Getting the ball rolling: This fall's regional leadership conferences follow up on efforts that began with this summer's Presidents Conference and Summer Institute to get chapters on board with CTA priorities, to build regional and statewide support for local initiatives, and to hone leadership skills in the process. Making a connection between the state and local levels at the Presidents Conference in Pacific Grove are CTA Secretary-Treasurer David A. Sanchez, CTA Vice-President Barbara E. Kerr and Teachers Association of Norwalk-La Mirada President Gerald Gandolfo.
CTA is working to ensure that teachers' rights don't get left behind with this year's implementation of federal legislation reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
"There are serious collective bargaining implications in the legislation," says John Kohn, a specialist with the Negotiations and Organizational Development Department (NODD). "We are working on analyzing what this legislation means from a collective bargaining standpoint."
In addition, CTA is developing sample contract language in the Contract Reference Manual for staff and leaders to assess. "We want to make sure our members are protected."
School districts are required to develop a plan to demonstrate how they intend to meet the requirements of ESEA, which include hiring "highly qualified teachers" at the start of this year in Title I schools, and ensuring that every teacher is highly qualified by the 2005-06 school year.
"We want our local associations to get highly involved in the development of this plan," says Kohn. "Our message is: Get involved now!"
The fear is that in order to comply, school districts may opt to play a shell game of moving teachers on emergency permits out of Title I schools and transferring credentialed teachers into Title I schools on an involuntary basis. ESEA allows for transfer and reassignment of staff as a "corrective" action for schools that have failed to make adequate progress toward improvement.
"It's already starting to happen," says Kohn. Teachers are already being transferred involuntarily. "We want local associations to find out what's happening and enforce their contracts vigorously so they can prevent this kind of thing."
Some school districts, says Kohn, are "jumping the gun" by interpreting what constitutes a "highly qualified teacher" before the federal Department of Education accepts - or chooses not to accept - the state's proposed definition.
California's standards for becoming a certified teacher are among the highest in the nation. But due to a huge shortage of certified teachers, thousands teach on emergency permits while working toward their credential. It remains to be seen whether the federal government will provide funding for these teachers under the new law.
In an effort to give local associations advance warning on the situation, NODD is conducting workshops for CTA staff - as well as workshops for chapter leaders at CTA conferences - on collective bargaining issues threatened by ESEA legislation.
"We want to remind the 'federales' that people's collective bargaining agreements are not to be violated," notes CTA Board member Pixie Hayward Schickele. "That's a big issue that is very important to our members, especially when they try to break people's contracts regarding school transfer."
During the summer, Schickele testified on bargaining aspects of ESEA law at a federal hearing held in San Diego. "They talked to us for three hours and we got to talk to them for about three minutes each," she recalls. "I tried to remind them about how important state's rights are."
Involuntary school transfer is not the only ESEA item that should be subject to collective bargaining. Other potential land mines are: public disclosure on teacher qualifications; definition and scope of the bargaining unit; testing and accountability issues; teacher evaluation; impact from punitive sanctions; and compensation issues.
ESEA allows students attending schools that fail to make adequate progress in test scores after two years to transfer to another campus - with transportation paid for by Title I money. Local associations should ensure, through bargaining, that class size and other programs will not be negatively impacted to pay for transportation of students to other schools.
Under ESEA, schools may use Title I funds for supplemental educational services, including tutoring, after-school services and summer school. All requests to expand the workday or school year should be subject to collective bargaining. And local chapters should negotiate to ensure that other school programs are not cut to pay for supplemental services - which, under ESEA, may be contracted out to faith-based organizations.
ESEA may have substantial implications for California's testing and accountability (API) systems. Local associations should ensure that any new mandated teacher testing or student testing is not allowed to be part of the teacher evaluation process, or to affect teacher transfers and/or dismissals.
Both ESEA and California's statewide accountability program - the Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program (II/USP) - provide sanctions for schools that fail to improve test scores. A state takeover is the ultimate sanction under II/USP.
Under the federal plan, "corrective actions" and "restructuring" of schools may include the following:
- Replacing the school staff relevant to the school's failure to make adequate progress;
- Extending the length of the school year or school day;
- Restructuring the internal organization of the school;
- Reopening the school as a public charter school;
- Entering into a contract with an entity, such as a private management company, with a demonstrated record of effectiveness, to operate the school as a public school.
"It's vital that local associations bargain any sanctions that might be imposed under ESEA," says CTA Staff Attorney Priscilla Winslow. "Schools have to protect themselves now from things that could happen in the not-so-distant future."
Board member Bob Nichols, who also testified at the federal hearing held in San Diego, says CTA is ahead of other state associations when it comes to preparing members for life under ESEA. "We set up a CTA workgroup on this in the spring, and actually have a plan in place for bringing information to members," he says. "And we are working with the state Department of Education and NEA on ESEA implementation."
"This is going to have a big impact on all of us," adds Nichols. "ESEA may not be on the radar screen of some chapter leaders and members right now, but it's something that is going to affect all schools and all teachers down the line."
Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
