, and it underlies many of our initiatives,” Bennett said. “It lets us look beyond test scores to examine how much students actually learn in a school year.”
The model lays the groundwork to close the achievement gap because it is based on the belief that all children should be entitled to at least a year’s worth of growth in a year of instruction, regardless of a student’s ability, social status, or school. It also serves as a common sense alternative to the ineffective, outdated seniority system contrived by teachers unions that has stalled progress for decades.
“Besides measuring student improvement year over year, the Growth Model also serves as the foundation for three necessary initiatives: one, it provides a framework for a fair and rigorous system of annual teacher and administrator evaluations; two, it enables us to implement performance-based decision-making inside our schools; and three, it allow us to create fair and appropriate metrics for assigning A through F letter grades to Indiana’s schools,” Bennett said.
In other words, Indiana will be moving away from the archaic union system in favor of a competitive, results-based approach that emphasizes transparency. By next year, state officials expect residents to be able to gain access to current student growth data on a Web site called the Learning Connection.
“By next fall, parents will be able to see the growth history for their child’s teacher so they will know how successful that adult has been in helping students grow academically,” Bennett said.
We believe the Growth Model is long-overdue. For years, the ISTA has worked to protect the educational status quo in Indiana at the expense of quality instruction, and it’s refreshing to hear from a top education official who is fed up with the nonsense.
Bennett recognizes that the unions’ seniority system doesn’t work in education, and big changes are critical to meeting Indiana’s education goals. Over the hour-long speech, he cited the importance of school choice, the Growth Model, new teacher certification standards and other initiatives necessary for improvement.
But “more than any other reform,” he said, “we must focus our efforts on the only factors proven to make a big impact on student achievement: great teachers and great school leadership.
“If we’re going to hold teachers accountable for teaching our kids – if we’re going to hold leaders accountable for school success – we have to make student learning the primary consideration for teacher promotion and recognition.”
|
UNION RESPONSE
In an interview with the Report Card after the event, ISTA President Nate Schnellenberger said Bennett delivered an “excellent speech” that pointed out many of the changes that have been made. But he also honed in on elements of Bennett’s plans, perhaps foreshadowing resistance from the ISTA.
“I think the Growth Model is something that still needs to be worked through. The key thing he said in there about the teacher evaluations is we need to develop a fair and equitable way to do that, which we agree with,” Schnellenberger said. “We need to do (what) is fair to the educator and fair to the administrator.”
“The process exists now for teachers to be evaluated and if they are not doing the job to be worked with and, if they don’t improve, to be removed from the classroom,” he said. “That process occurs every year all across the state of Indiana, and we certainly support that.”
In other words, the ISTA supports the current system for evaluating educators, the same system that many believe is failing thousands of Hoosier students each year. It was also apparent that Schnellenberger seems much more focused on what any potential changes will mean for those who rely on schools for a paycheck, a stark contrast to Bennett’s student-centered approach.
“I go back to one key thing that he said … that (Bennett’s proposals) are fair and that they are equitable and that they are well thought out and a key thing that he said is that they are based on facts,” Schnellenberger said. “I think we need to see those proposals and see those facts that they are based on and move from there.”
Apparently, the ISTA is taking a wait-and-see approach.
Judging by the union’s history of opposing any system that uses student performance as a primary factor, we don’t expect the ISTA to accept the Growth Model, or any of the other reforms Bennett proposed Monday, without a fight.
We hope, for the sake of Hoosier students, that the ISTA proves us wrong.
|
SEE FOR YOURSELF
Bennett’s state of education address “Putting Students First“ will be aired on several Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations across the state this evening.
Here are the local stations and times:
WFYI, Indianapolis – 7:00
WVUT, Vincennes - 6:30
WNIT, South Bend – 5:30
WNIN, Evansville – 6:30
WIPB, Muncie - 6:30
WFWA, Ft Wayne – 6:30
WTIU, Bloomington – 6:30
WYIN, Merrillville – 6:30 CT
An video of Monday’s speech is also available online by clicking on the photo of Bennett at the top of this newsletter.
|
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
August 26th, 2010
August 18, 2010
Fort Wayne union puts students first; South Bend union stuck on seniority
It’s time for schools to ignore the unions and deliver the goods when it comes to reform
The Fort Wayne Education Association has set an excellent example for local teachers unions across Indiana.
Union officials are cooperating with an ambitious district plan to make sure that the teachers in 11 struggling school buildings are top-notch, regardless of their seniority status.
The plan forced every teacher in those 11 buildings to reapply for their jobs this summer. More than 100 were reassigned, and the union allowed this cleansing process to occur without protest.
Unfortunately, union leaders in South Bend lack that sort of cooperative spirit.
State education officials want the South Bend superintendent to sign a “memorandum of agreement,” outlining what the district must to do avoid a state takeover of three underperforming school buildings.
But the union threatened to sue the district if the memo was signed, because the document would eliminate seniority as a criteria for teacher placement within the district.
The threat of legal action prompted the superintendent to withhold his signature from the state document, a move that may put the three schools in further jeopardy of state takeover.
We tip our hats to union officials in Fort Wayne, who obviously care about students enough to cooperate with necessary reform efforts.
Meanwhile, we hope administrators in the South Bend district will find their backbones, ignore the threat of legal action, sign the memorandum and cooperate with the state on school improvement.
After all, public schools exist to serve children and families, not the outdated work rules of a stubborn local teachers union.
|
Cooperation will breed success in Fort Wayne
In Fort Wayne, 2 of 51 school buildings face potential takeover by the state if student test scores don’t improve.
But the district went ahead and designated 11 buildings as “LEAD” schools that are targeted for significant reform. The other nine were added because they are in danger of being added to the state’s takeover list, according to Krista Stockman, a spokeswoman for the district.
LEAD is a district-created acronym which stands for “Leading Education Achievement with Distinction.”
In a move that demonstrated their commitment to reform, school administrators announced that every teacher in those 11 schools would be required to reapply for their jobs this summer.
A total of 376 teachers were eligible to reapply, 264 did apply and only 158 were rehired. Obviously school administrators meant business when they said they only want the most skilled, committed educators teaching in the most troubled schools.
“(Teachers) have to want to be there,” Stockman said of teachers who will staff the troubled schools this fall. “They will be asked to put some extra time in and take some extra training. They will all be expected to do a little more. Not everyone wants to do that.”
Those who were not rehired will be reassigned within the district, but not necessarily to positions they prefer. And the demands being put on teachers in the 11 LEAD schools will eventually be put on educators throughout the district, Stockman said.
In other words, reform will be persistent and district-wide, and uncooperative teachers will not be able to hide.
“Eventually these practices will be implemented in the other schools as well,” Stockman said. “You can’t get away from it forever.
“We just got to the point where we realized we couldn’t take baby steps anymore. We’ve been making academic progress – we have pockets of excellence all over the place – but we’re at the point where we need to make those things work everywhere.
“We’re not going to be a successful district if all of our students are not achieving.”
Amazingly, the leadership of the Fort Wayne Education Association allowed the mass reassignment of teachers without protest. Most unions would scream bloody murder if senior teachers were bumped from their positions, but that never occurred in Fort Wayne.
”I think the teachers really understood that the state is serious about the things it says (regarding school improvement or state takover).” Stockman said. “This was a way to deal with that.”
The union has also indicated that it would not sue if the district chooses to sign the “memoradum of agreement” with the state, outlining specific reform measures. No decision has been made on whether to sign the document.
Districts like Fort Wayne, with administrators and teachers working in tandem, will successfully reform and eventually meet the needs of the majority of students and parents.
That’s the good news.
|
South Bend officials bend to union threats
Then there’s the South Bend district, which has three school buildings on the state’s potential takeover list.
Left to their own judgment, district administrators seemed inclined to sign the state memo, according to press reports.
“We do not believe we can help our kids by thumbing our nose at the Department of Education and the (memorandum of agreement) process,” Superintendent James Kapsa was quoted as saying in the South Bend Tribune.
Unfortunately, the South Bend teachers union threatened to file a lawsuit against the district if Kapsa signed the document. That’s because the memorandum calls for the school to assign teachers based on skills and qualifications, rather than seniority, which is a violation of the teachers collective bargaining agreement.
Union officials are also reportedly upset by a rule that would require teachers evaluations to be done by independent, unbiased firms from outside the district.
A handful of other local unions around the state have reportedly made the same legal threat to their school boards.
So Kapsa announced earlier this week that he would not sign, at least for the time being. He explained that student interests would not be served if the district were forced to spend big bucks defending itself in court, according to the Tribune.
Kapsa also said he wanted to maintain a positive relationship with the union, and that might be lost if he signed the state document, the newspaper said.
“There’s no guarantee that the state won’t take (the three schools) over if we don’t sign the MOA,” Kapsa told TV station WSBT. “There’s no guarantee the state won’t come in if we do sign the MOA. But, there is a guarantee for litigation. And we don’t want that. We want to use our money – what little we have – for programs and kids and education, rather than in the courts.”
Kapsa and school board members said they would continue to press for improvements in their schools, based on their own plans. They said they would attempt to meet the goals for student test scores spelled out in the state memo.
We believe Kapsa, for all of his good intentions, is making a huge mistake by allowing himself to be intimidated by the threat of legal action.
Nobody who cares about kids would argue that teacher workplace seniority is more important than student achievement. Kids deserve to have the best and most qualified teachers in front of them, regardless of how long those teachers have been in the district.
Signing the state memo would be a clear signal that the district is putting student interests above union interests. Union leaders say they want to negotiate the terms of local reforms, but if they’re willing to go to court to defend the concept of seniority, you can bet they will never surrender that concept at the bargaining table.
That means the students will be the losers, and administrators are allowing it to happen.
It’s clear that in some school districts, necessary reform will only occur if school officials have the courage to impose it on stubborn, self-serving unions. It’s a shame that South Bend administrators have not come to that realization.
A disappointed Jo Blacketor, a South Bend resident and member of the state board of education, told the Tribune that “this is not about litigation. This is about kids getting the short end of the stick. When contracts are more important than kids, we’ve lost sight of that.”
State Superintendent Tony Bennett told the Tribune that “the first discussion the teachers union must have is about students, not about seniority.”
Precisely.
|
NATIONAL SCHOOL CHOICE WEEK
Last week hundreds of school reform activists and dozens of organizations converged on San Francisco to participate in the “Where’s the Outrage – Lighting a Fire Under the School Choice Movement” conference.
The three-day event, sponsored by the Gleason Family Foundation, featured presentations by Fox News analyst and best selling author Dick Morris, pollster Frank Luntz, National Public Radio commentator Juan Williams and other noted speakers.
EAG Vice President Kyle Olson participated in a panel discussion of teachers unions and the best way to draw attention to their excesses.
The purpose of the conference was to unite the various factions of the school choice/reform movement, so that everyone involved can be more effective at delivering the message to the public, according to Tracy Gleason, president and CEO of the sponsoring foundation.
While school reform has been making great strides across the nation, average citizens need to be more aware of the issues facing K-12 education and the alternatives that are available, Gleason said.
The conference also served as a kickoff rally for National School Choice Week, which is scheduled for Jan. 23-30, 2011. School reform organizations throughout the nation will be asked to mark the week by hosting events and publicizing the reform movement in their local communities.
Olson is serving as executive director of National School Choice Week. For more information, visit schoolchoiceweek.com.
|
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
August 15th, 2010
August 11, 2010
North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation freezes salaries for all employees
District avoids layoffs and program cuts
The two most recent editions of the Hoosier Report Card focused on school corporations awaiting mediation after failed contract negotiations with the Indiana State Teachers Association.
In both Tippecanoe and Noblesville schools, that wait is expected to linger into the fall. Both school systems will be forced to maintain expensive collective bargaining agreements with the union they cannot afford. School administrators there have little choice but to increase class sizes and cut student programs to make ends meet.
ISTA members at those schools, however, will receive a raise, despite the dire financial conditions and other sacrifices made by their co-workers.
It’s a frustrating situation made possible by Indiana’s collective bargaining laws, which put the priorities of special interests, like the ISTA, above the needs of Hoosier students.
But that type of union-imposed gloom does not exist in every Indiana district. This week we were happy to hear from Lynn Johnson, superintendent of North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation, who told us things are much better in her neck of the woods.
Johnson is in her second year as superintendent of the 1,500 student district in northwest Indiana. Operating on a roughly $10 million total budget, money is tight, she said, but NJSP managed to balance a budget without a single teacher layoff or program cut.
Over two meetings in April, school officials worked with the ISTA to craft a contract that focuses on student needs, and still managed to trim $200,000 through concessions from all school employees, most notably union teachers, Johnson said.
“It was spread out over different work groups and … different facets of our school community,” she said. “We are, at this point, OK because all work groups really worked together and took a freeze.”
The bottom line
Teachers, administrators, custodians, bus drivers and support staff all agreed to freeze their pay, meaning teachers surrendered their automatic annual salary increases for one year. The result is a roughly $60,000 savings from the district’s teachers, and about another $20,000 saved from other employee groups.
|
NJSP school employees were scheduled to receive some form of raise in 2010.
“We probably would have handed out like three (reduction in force) notices. It absolutely did save us from have to do layoffs,” Johnson said, adding that roughly 80 percent of the district’s general fund goes to labor costs.
“That’s big a portion of it, so saving that money with the pay freezes is significant,” she said.
Johnson said the salary concessions was a major benefit, but NJSP also saved cash from closing one elementary school, eliminating a few teaching positions left open by retirements, and not rehiring a curriculum director that resigned, she said. With all savings combined, the district narrowly averted its $200,000 budget crisis without passing the pain to its students. Employee health insurance coverage also went unscathed.
So why does it seem that the ISTA is willing and able to help some school corporations, like NJSP, survive the tough economy, but not others? We’re not exactly sure, and neither is Johnson.
She believes that the school’s tight knit culture and the small community may have been factors.
“It was really the attitude of we are all in this together, what can we do?” Johnson said. “I’d say it’s a community mentality. It’s our kids. I think if you keep your community informed, they understand.”
|
A different kind of discussion
In the months leading up to teacher contract negotiations, Johnson held several meetings to pour over the school budget with employees and taxpayers. She made it clear that most expenses are tied to labor costs, which are subject to collective bargaining. She also took feedback from teachers and the public on potential cuts.
When Johnson sat down with local union leaders and their representative from the ISTA for the first time this spring, she said the discussion was civil and things went smoothly.
“I didn’t know what to expect … but it went very well,” Johnson said. “We did not have to give concessions really. There was no heated discussion, it was just discussion. They got the picture. They understood that the money wasn’t there.”
The ISTA apparently recognized NJSP’s situation for what it is. Perhaps the relatively small size of the school and local union played a role. It’s common knowledge that most teachers unions typically target contract negotiations with larger school systems, so they can get more and set a precedent for other districts. Perhaps the ISTA wasn’t interested in what was happening in this small district.
Or maybe there is truly an atmosphere of “mutual respect” between the administration and faculty at NJSP, as Johnson contends.
In the end, NJSP’s teachers contract is now more focused on educating children, as it should be. And that’s not something the NJSP school board takes lightly, Johnson said.
“I did not want to start the school year out in a deficit and we’re not, for now,” she said. “When the money is there, the board is certainly committed to making it up to (school employees.) They are really appreciative of the freezes people took.”
|
TURMOIL IN TIPPECANOE
Since our report last week, the Lafayette Journal and Courier ran a story and editorial on our coverage of the stalled contract negotiations at the Tippecanoe school corporation. In the news story, Tippecanoe Superintendent Scott Hanback alleged that the Report Card took his comments out of context and encouraged residents to dismiss the newsletter as “spam.”
The editorial that followed repeated those claims and also urged its readers to resist the temptation to sway for or against the union. This is our response:
“The Education Action Group would like to respond to a recent story and editorial published in the Journal Courier in the wake of a recent edition of our newsletter, the Hoosier Report Card.
Last week, we published an interview with Tippecanoe School Corporation Superintendent Scott Hanback about the district’s teachers contract negotiations with the Indiana State Teachers Association. We presented our take on the situation after speaking with Hanback at length about negotiation talks there, the recent impasse, ISTA involvement in the process and the union’s comments to the media.
Our aim was to expose tactics employed by the teachers union to avoid salary and benefit concessions that nearly everyone in the school district, and the private sector, have accepted to remain employed do to the poor economy.
The ISTA’s refusal to help TSC weather the financial storm has forced school leaders to cut staff and student programs, and will result in increased class sizes this spring. It is our opinion that the ISTA and the state’s collective bargaining laws are hurting students.
Our synopsis of the budget situation in our newsletter is no different than the one-sided communications presented by the ISTA and heavily quoted by the media each time a school corporation hits a rough patch during negotiations. At no time did EAG profess to be a fair and balanced news outlet.
Superintendent Hanback is an avid reader of the Hoosier Report Card and was well aware of our intentions before and during our conversation. Throughout the interview, Hanback made numerous inflammatory comments about union leadership and the stalled negotiations. Some of his quotes were used, others were left out.
As far as we know, neither Hanback nor anyone else has refuted the facts or direct quotes in the story. Hanback told the Journal Courier that his words were taken out of context, but never denied the substance.
We stand firm in our report. Unfortunately, Hanback doesn’t stand behind his words.
In an editorial published Sunday, the Journal Courier encouraged its readers to dismiss the Hoosier Report Card and “resist attempts – from all sources – to manipulate people’s pro- or anti- union sentiments.”
It also argues that TSC negotiations are a local issue.
We believe those opinions are a disservice to readers and reflect a naive perception of the education establishment.
In Tippecanoe and elsewhere, regional UniServ directors (hired professional negotiators for the state teachers union) are heavily involved in crafting new contracts. They focus on setting regional precedent with contract language that is then used as leverage in the next negotiation. Is that local control?
Also, Congress approved this week a multi-billion dollar bill that benefits educators across the country, Indiana’s included. The $10 billion proposal, funded with money collected from taxpayers in every state, will funnel millions to the nation’s two largest teachers unions – the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. The teachers union bailout can only be used for labor costs, and we believe local unions are holding out in negotiations in wait for the federal funds. Is that local control?
Indiana residents deserve to know how their tax dollars are spent and our publication presents critical insight into the process, with a focus on the ISTA’s motivation and tactics. For years, the ISTA has dominated that discussion in Indiana.
That is why we will continue to publish the Hoosier Report Card. And we hope that Indiana residents will consider its contents, local news reports, the union’s propaganda and all other sources of information to form their own opinions.”
What could possibly be wrong with that?
|
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
August 6th, 2010
The teacher unions are in a panic. School districts all across the nation are facing huge budget deficits, leading to teacher layoffs, increased class sizes, and shorter school year calendars.
But more and more Americans are realizing that a few reasonable contract concessions from the local teachers unions would allow schools to avoid such drastic measures. After all, the nation is still reeling from the “Great Recession.” Is it so unreasonable to ask teachers to accept a temporary wage freeze and maybe kick in a little for their health insurance? Isn’t that what American workers are doing to keep their jobs? Taxpayers all across the country are asking those tough questions, and it’s causing union leaders some sleepless nights.
But don’t expect the unions to give up. No way. The Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are on the verge of passing a $10 billion dollar bailout for the teachers unions. Politically-savvy readers may be wondering why Congress would pass another bailout when previous bailouts of the car companies and Wall Street have proven so unpopular.
The answer isn’t very complicated. What’s really going on here is a quid pro quo: Congressional Democrats (with the help of a few Republicans) will provide states with tax dollars to paper over the school budget deficits. In return, the teacher unions will “bail out” the Democratic Party by providing lots of money to help re-elect Democrats, like they do every election cycle. It’s a win-win, at least for the unions and the Democrats. The teacher unions won’t have to make difficult concessions regarding wages and health insurance, and congressional Democrats will have the nation’s largest political contributor, the National Education Association, squarely in their corner during the election season.
Of course there will be a lot of blather from the unions that this bailout is really about doing right by the nation’s school children. But if that were the case, why have they allowed all the layoffs and the over-crowding classrooms in the first place? A few concessions at the local level already would have saved the jobs of many young, non-tenured teachers.
If the teacher unions want to self-destruct, that’s their business. But when their greed threatens the education of the nation’s children and requires a bailout from the American taxpayer, they’ve gone too far. To borrow a line from the 1986 film Hoosiers:
“Look, mister, there’s… two kinds of dumb. The guy that gets naked and runs out in the snow and barks at the moon, and the guy who does the same thing in my living room. First one don’t matter, the second one you’re kinda forced to deal with.”
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
August 5th, 2010
The new Battle of Tippecanoe: ISTA interests vs student needs
Union leaders are using bargaining advantage to strong-arm TSC
LAFAYETTE – It’s déjà vu in Tippecanoe.
Tippecanoe School Corporation recently joined the growing line of Indiana school districts awaiting mediation after failed teachers contract negotiations with the Indiana State Teachers Association.
“After I read last week’s newsletter on Noblesville, we were joking that you could just erase Noblesville and put in Tippecanoe,” TSC Superintendent Scott Hanback told the Hoosier Report Card. “It’s right on. The same thing is happening here.”
Like Noblesville, ISTA officials have had a strong hand in contract negotiations with school leaders in Tippecanoe, and they seem to be taking the same hard line. The union declared an impasse in late July after four months of talks over seven meetings. The district is now waiting on a mediation date.
The bottom line: the ISTA refuses to consider salary concessions in line with what the rest of the school district’s employees already have accepted without a no layoff guarantee for three years.
That’s a risk that TSC leaders aren’t willing to take, Hanback said.
“We don’t know what the future is, and we have been told to prepare for more cuts this year,” Hanback said. “We can’t get ourselves locked into something we may not be able to afford.”
Last year, the school district laid off about 150 teachers, or roughly 20 percent of its instructional staff, in anticipation of a projected $7.8 million budget deficit heading into this school year. Some will be called back, but about 85 to 90 Tippecanoe educators won’t.
Administrators have already accepted a three percent pay cut and gave up performance-based bonuses. They also agreed to roll back the school board’s contribution to their health coverage to 2008-09 levels. Those and other administrative sacrifices saved over $470,000.
Tippecanoe’s support staff, custodians, bus drivers and secretaries followed suit, contributing $1,080,997 to keep the school system afloat.
“It was a significant … savings by these employees, rolling their salaries back. Even our school board took a 10 percent reduction to their pay,” Hanback said. “Basically, we asked the teachers (union) in February to take the same pay cut as the other employee groups. They came back to us with an April date to negotiate a new contract.”
That sounds eerily familiar.
Stalling for the status quo
The budget situation in Tippecanoe mirrors most school districts across the state: less revenue, significant labor costs, and a dangerously heavy reliance on fund reserves that are quickly depleting.
Tippecanoe’s proposed cuts, posted on the corporation’s Web site, shows the district plans to use $4.8 million in cash reserves in 2010.
|
Since 2008, school leaders have been working to trim costs. So far, they’ve implemented energy savings, eliminated elementary summer school, eliminated communications courses, raised elementary class sizes by up to three students, reduced administrative positions by 12 percent, reduced custodian positions by 20 percent and scaled back elementary art, music and physical education.
“We have exhausted our cash balance. We’ve put $11 million worth of capital projects on hold,” Hanback said.
The cost cutting measures haven’t been enough, Hanback said, and TSC came to the bargaining table this spring asking ISTA negotiators to accept a three percent pay cut for their members, essentially giving back the last of three raises outlined in the current teachers contract.
To entice cooperation, TSC leaders left teachers’ automatic annual raises intact. That eliminated the ability to transfer 5 percent of the corporation’s capital improvement fund to its general fund, but if union leadership approved, it would show that the district truly is attempting to live within its means and would bolster support for a potential referendum for local tax dollars, Hanback said.
“In our proposal we were going to give them their increments … and our increment average is 3 percent,” Hanback said of the $600,000 annual increase. “They kept saying how they can’t sell it to their membership.
“The ISTA’s mantra is if you give it up, you will never get it back. But we heard from a lot of teachers in the spring that were willing to take a pay cut,” he said.
Hanback said the state’s collective bargaining laws are working against TSC leaders and are in dire need of revision. Because bargaining laws ensure that the current contract remains in place until a new one is crafted, ISTA leaders are holding out for a better deal, exactly the same tactic being employed in Noblesville and elsewhere.
“For them, what’s their incentive to settle? If we are asking for concessions, they are better off with the status quo,” Hanback said. “What makes them think (the community) would be supportive of a referendum if the teachers are digging their heels in?
“We are trying to get them to see the bigger picture here,” he said.
|
Dumb, blind or indifferent?
Despite TSC’s obvious budget problems ISTA negotiators have stuck to their guns.
They have continuously demanded a multi-year agreement and attempted to inject new or different contract language that would ultimately worsen TSC’s budget situation or erode critical reforms.
The union has attempted to ensure teacher evaluations that do not consider student test scores. It’s tried to change the school board’s contribution for health coverage from a set dollar amount to a percentage tied to ever-rising insurance costs. Union negotiators also wanted guarantees that concessions would be restored, and that no more teachers would lose their jobs. They’ve also demanded a $20,000 bonus for each teacher that retires during the life of the contract, Hanback said.
“Already in our contract they get, when they retire from our district, $3,500 for every year until they hit 65,” he said. “If they retire at 55, that’s $35,000 per teacher.”
In the end, school officials did their best to comply with the ISTA’s demands and offered to settle on a two-year agreement that included a three percent salary reduction and increased health insurance contributions for this year.
“Basically, they would take the cuts in 2010-11, and then … get them back in 2011-12,” Hanback said. ”We were asking them to do that so we can go to the community in good faith with a referendum.
“We thought we were making progress, then all of a sudden they came back with what we thought was a big departure” from earlier compromises, he said. “They brought up old language we thought was dead. They brought up new language.”
|
What about priorities?
Throughout the negotiation process one thing has become increasingly clear: the ISTA’s priorities trump those of the community and the students the union claims to serve. A quick comparison between the contract situation in Tippecanoe and Noblesville, the district we featured last week, reveals a lot of similarities and supports the notion that union bosses in Indianapolis call the shots.
Noblesville Superintendent Libbie Morgan-Conner said last week that “the fact that the ISTA is deeply involved in this is overshadowing the good judgment” of teachers there.
Hanback echoed those sentiments for Tippecanoe.
Local union leaders in Tippecanoe “don’t (make decisions) unless their UniServ director says it’s OK,” he said.
“I think unions in general seem to operate out of fear,” Hanback said. “They distort the message and attack the messenger, and that rings true for us.
“They just don’t see the bigger picture. It’s all about protection and their membership, he said. “In general, I think there is always a disconnect” from rank-and-file teachers.
“It just means that we are going to have to balance the budget elsewhere,” Hanback said.
It also means that students will suffer because of the union’s stubbornness in the form of program cuts, higher class sizes and fewer opportunities.
|
READERS WRITE IN
You are probably an arm of AFT. Quit sending me e-mails!
Betsy Storey
Fort Wayne Community Schools
(Editor’s note: the Hoosier Report Card is not affiliated in any way with the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second largest teachers union.)
Yes we should all take pay cuts, we can cut the salary of all staff down to minimum levels and save money. That will also drive more people out of education than ever before. (I mean)seriously. We teachers get asked to do more than ever to make up for societal ills and now you want us to do it for less? Please. Talk my landlord, the oil companies and others into taking “pay cuts” and I will take mine.
Richard Haton
Indianapolis Public Schools
|
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
August 2nd, 2010
The two top teachers unions and Senate Democrats are proving the old adage that dead bodies float to the surface. Just when we thought the wrong-headed “Education Jobs Fund” was dead, it comes back to life.
The U.S. Senate is poised to vote Monday on the “public school bailout,” the brainchild of teachers unions to stave off tens of thousands of school employee layoffs. Progressive blogs say it will come at 5pm.
When Democrats realized the bailout wasn’t going to pass attached to the Afghanistan war spending. It’s now riding on a Federal Aviation Administration bill.
The American Federation of Teachers claims the $10 billion in ”debt-financed” spending (ie. spending the money of the children unions’ purport to care about) will prevent the firing of 300,000 school employees – the vast majority of which are union members.
House Democrats and the Obama administration claim the public school bailout will save 140,000 jobs. It would be nice if they’d use the same talking points and give us a somewhat accurate number – assuming one actually exists.
But using the union’s number, the school bailout would also result in a major dues windfall for teachers unions: an estimated $36 million for the NEA and roughly $14 million for the smaller American Federation of Teachers.
Not a bad haul for using children as props and a major lobbying campaign, complete with prizes.
There is no evidence that increased spending improves student achievement. If that were the case, Washington, DC public schools would be the best in the country. Clearly, thanks in large part to the adult-focused teachers unions, they’re not. In fact, while they’re improving thanks to the tenacious efforts of Chancellor Michelle Rhee, DC schools are among the lowest performing in America.
But student performance, at a time that it means the most, apparently is irrelevant. What is relevant to teachers unions and Congressional Democrats is employed adults. After all, they need the union members as foot soldiers for the November election, right?
The assembly line model of our public school system is hurting kids, their success and America’s future.
This is the time for public schools to right-size. Get spending in check. Fix bloated compensation systems, like woefully underfunded pension systems. End frivolous spending, like paying bad teachers to go away. Have the appropriate number of staff for the number of students. The Education Intelligence Agency reports student enrollment is down yet adult employment continues to rise.
Are America’s public schools employment agencies or institutions of learning, whose prime focus is preparing students and having the best adult possible teaching? Senate approval of this measure will show the focus is on protecting adults and not students.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
|
