Whither the Two-Hundred New Schools Under the Current Contract Proposal?
President Barack Obama, "by virtue of the authority vested" in him by the Constitution of the United States, proclaimed May 4th through May 10th, 2014, as National Charter Schools Week (Obama Proclamation).
Only a day before, on May 1st, I learned that the U.F.T. had agreed to a contract with some dubious propositions. Leaving aside the long delay in receiving long overdue raises, there was a stipulation to allow for up to 200 schools (or 10%) of the City's total to opt out of U.F.T. and D.O.E. rules with the approval of 65% of school personnel.
This provision seems to raise more questions than it answers. Teachers in these schools will still pay union dues, but they may lose out on many protections of the contract. I have read differing interpretations about how these proposed new schools might bend some of the old rules. According to some interpretations, they might develop original curriculum, extend the school day or the school year (The Post, May 2, 2014). Other sources indicated that principals and staff in schools might have greater latitude in hiring and firing fellow workers.
The Mayor and the U.F.T. bill the agreement as a breath of fresh air, creating laboratories for educational innovation, free of U.F.T. and D.O.E. rules. They believe these new schools will act like states in our federal system, sites for experimentation. Then, their successful strategies can, perhaps, be adopted across the City. Excepting prohibition laws, the states, more often than not, have experimented with extending rights. But, charters seem to diminish rights. Ninety percent of six thousand or more charters operate without union protections or the right of collective bargaining. The U.F.T. already runs some of its own charters and, indeed, represents some others. What will these new charter-like schools look like? What rights will teachers have and what rights NYC Educator: Whither the Two-Hundred New Schools Under the Current Contract Proposal?:
On the UFT Contract
Note: This piece appeared originally on Diane Ravitch's blog. It’s been almost six years since NYC teachers have received a raise. This was particularly frustrating since most NYC employees received twin raises of 4% in the 2008-2010 round of pattern bargaining. While they got more money with no givebacks, our leadership helped craft the junk-science based NY APPR law. The entire state got a junk