Commentary: Time to end teacher union stranglehold on education
Sarah Longwell
For young teachers looking to get their first gig after graduating from education school, times are tough.
In New York City, the Success Charter network advertised 135 openings; it received 8,453 resumes in response. In Westchester, a school announced seven openings. More than 3,000 candidates responded.
New York isn't alone: School districts across the country, faced with budget shortfalls, have put a freeze on hiring any new educators. This is bad news for newly minted teachers entering the work force.
There is a silver lining, however: This glut of new educators gives administrators a golden opportunity to revamp rules protecting bad teachers.
Reformers can take advantage of this surplus of labor by pointing out that anyone who doesn't like new rules that will improve the nation's quality of education can quickly be replaced by those who will play ball.
Consider the recent experience of Central Falls, R.I. Presented with a plan to improve the town's failing high school -- a plan that proposed paying teachers more to work a few extra hours a week -- the union said "no deal." Frustrated by the lack of cooperation from teachers who had no real desire to improve the school's dismal scores, administrators replied "fine" and fired the lot of them.
Central Falls was immediately inundated with resumes from teachers desperate to get a crack at a job in a terrible economy. Seven hundred teachers applied for fewer than 100 openings.
Having lost their leverage, the fired teachers caved into all of the administration's requests and were eventually rehired. Problem solved: The students will get a better education, and the teachers get to keep their jobs.
Reformers should aim high: Their first target should be tenure rules. One of the reasons younger teachers are hit the hardest is the ubiquitous and antiquated tenure system, as well as seniority-based layoff policies. Operating in a "last-hired, first-fired" landscape, young, hungry teachers armed with the latest in pedagogy find
From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100613/OPINION01/6130304/1008/Commentary--Time-to-end-teacher-union-stranglehold-on-education#ixzz0qk7iajOk
