ISTA has Noblesville schools over a barrel
State law gives the union the upper hand at the bargaining table NOBLESVILLE – Like many Indiana school corporations, Noblesville schools expect to start the 2010 school year with fewer teachers than the year before, despite an anticipated increase of roughly 200 students.
Classrooms likely will spill over, with as many as 40 students per class at the high school level, and up to 34 third and fourth-graders per teacher. District officials have already cut elementary art, music, media and counselors back to half-time to save cash, said Libbie Morgan-Conner, Noblesville superintendent. Last year, Conner cut two positions from the corporation’s central office, reduced retirement contributions and implemented other cost saving measures to strip $2.1 million from its general fund budget and finish the year in the black. This year, she said, the district is working to cut another $3.9 million, and turned to district employees for help in the form of concessions. Administrators and other staff agreed to a pay freeze, but the teachers union won’t budge, Conner told the Report Card. Apparently, union officials believe that Noblesville teachers are entitled to more pay, despite the fact that all other school employees are making the necessary sacrifices to help their employer. “We are trying to get teachers, through negotiations, to do what all other employee groups are doing. Of course, state statute requires that teachers are paid for years of experience and for educational degree,” Conner said. The incremental salary raises automatically awarded to Hoosier educators has been the sticking point in negotiations with the local teachers union, and its representatives from the Indiana State Teachers Association. The skyrocketing class sizes and program cuts that will greet Noblesville students when they return in the fall are the direct result of the ISTA’s unwillingness to give up that union perk, Conner said. The ISTA declared an impasse in negotiation talks, took its version of the story to the media, and the school district is now waiting for a mediation date, the next of what could be many steps to resolve the contract dispute. |
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Why automatic pay raises are a critical issue
Currently, teachers at Noblesville schools, and many others in Indiana, are awarded an automatic annual raise of 2.3 to 9.8 percent of their salary, depending on a teacher’s years of experience and college degree.
“Just their increments each year cost us $525,000,” Conner said. The raises are automatically awarded to teachers, typically until their 19th or 20th year, when they cap out at the top of the salary scale. “Based on the most recent contract, if nothing else is negotiated, nearly three-fourths of Noblesville’s teachers would receive incremental salary increases …” according to the district’s Web site. The General Assembly last year passed a measure designed to give school corporations relief from a recent cut in education funding brought on by declining tax revenues. For one year, schools are allowed to transfer money from their capital projects fund to their general fund, which previously was illegal. In order to do so, however, all employees must agree to a 2 percent or smaller pay increase. “We were willing to compromise at a 2 percent increment, which would still make a lot of our citizens angry in this (economic) environment,” Conner said, adding that Noblesville would be able to bring back at least 28 of the 40 teachers it laid off last year as part of the deal. “That saves us about $260,000 and it enables us to transfer an additional $330,000. That’s a half-million dollar swing for us if we could pull that off.” Unfortunately, it appears that the ISTA won’t let that happen, even for one year. The union’s last best offer: full incremental raises, minus $500, or a cap on increments at 2 percent if the school corporation pays teachers back at the end of the school year for the difference between the reduction and the full incremental raises, minus $500. The first option wouldn’t meet the statutory guidelines to trigger the transfer; the other circumvents the law and likely is illegal. It also says a lot about the ISTA’s priorities, Conner said. “I would say their priorities aren’t on the classroom and aren’t on students because of the reduction in programs and the rising class sizes,” Conner said. “I think that if we were only dealing with Noblesville teachers there might be hope. “The fact that the ISTA is deeply involved in this is overshadowing the good judgment of our teachers,” Conner said. When contract negotiations broke down, the ISTA distributed a “ Community Communiqué,” and took its story to the media. Both provided slanted coverage of negotiations that is misleading rank-and-file teachers as well as the public, Conner said. “They are the ones that went to the media with their story, but they had a lot of misinformation in their story, and they left a lot out,” Conner said. “One of the things they don’t explain to teachers is the statutory guidelines. That puts it into perspective. “All we are asking is to just help us get through to next year,” she said. The ISTA’s selfish refusal to help “means that we go into the next school year and teachers are on a status quo contract … and they won’t be contributing anything to cost reductions,” Conner said.
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The ISTA has the upper hand
Voters in May approved a referendum for operating funds, which could generate up to $5 million, but that money won’t make it to Noblesville until after the 2010-11 school year ends. In the meantime, Noblesville schools will be running on fumes, and could be out of operating cash by November.
That is of little concern to the ISTA because Indiana state law mandates that when a teachers’ union contract expires, unless there is another one in place, it doesn’t really expire. If school corporations don’t offer the ISTA what it wants at the bargaining table, the union has no incentive to budge on negotiations because the current contract remains in place. The best strategy for the ISTA would be to simply refuse concessions and drag the school corporation through mediation to draw out the process until more funds are available. We believe that’s happening in Noblesville and elsewhere. It’s a sad situation created by Indiana’s collective bargaining laws, which we feel are in dire need of an overhaul. It’s particularly troubling during the current economic slump because, in most cases, status quo contracts provide pay raises and other provisions that school corporations are not able to maintain. “The worst part,” Conner said, “is we are going to have fewer opportunities for students and much higher class sizes.”
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An interesting side note
In an effort to provide an honest, balanced assessment of Noblesville’s contract negotiations, Conner outlined the school’s budget situation and how the school system expects to make up its $3.9 million budget shortfall.
In a public letter posted on the corporation’s Web site, Conner shows the potential savings from changes in insurance for school employees, reductions in retirement contributions, a freeze or reduction on automatic raises for teachers, and changes to how sick days are banked for future use. Conner illustrates the district’s first offer and its final offer, and presents the union’s best offer in an easily comparable format. It becomes quite obvious that teachers’ automatic raises have a big impact on the budget, but less obvious are “release days” for the local union president. Under Noblesville’s current contract, the president of the Noblesville Teachers Forum, the local ISTA affiliate, is paid by the school system for four days per year to conduct union business. Apparently, the union wants to extend that leave to 24 days. We don’t believe that taxpayers should be required to foot the bill for one second of time a teacher isn’t focused on educating students. We can only imagine the union president using their “release time” to lobby state lawmakers to increase taxes and pump more money into Indiana’s education system to fund these types of ridiculous expenses. The “release time” is a minor discrepancy, Conner said, and it appears that it would only cost Noblesville schools about $1,800 per year, although it isn’t clear if that amount includes the cost of substitute teachers. Nevertheless, it’s an unnecessary expense, especially at a time when schools are looking to stretch every available dollar. We would venture to guess the good citizens of Noblesville agree.
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READERS WRITE IN
Who are you and why am I receiving these anti-education, anti-union and anti-public school teacher messages in my email? I am a RIFed teacher and such messages just upset me right now. I can’t relate to all the “perks” that you say teachers are getting. I don’t know anyone who gets such perks. And I resent your calling teachers “thugs.” Please take me off your email lists because I cannot tolerate your negativity.
(Editor’s note: This newsletter is sponsored by the Education Action Group, and our Web site links are in the banner of this newsletter, for more information. Two union perks, automatic raises and union president release time, are outlined in this newsletter and are commonly found in teacher contracts negotiated by the ISTA. Also, we don’t believe teachers are thugs. But union bosses have been known to engange in thuggery and intimidation, which we mentioned in a previous newsletter.)
Ms. Patricia Huffman |
Hoosier Report Card
July 29th, 2010
Tippecanoe teachers contract negotiations highlight double standard
July 26th, 2010It seems that there is a double standard in education employment in Indiana.
On the one hand, there are unionized educators, backed by a state teachers union with seasoned professional negotiators who play hardball to ensure its members are insulated from the state’s economic realities.
On the other hand, there is everyone else that works at a school corporation, who often take salary or other reductions to help their employer weather the financial storm.
Numerous school districts know this situation well, including the Tippecanoe School Corporation. TSC is heading to mediation at the request of its teachers union leaders because they’re unwilling to consider salary concessions similar the 3 percent reduction other employees agreed to, according to jconline.com.
TSC’s most recent offer would have restored teachers to their current salary rates in the second year of the contract. That apparently wasn’t good enough.
The Tippecanoe Education Association, and its Indiana State Teachers Association representative, Don Thompson, won’t agree to salary reductions unless it comes with a guarantee – that no more teachers will be laid off.
Fortunately, TSC leaders are well aware of the state’s delicate financial situation, and the potential for more education cuts on the horizon. They won’t make promises they can’t necessarily keep.
“At this point, with uncertainty in the public education arena with regards to state funding, how can you guarantee something when you don’t have a guarantee yourself from the state?” asked Kim Fox, TSC’s chief financial officer, according to jconline.com. “We all know what happened in January, and we’re expecting more of that.”
In January, state leaders announced a significant decrease in tax revenues and resulting cuts to education funding to balance the budget. TSC’s cut was $3.1 million, and with other district money problems, the school corporation worked to trim $7.8 million from its budget this year.
The school board cut salary and benefits for administrators and staff, slashed supply budgets, reduced administrative positions, and instituted a hiring freeze on support staff to make it through the school year.
It wasn’t enough. The TSC board was forced to request concessions from teachers, which the union soundly rejected. The result was over 100 laid off educators, and larger class sizes.
The teachers that were laid off were ignored in the negotiation process, according to statements made by TEA Co-President Heather Brooks on jconline.com. Younger, eager teachers with little seniority – many of which were willing to help the district – were outnumbered by senior teachers, who weren’t on the chopping block, she said.
“Newly hired teachers appeal to TEA to take a pay and insurance cut,” Brooks told jconline.com at the time. “While most teachers’ e-mails I’ve personally received believe that TEA should not concede …”
Now, union leaders are again selfishly refusing to help the school district, and again asking “What’s in it for us?”
Other school employee groups seemed to be focused on a different question: “How can we help students, and the district as a whole, succeed?”
The TEA’s self-serving attitude, and its decision to cease negotiation talks and move to mediation, only further underscores this fundamental difference between Indiana’s education employee groups.
Hoosier Report Card
July 22nd, 2010
July 21, 2010
Hoosiers deserve to hear both sides of the education debate
ISTA’s censorship stifles progress It’s never a good sign when governments or organizations try to censor information.
It’s a common tactic among totalitarian regimes and ruthless governments. Censorship led to a Nazi Germany hell-bent on ridding the world of innocent millions. The communist North Korean government employs the same tactics to control its masses and keep them living in an artificial bubble void of creativity or critical thought. But those realities don’t seem to matter much to the Indiana State Teachers Association, which apparently is attempting to shield its members’ eyes from this newsletter. In an underground “ISTA On the Job” blog entry, the union has sounded the alarm and encouraged Report Card readers to simply dismiss this weekly newsletter as “tired anti-teacher-union, anti-public schools rhetoric that this group and others like it have been circulating annually for years.” “Their messages are both disingenuous and misleading regarding ISTA and public education,” according to the blog, which was never officially published on the ISTA Web site. It seems as though the Report Card has struck a nerve with ISTA leadership. We’re hardly surprised. For decades the ISTA and other teachers unions across the country have had free reign in framing the debate on public education with little or no scrutiny. They aren’t used to being challenged, and it shows. But it’s obvious, given the state of education in Indiana, that a major challenge to the union’s dominance is in order. The same old scare tactics
Like most of our critics, the ISTA doesn’t offer specifics about what part of our message is “disingenuous and misleading,” but instead relies on generalities to counter our claims.
“EAG constantly bashes the collective bargaining process and school employees’ rights to inform their communities and to work to elect leaders who value students and the employees who teach and help them at school,” according to the blog. In reality, EAG Foundation works tirelessly to expose union perks or contract provisions that school districts can do without, especially during tough economic times. We believe Indiana’s tax dollars should be spent responsibly, and not on things like unused sick day bonuses, union president release time, extravagant health insurance plans or unnecessary bureaucracy created in labor agreements. |
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Contrary to the ISTA’s rhetoric, EAG Foundation values the concerns of the state’s educators and believes their involvement in their communities is essential to improving public education. An engaged school support staff is equally important.
But we aren’t particularly fond of teachers unions’ ugly history of funneling millions of dollars to sympathetic lawmakers who vow to do their bidding at the expense of school children. We’re disgusted every time we learn of the ISTA’s knee-jerk reaction to education reforms posed by state Superintendent Tony Bennett or Gov. Mitch Daniels. We’re tired of the unions’ bad habit of dismissing any viewpoints that threaten their monopoly on public education policy. We believe that ISTA members are intelligent enough to consider all sources of information and formulate their own opinions. To that end, we would like to address a specific claim in the ISTA’s censorship blog. “EAG refuses to disclose its funding sources or its membership list, but our colleagues in Michigan tell us that its leaders are highly partisan people who have close ties to anti-union, anti-public schools, pro-privatization organizations,” the blog reads. Officials at the ISTA never contacted EAG Foundation, but instead relied on the slanted jargon of their union brethren in our home state. The fact is that EAG Foundation is bankrolled by taxpayers, foundations and organizations in Michigan, Indiana and elsewhere that freely donate their money because they believe in our message: taxpayers and students deserve more from the money they contribute to public education, and teachers unions have become an obstacle to that goal. We also think parents should have a choice in where they send their children to school, and the voice regarding the quality of education they receive. Those are scary thoughts to the ISTA. Our policy
We do not disclose our funders because teachers unions have a notorious history of attempting to intimidate those they disagree with, even going as far as leaving animal carcasses in mailboxes. We’d rather not subject our supporters to that kind of thuggary. |
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THE IDOE TAKES A DIFFERENT APPROACH
Apparently, not everyone with the ISTA subscribes to the union’s censorship philosophy.
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Clark could prove to be a good choice
We asked Clark if he believed it would be difficult to consider or recommend education reforms that his current employer might find objectionable. Merit pay, tenure laws, and the impact of Public Law 217 on Hoosier students have all been issues that state and union leaders have disagreed on. |
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AFL-CIO Pres. jabs Daniels, promotes unnecessary union bailout
July 19th, 2010A recent attack on Gov. Mitch Daniels by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is a clear sign that the union remains detached from the financial struggles facing most Americans, and the country as a whole.
Trumka denounced Daniels during a speech in front of roughly 3,000 teachers in Seattle attending the American Federation of Teachers’ annual convention, according to PeoplesWorld, a publication that promotes the communist cause.
Apparently, Trumka took issue with a reference the fiscally responsible governor made to teachers as the “new privileged class.”
But the fact of the matter is teachers are the “new privileged class.”
Automatic raises, pay for unused sick days, paid time off to lobby legislators or conduct union business on school time, three months of vacation each summer, top-notch health care packages with little or no contribution, attendance bonuses, and retirement bonuses are all privileges unionized teachers enjoy that the vast majority of Americans do not.
Trumka’s jab at Daniels was part of the union boss’ attempt to convince anyone who will listen that the country should be spending billions more in tax dollars to keep an economic recovery from “sputtering to a halt,” according to PeoplesWorld.
“We absolutely must provide emergency aid to head off the layoff of 300,000 teachers and other public workers,” Trumka’s spouted from the stage.
He was referring to a $10 billion union bailout that Democrats attached to a war spending bill that recently passed the U.S. House. It’s not expected to make it out of the Senate because it calls for stripping money from education reform initiatives to fund it. President Obama vowed to veto the bill if it is passed by the Senate.
A $23 billion version of the bill, called the “Keep Our Educators Working Act,” died in Congress earlier this summer because a number of Republicans and Democrats thought it was unnecessary. The union stood to receive millions from that bill, and would also receive a big chunk of the $10 billion teachers union bailout that’s currently in the Senate.
Both bailouts are predicated on estimates from the nation’s two largest teachers unions that up to 300,000 teachers could lose their jobs due to layoffs tied to school budget cuts. Those cuts, in many places, are the result of stubborn union leadership that is unwilling to consider significant contract concessions. Apparently the union believes its members deserve special privileges, and shouldn’t sacrifice during the economic downturn, like most Americans.
Nevertheless, some critics have questioned the unions’ layoff figures.
In reality, NEA officials that attended the union’s recent national convention are only budgeting for 35,000 fewer active members, according to Intercepts.
“NEA Secretary-Treasurer Becky Pringle called this ‘a conservative estimate,’ which in context meant it might not be that many. She specifically stated the budget did not assume the jobs bill would pass,” according to the blog. “If NEA itself isn’t budgeting on the belief that 300,000 education employees will lose their jobs - or 200,000 - or 100,000 – or 50,000 – why is Congress?”
Maybe that’s a riddle Trumka can figure out, since he seems to have all the answers.
Hoosier Report Card
July 16th, 2010
July 14, 2010
New study reveals Indiana could save $454 million if school employees join state insurance plan
ISTA officials balk at sacrifices that could save thousands of teaching positions INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana State Teachers Association has made a lot of noise in recent months about the impact declining state revenues have had on education funding for local schools.
When state leaders made the fiscally responsible decision to trim education funding to balance the budget, it drew howls of protest from union officials, who claimed thousands of teachers would be laid-off as schools worked to shore up their budgets. There was little talk of what the Indiana State Teachers Association or the Indiana Federation of Teachers could do to help schools weather the economic storm. But last week, the State Budget Committee reviewed a recently released report by the Mercer consulting firm that concluded the state could save $454 million if school employees joined the state health insurance plan, freeing up money that could go toward preventing teacher layoffs and improving classroom instruction for Hoosier students. “With health care taking up nearly $2 billion of state funds at the university and K-12 level, constituting nearly 21 percent of the K-12 budget, if we could just get more schools and the universities to opt into the state health-care plan … we could avert next year’s pending budget challenges significantly,” House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, told IndyStar.com. “These striking results should encourage schools across the state to consider moving to the state insurance plans — because doing so could save thousands of teachers’ jobs,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said in a statement. But ISTA officials have selfishly balked at the proposal because their members likely would be required to sacrifice to make it work, in some cases contributing more toward premium costs. ISTA President Nate Schnellenberger quickly dismissed the cost saving idea on the union’s blog, despite the fact that a mass changeover to the state plan could keep more of his members employed. “Working with their administrators and school boards, our teacher and educational support leaders from across the state have told us that they have already examined the state insurance plan in detail,” Schnellenberger said. “They have found that there would be little or no savings to their schools by making the switch to the state insurance plan.” Some schools have already joined, avoided budget cuts
So far, five school corporations have moved their employees to one of three plans offered by the state and, despite Schnellenberger’s assessment, saved substantial cash.
In Portage Township Schools, for example, officials recently transferred 628 school employees onto the state insurance plan and saved about $1.9 million. The district is capped by the state plan for what it can contribute toward its employee’s premium, but the corporation used about a half-million dollars it saved to contribute to health savings accounts to defray its employees increased portion, Portage’s Director of Finance Sharon Quackenbush told the Report Card. |
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Some younger teachers at Portage opted for a high deductible plan that required no premium contribution from the employee, and the school corporation contributed $2,750 of the plan’s $5,000 deductible to their HSA.
The bottom line, Quackenbush said, is that school employees will contribute slightly more for their health coverage, much of which is made up by contributions to their HSA accounts, but the school district is much better off because of it. The district ultimately saved $1.4 million of a projected $2.4 million budget shortfall and avoided teacher layoffs and significant program cuts, she said. “For us, this was a very workable solution to our budget problems,” Quackenbush said. “I think the employees saw it made sense here.” It was a similar story at New Harmony School, where Superintendent Fran Thoele said teachers “got better coverage and it cost them less. “It also saved the corporation money,” she said. The small school corporation transferred about 20 employees to the state plan in January and it now pays $13,000 less, with better coverage, Thoele said. “It just gives you extra money to spend on other things … like supplies for the classroom or staff salaries,” she said. New Harmony was in a better position to make the switch than many other districts because its contract with the ISTA already contained a provision that capped the schools’ contribution to employee health insurance. Most teachers contracts stipulate a percentage the employer is required to pay towards the premium, she explained. “We hadn’t given away the kitchen sink in our contract,” she said. But many districts have, and that likely is a major motivator for lawmakers and school leaders eyeing insurance costs, she said. “I think the reason the push is there is … what has been given to teachers in the past has become a huge burden to corporations,” Thoele said. Thoele said that despite the potential for enormous savings, she believes administrators in districts that currently offer generous health insurance packages will have a hard time convincing its teachers unions to help make ends meet by contributing more in premium costs. “I think the unions will stop it,” she said. “I don’t think the unions will agree to any of that.” |
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Collective bargaining an obstacle to change
Frank Bush, executive director for the Indiana School Boards Association, agrees with Thoele.
Because Indiana’s Public Law 217 requires that health insurance is a topic of collective bargaining, it becomes a local issue subject to the approval of the teachers union, he said.
“I think the state will have a difficult time mandating school corporations go to the state health insurance plan. Almost all are locked into collective bargaining agreements,” Bush told the Report Card.
“Most likely, local employees won’t agree to less coverage and pay more. It’s not going to resonate well with local bargaining units out there,” Bush said. “Generally, the unions end up saying we aren’t going to do that. I guess … their position has been they’re not willing to sacrifice.
“There would have to be some sunset provision that says when a contract is renegotiated that (health insurance) language can’t be put in the contract,” Bush said.
The current focus from lawmakers seems to be to keep the issue local, or perhaps motivate local school corporations to change to the state plan by only allocating enough funding for districts to cover what other public employees receive.
“The more schools that are willing to make that choice, the more dollars will be available to keep teachers in the classroom,” Rep. Bosma told IndyStar.com. “We’re going to do everything we can to encourage that in the coming (legislative) session.” That route would still leave school corporations to bargain health insurance with local teachers unions, which likely would object. |
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ISTA’s bargaining objectives
An internal ISTA document “Sample Collective Bargaining Agreement and Rational” makes it clear the union isn’t interested in compromise.
The document reveals that union negotiators approach each new bargaining session with the following goals in mind:
“Each employee and the employee’s immediate family members shall be covered by a full service health insurance program provided through ISTA-FSP totally paid for by the Board that meets the following minimum specifications:
a. One hundred percent prescription drug coverage … b. Hospital room and board paid at one hundred percent … c. Hospital ancillary charges paid in full for 365 days d. Extended care facility charges paid in full e. Outpatient surgery charges paid in full f. Surgeon charges paid in full … g. In-hospital medical charges paid in full …” Other union bargaining objectives include a maximum out-of-pocket co-payment of $500 per individual and a $50 deductible, as well as fully taxpayer funded pap smears, emergency visits, x-rays, and coverage for dependents up to age 24.
The ISTA’s rational for the top-notch health coverage? “In the area of health, the current trend among Boards is to try to get the employee to pay a significant amount towards the total premium. This is a counterproductive approach towards the bargaining of such benefits for the Association and flies in the face of the original purpose of the Board-provided health insurance,” according to the document.
The document also points out that “even though Board-sponsored group insurance plans are excellent tax shelters, one must be very careful in choosing both the plan as well as the carrier. The carrier, and amount of premium paid by the Board are all bargainable items. The Association should actively and aggressively seek to bargain the ISTA-FSP products into the contract.” So it becomes quite obvious that the union’s objective isn’t to work with school corporations, but to squeeze as much money as possible from the school board and to promote its own financial products at the bargaining table. It’s an unfortunate frame of mind that is costing the state’s taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. And it seems that without serious intervention from Indianapolis, its likely will stay that way. It’s our hope that the General Assembly takes the recent insurance report to heart, and works to find ways to amend or eliminate Public Law 217 so school corporations have the financial flexibility to spend their resources in a more responsible manner. Clearly, the ISTA isn’t interested in sharing in the financial sacrifices necessary to avoid teacher layoffs and keep class sizes manageable. Forcing change from the state level may be the only way to loosen the ISTA’s financial chokehold on local school budgets and put the interests of Hoosier students ahead of union perks. |
From IndyStar.com: Choice should be education option
July 9th, 2010Editor’s note: Indiana resident and former editorial page editor for the Indianapolis News Russ Pulliam spells out a convincing case for school choice in a letter published today on IndyStar.com. We believe the letter was well written and, for the most part, agree with his position.
The Indianapolis Public Schools district, where enrollment has declined for 40 years and the graduation rate is dismal, is in crisis.
Superintendent Eugene White has tried to turn the district around, with an emphasis on excellence and accountability.
Yet, White also has viewed charter schools as competitors with an unfair advantage, in part because they can hire and fire teachers outside of a union contract.
IPS’ stance on charters contrasts with the approach found in several other metropolitan areas. In Denver, the top school administrators have embraced charters as a remedy for troubled schools. Driving the charter emphasis there has been the success of the Cole Arts and Science Academy. The academy has a strong record of sending graduates to college. The charter school push has increased enrollment in Denver’s public schools, where more than 75,000 students attended classes this past school year.
Rochester, N.Y., may try a different angle on school reform, following the lead of cities such as New York and Chicago. Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy would gain control of the 32,000-student system under a proposal in the New York legislature.
The idea is to make one visible and elected public official accountable for school performance, instead of a school board struggling for consensus on how to repair a broken system.
Drastic measures also could be in store for IPS. Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett already has threatened to take over some failing schools. The General Assembly could even turn IPS over to Mayor Greg Ballard.
Both Ballard and his predecessor, Bart Peterson, have already carried a big responsibility for education in the city through their capacity to issue charters for new schools.
One other drastic option, originally offered in 1991 by then-state Sen. Louis Mahern when he ran for mayor, deserves reconsideration.
Mahern proposed to give each IPS family the capacity to choose a school for its child, public or private. He thought many parents might choose the public school nearest home. Others, however, might use a state certificate to pay for attending a private school.
Mahern’s proposal didn’t catch on politically. But a local businessman, J. Patrick Rooney, was so frustrated by the political opposition to what seemed like a sensible idea that he launched a privately funded alternative, the CHOICE Charitable Trust. The trust has provided scholarships for low-income families to have a private school option in the IPS district.
A liberal Democrat, Mahern thought low-income parents ought to have the same education options that wealthier and middle-class families have enjoyed.
That approach is worth debating again, considering the challenges facing IPS.
State could save $450M in teachers health insurance, ISTA balks
July 9th, 2010A recent study reveals that Indiana could save more than $450 million if teachers in public schools and universities participate in the state run health insurance plan, freeing up money that could go toward improving classroom instruction for Hoosier students.
But officials with the Indiana State Teachers Association have selfishly balked at the proposal because their members would be required to sacrifice to make it work, contributing more for somewhat reduced benefits.
The resistance is typical of ISTA officials, who prefer the current system in which teachers contribute very little to their health costs, and highlights the union’s focus on increasing taxes, especially for those who already contribute the most to the state’s coffers.
It also shows that other state education groups, such as the Indiana Association of School Business Officials and the Indiana School Boards Association, are more focused on adult interests, instead of the children who stand to benefit from a changeover.
“One thing that we think should be done is we should have a surcharge or a graduated income tax on those Hoosiers making more than $250,000,” instead of changing teachers to cheaper insurance, ISTA President Nate Schnellenberger told Indiana’s News Center.
The ISTA has traditionally supported higher taxes to perpetuate Indiana’s current education spending crisis, so we’re hardly surprised by Schnellenberger’s comments. But raising taxes on the state’s biggest tax contributors will not solve the fundamental financial problems plaguing the state’s schools.
Much of the financial mess is tied to Public Law 217, and expensive teachers unions contracts local school districts are forced to negotiate because of it. School boards spend millions in tax dollars each year on union “release time” so teachers or union leaders can lobby the General Assembly for more taxes, legal fees for drawn out due process hearings and union grievances, exorbitant buyout packages for educators’ unused sick days or retirement incentives, and numerous other provisions spelled out in the contracts.
Unfortunately, the ISTA and its partners at the IASBO, ISBA and other education “associations” are content with the financial pitfalls inherent in the status-quo.
Unlike the ISTA, however, the other associations prefer to give local districts the option, rather than impose through legislation, a change to the state insurance plan, according to IndyStar.com.
We do not think that will ever happen because the ISTA carries the upper hand in most local collective bargaining sessions, in which elected board members are pitted against seasoned union negotiators.
So far, only five of Indiana’s 290 school corporations have joined the state health insurance plan.
That is a sobering statistic considering the potential savings. The recent insurance study conducted by consulting firm Mercer, and recently presented to the State Budget Committee, shows schools could save $3,600 per employee, and a total of $454 million if schools join up, money that could go to preserve teachers that would otherwise be laid off or critical education programs.
House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis put it in perspective for Indystar.com.
“With health care taking nearly $2 billion of state funds at the university and K-12 level, constituting nearly 21 percent of the K-12 budget, if we could just get more schools and the universities to opt into the state health-care plan … we could avert next year’s pending budget challenges significantly.”
Lawmakers told IndyStar.com that they would rather incentivize a changeover by only providing enough funds to cover schools’ participation in the state plan, and then allow districts to either join or make up the difference some other way.
We suspect that plan could put Indiana schools in a tough position, largely because the ISTA strongly opposes the idea and likely will force school officials to pay out the difference to cover the extra $3,600.
If the ISTA is truly concerned for students, and the teachers it represents, it would encourage schools to join the state plan to prevent more teacher layoffs that cause skyrocketing class sizes. So far, it seems like the ISTA isn’t interested in helping financially to save the state’s schools, and would rather protect its union perks.
Perhaps if legislators required schools to join, so long as the state plan is cheaper than their current insurance rates, then Indiana would have more cash to improve public education, with or without the help of the ISTA.
Hoosier Report Card
July 8th, 2010
July 7, 2010
New teachers contract expected to cost Anderson schools millions
It’s the latest example of serious problems with Indiana’s school system ANDERSON – We at the Education Action Group Foundation believe Indiana’s Public Law 217, the state law that outlines collective bargaining rights, is hurting students.
We also believe the state’s two largest teachers unions – the Indiana State Teachers Association and the Indiana Federation of Teachers – are impediments to a better school system. For decades, the unions have used PL 217 as leverage to extort millions of tax dollars from Indiana’s public schools at the bargaining table, with little regard for how the racket affects students or local communities. Let us be clear, EAGF is a steadfast supporter of the thousands of hard-working educators that toil tirelessly every day to provide an education to Hoosier youth. It is their unions’ antics and union leadership that leaves a bad taste in our mouths. As Indiana schools struggle to cope with the economic reality plaguing school districts across the country it has become increasingly obvious that the ISTA and IFT are part of the problem, and we are launching this new newsletter to highlight how the unions are bleeding schools to death. The most recent example is from the Anderson Community School Corporation. The Anderson district recently paid out $2.1 million in contributions and special bonuses as part of a controversial teachers contract approved by IFT-backed board members, despite vehement public opposition and numerous legal challenges. Last Wednesday, the struggling Anderson district shelled out $25,000 to 49 retiring educators and another $1,200 to all 824 of the district’s union teachers. It’s the result of a secretly orchestrated deal between Anderson Federation of Teachers President Rick Muir and five school board members the local union helped to elect. Muir is also the IFT president. Those board members voted late last month to approve a six-year deal that included the expensive union perks, as well as other costly provisions like a $15.75-per-hour stipend for work teachers perform outside of their contractual school day. Until recently, Muir was the only person who had seen the entire contract, according to those inside the district. A Madison County judge in mid-June issued a restraining order prohibiting the board from taking any action on the agreement in response to a lawsuit filed by Anderson board member Irma Hampton Stewart. It was the second such action. Stewart alleges her fellow board members – Teddy Bohnenkamp, Tobi Jones, Keith Millikan, P.T. Morgan and William Riffe – worked in collaboration with Muir to circumvent the district’s negotiation team and craft an agreement that would increase school spending by millions, mostly for labor expenses. She is alleging they violated Indiana’s Open Door Law in doing so. When the court order expired, the school board quickly approved the contract with relatively few changes. Stewart sought an injunction to stop the payout, but a judge rejected the motion. |
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“We paid out millions and millions of dollars to 49 people who will not be working for us and all of the district’s teachers for no specified reason,” Stewart told the Report Card. “Based on the input I’ve received, the only ones that find (the new contract) popular are some of the (Anderson Federation of Teachers) members. Some of them.”
Perhaps the saddest part is that all of the defendants in the lawsuit, minus Millikan, were voted out of office by wide margins in May and new leaders took over the school board the day after the contract was approved. The previous teachers contract did not expire until 2012. The public outrage
It wasn’t the first time the IFT-backed board used underhanded tactics to get what it wanted, sources contend.
“The community was getting to the point where they realized they needed to go in a different direction,” Stewart said. Originally the agreement was set to last a decade and contained provisions to eliminate curriculum mapping, a key ingredient for Title 1 funding, but it was thankfully amended to six years with the mapping provision included, likely because of very strong public opposition. Muir and the board’s union apologists contend the contract saves the school corporation money by implementing a two-year, 2 percent pay cut for teachers. School officials and other inside sources contend a provision that funnels $1,200 to each teacher’s retirement account eliminates all but $200 per teacher of that savings. The $25,000 retirement bonuses reportedly consume the rest. Union members will also continue to receive automatic, annual “step” raises built into the contract. Muir, who is retiring from Anderson, directly benefits from the bonuses. The union obviously worked very hard to ensure a final cash grab before the schools’ new leadership took over, with seemingly no regard for the current financial situation or public opinion. Some contend the new contract will bankrupt Anderson schools, which has closed buildings, laid off teachers, and undertaken other cost savings measures to stay afloat. Unfortunately, it’s the district’s students, and other teachers that have been laid off due to budget cuts, that were shafted. Because of the state’s collective bargaining laws, there was little the public could do about it. Hundreds of concerned citizens packed school board meetings and held public rallies to condemn the board’s actions. It didn’t matter. The local Herald Bulletin newspaper ran editorials, the schools’ financial expert wrote letters to the board highlighting the contract’s increased costs, and the schools’ chief negotiator, Charles Rubright, spoke up about Muir’s alleged misdeeds. It didn’t matter. Citizens wrote in to the Bulletin: “I sure never ever want to hear another teacher whine about how hard they have it ever again! And forget ever getting any more money from the community! Milikin and Muir should have been run out of town on a rail years ago, too!” wrote one person. “Isn’t it odd that ACS has to pay millions in order to ’save’ millions? A great way to go broke ’saving’ money! A typical union boss shell game,” wrote another. It didn’t matter. Jim Lyon is the chairman of the Committee for Anderson’s Future, a group that boasts over 1,500 Facebook supporters and helped promote the newly elected board members. He said the group, and the public in general, have a right to know how its money is being spent. We agree. “We simply want to have the public business conducted in a fair, open and transparent way. Transparency is the missing ingredient,” Lyon told the Report Card. “There has not been any public dialogue from the school board, and that has always been the thing. “We’re hopeful that in the days ahead things will be done in the light of day,” he said. It’s obvious that the new teachers contract will have a very negative impact on Anderson schools, at least for the next six years. But perhaps more important are the lessons learned, Stewart said. “It has strengthened this community and opened its eyes … particularly with participation in elections,” she said. “I think that is a big deal. “I’m glad (it’s) over and I will be sitting with new people.” |
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NOW, IT’S ON TO THE NEXT TOWN
GARY – The ink was barely dry on Anderson’s new contract before Muir moved on to his next target – Lake Ridge.
Muir, aided and abetted by the IFT’s representatives in the General Assembly, held a press conference in Gary to air their distaste for a school turnaround plan for Calumet High School, and trumpet the union cause. Calumet High School currently is listed as one of the worst 23 schools in Indiana, and school administrators are working with the state to pull it from the ashes. The most recent statistics on the school’s Web site show only 42 percent of the its 10th graders passed basic math standards, and only 55 percent passed language arts. The school currently is on probation and could face a state takeover if it doesn’t improve. To avoid that fate requires drastic measures including putting all of the teachers at Lake Ridge Middle School and Calumet High School on probation. It’s the first of many important elements of a transformational model for school improvement put in motion by Superintendent Sharon Johnson-Shirley last month. Other changes include a new principal, revised learning and teacher planning time, as well as more operational flexibility, nwi.com reports. Muir, Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, and Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, contend the schools should be commended for the modest gains made in the state ISTEPscores for third through eighth graders released last month, according to nwi.com. “We want this word to get back to the Department of Education and Superintendent Tony Bennett,” Muir touted from the front of the Lake Ridge Schools building, according to nwi.com. “This is a time to be supportive, not to threaten a takeover of the high school.” Muir and his cronies in Indianapolis apparently don’t see the bigger picture. “Although our most recent test scores have shown small gains, the scores still remain below state average,” superintendent Johnson-Shirley told nwi.com. “Our students deserve the best opportunity regardless of socioeconomic status. Placing our high school and middle school teachers on probation constituted a bold move as expected by the state” DOE. Apparently, the union’s talking heads don’t agree. Lake Ridge Federation of Teachers President Greg Keehn used the press conference as an opportunity to highlight a grievance filed by the union over teachers’ probationary status. Technically, Lake Ridge schools allegedly didn’t give teachers enough notice, he contends. We suspect that was the intent of the press conference all along. Fortunately, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett called the men out on their grandstanding antics. In a news release issued in response, Bennett didn’t pull any punches, and vowed his support for the state’s students and those in Lake Ridge working to put their interests above all else – even the mighty teachers union. “If Mr. Muir’s antics are successful, the good teachers and employees of Lake Ridge, the taxpayers who fund them – and, most important, the students – will suffer the consequences. Mr. Muir, in his steadfast support of the status-quo, seems to forget that Calumet High School is one of the worst 23 schools in the state …,” Bennett said in the release. “Even worse than Mr. Muir’s delusional rhetoric is the support his outrageous statements received from a handful of legislators who attended this press conference. I understand state Rep. Vern Smith and the House Democrats are beholden to the $1.2 million the teachers unions contribute to their campaigns, but it would be great if, for once, he and his caucus supported administrators who are making tough decisions and putting the needs of students above the desires of adults,” he said. “Furthermore, I hope community members will demand the top-quality instruction these students deserve and hold union leaders and legislators accountable for their actions,” Bennett said in the release. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. |
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ABOUT EAGF
The Education Action Group Foundation, publisher of the Hoosier Report Card, is a non-profit foundation that focuses on reform efforts in American schools. Citizens concerned with Indiana’s education system, and the obstructionist roles of its teachers unions, have asked us for help in exposing the root of education problems in the Hoosier state.
Over the past year, EAGF has interviewed local and state education leaders, reviewed piles of documents on the teachers unions and other entities, and compiled much of that information on our Web site ISTAexposed.com. The Hoosier Report Card, published each Wednesday afternoon, is the natural progression of that investigation and our attempt to share our findings with educators and taxpayers across the state. EAGF is active in other states, too. We produce a national newsletter, Ed Reform Radar, a Michigan newsletter, EAG Insider, and post a constant stream of blogs on Facebook and Twitter. Our organization is funded by contributions from our readers. Our existence is dependent on that revenue, so if you like our work please consider donating to the cause by clicking on the link in the banner. Readers are also encouraged to submit their thoughts on this newsletter and future editions, or tips from their local school districts, by sending an e-mail to info@edactiongroup.org with their name and local school district. |
Grandstanding IFT Pres. Muir takes his union tactics to Lake Ridge
July 6th, 2010Indiana Federation of Teachers President Rick Muir is quite a busy guy.
The ink was barely dry on a controversial new teachers contract that’s expected to bankrupt Anderson schools before Muir moved onto his next target – Lake Ridge.
In Anderson, Muir successfully negotiated a lengthy six-year teachers contract that will saddle the district with significant new financial burdens in the form of special teacher bonuses and dozens of $25,000 retirement deals. He’s expected to benefit from the deal as he retires from the Anderson district this year.
Muir is at the heart of a lawsuit over the agreement because he allegedly circumvented the school’s negotiation team and crafted a contract behind closed doors with school board members the IFT helped to elect. The sad part is that the Anderson community voted those board members out of office by wide margins in May, but Muir pushed the new contract through before the new board took over last week.
Now, it’s apparently on to the next district.
Muir, aided and abetted by the IFT’s representatives in the General Assembly, held a press conference in Gary to air their distaste for a school turnaround plan for Calumet High School, and trumpet the union cause.
Calumet High School currently is listed as one of the worst 23 schools in Indiana, and school administrators are working with the state to pull it from the ashes. The school is on probation and could face a state takeover if it doesn’t improve.
To avoid that fate requires drastic measures including putting all of the teachers at Lake Ridge Middle School and Calumet High School on probation. It’s the first of many important elements of a transformational model for school improvement put in motion by Superintendent Sharon Johnson-Shirley last month. Other changes include a new principal, revised learning and teacher planning time, as well as more operational flexibility, nwi.com reports.
Muir, Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, and Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said the schools should be commended for the modest gains made in the state ISTEP scores for third through eighth graders released last month, according to nwi.com.
“We want this word to get back to the Department of Education and Superintendent Tony Bennett,” Muir touted from the front of the Lake Ridge Schools building, according to nwi.com. “This is a time to be supportive, not to threaten a takeover of the high school.”
Muir and his cronies in Indianapolis apparently don’t see the bigger picture.
“Although our most recent test scores have shown small gains, the scores still remain below state average,” superintendent Johnson-Shirley told nwi.com. “Our students deserve the best opportunity regardless of socioeconomic status. Placing our high school and middle school teachers on probation constituted a bold move as expected by the state” DOE.
Apparently, the union’s talking heads don’t agree. Lake Ridge Federation of Teachers President Greg Keehn used the press conference as an opportunity to highlight a grievance filed by the union over teachers’ probationary status. Technically, Lake Ridge schools allegedly didn’t give teachers enough notice, he contends.
We suspect that was the intent of the press conference all along.
Fortunately, state Superintendent Tony Bennett called the union leaders out on their grandstanding antics. In a news release issued in response, Bennett didn’t pull any punches, and vowed his support for the state’s students and those in Lake Ridge working to put their interests above all else – even the mighty teachers union.
“If Mr. Muir’s antics are successful, the good teachers and employees of Lake Ridge, the taxpayers who fund them – and, most important, the students – will suffer the consequences. Mr. Muir, in his steadfast support of the status-quo, seems to forget that Calumet High School is one of the worst 23 schools in the state …,” Bennett said in the release.
“Even worse than Mr. Muir’s delusional rhetoric is the support his outrageous statements received from a handful of legislators who attended this press conference. I understand state Rep. Vern Smith and the House Democrats are beholden to the $1.2 million the teachers unions contribute to their campaigns, but it would be great if, for once, he and his caucus supported administrators who are making tough decisions and putting the needs of students above the desires of adults,” he said.
“Furthermore, I hope community members will demand the top-quality instruction these students deserve and hold union leaders and legislators accountable for their actions,” Bennett said in the release.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
Anderson school board passes huge bonuses for retirees, snubs citizens
July 1st, 2010The Anderson school district this week paid out $2.1 million in contributions and special buyouts as part of a controversial teachers contract recently passed by ousted, union-backed board members, despite vehement public opposition and numerous legal challenges.
Wednesday, the Anderson district shelled out $25,000 to 49 retiring educators and another $1,200 to all 824 of the district’s union teachers. It’s the result of a secretly orchestrated deal between Anderson Federation of Teachers President Rick Muir and five school board members the local union helped to elect.
Those board members voted late last month to approve a six-year deal that included the expensive union perks, as well as other costly provisions like a new $15.75-per-hour stipend for work teachers perform outside of their contractual school day. Until recently, Muir was the only person who had seen the entire contract, according to those inside the district.
A Madison County judge in mid-June issued a restraining order prohibiting the board from taking any action on the agreement in response to a lawsuit filed by Anderson board member Irma Hampton Stewart.
When the court order expired, the school board quickly approved the contract with relatively few changes.
Stewart alleges her fellow board members – Teddy Bohnenkamp, Tobi Jones, Keith Millikan, P.T. Morgan and William Riffe – worked in collaboration with Muir to circumvent the district’s negotiation team and craft an agreement that would increase school spending by more than $3 million, mostly for labor expenses. She is alleging they violated Indiana’s Open Door Law in doing so.
The lawsuit is still pending.
All of the defendants in the lawsuit, minus Millikan, were voted out by wide margins in May and will be replaced today. The previous teachers contract did not expire until 2012.
“The community was getting to the point where they realized they needed to go in a different direction,” Stewart said.
The restraining order was the second issued in the case to block the dubious contract.
Originally the agreement was set to last a decade, but was amended to six years. Muir and the board’s union apologists contend the contract saves the school corporation money by implementing a two-year, 2 percent pay cut for teachers.
School officials and other inside sources contend a provision that funnels $1,200 to each teachers retirement account eliminates all but $200 per teacher of that savings. The $25,000 retirement bonuses consume the rest, and then some. Union members will also continue to receive automatic, annual “step” raises built into the contract. Muir, who is retiring, directly benefits from the bonuses.
The union obviously worked very hard to ensure a final cash grab before the district’s new leadership takes over, with seemingly no regard for the current financial situation. Anderson schools are already working against a projected $22 million budget deficit for coming years.
Unfortunately, it’s the district’s students, and other teachers that have been laid off due to budget cuts, that are getting shafted.
“Yesterday we paid out millions and millions of dollars to 49 people who will no longer be working for us, and all of the district’s certified teachers for no specific reason,” Hampton Stewart said. “Based on the input I’ve received … it seems the only ones that (support the contract) are some of the AFT members. Some of them.”
Community opposition to the contract has been overwhelming. Hundreds of concerned citizens have packed school board meetings in recent months to speak out against the underhanded dealings, and have held public rallies to condemn the board’s actions.
Jim Lyon is the chairman of the Committee for Anderson’s Future, a group that boasts over 1,500 Facebook supporters and helped promote the newly elected board members.
He said the group simply believes the public has a right to know how its money is being spent.
“We simply want to have the public business conducted in a fair, open and transparent way. Transparency is the missing ingredient,” he said.