If only Ms. Koehler and her members had stuck to the merits, they had a legitimate beef. In their recent contract talks with the union, district negotiators listed non-negotiable district employee bonuses funded by the federal government's stimulus package. This was one-time money dedicated to school district employees around the country to, in the view of President Obama and the last Congress, help stimulate the economy.
In Little Rock, the bonuses were listed (not negotiated) as $1,000 for teachers, $500 for non-certified. Come to find out, this was a miscommunication between the district's administration and negotiators. So by the time the issue reached the board, the administration's recommendation was $750 across-the-board to every employee. This put the board in a difficult situation.
I can understand the union members' disappointment. But still, whether $1,000 or $750, it's a one-time, non-negotiated gift, the purpose of which was to put money into the economy via public school employees.
But to hear Ms. Koehler, at times choking back tears, and the line of union members that preceded her tell it, the board would be destroying all trust if it chose to treat all employees equally in regard to the stimulus. Board members' character, integrity and honesty were all questioned, and that was just at the meeting. I wasn't privy to the bombardment of threatening emails that flooded members throughout the week.
At that point, I had no dog in the hunt, but it seemed to me as though some folks ought to read (or re-read) the Parable of the Prodigal.
Then came the bomb.
In her Little Rock Education Association report, Ms. Koehler ominously told board members:
"We cannot allow our students to go into testing with the ill feelings and the ill will that is building in our buildings over this."Since all meetings are broadcast on Comcast and U-verse, the video is available to the public. So when I pull it from the disc, I'll post it.
Parents and citizens need to understand this not so veiled threat. The leader of the Little Rock teachers' union overtly implied that if her members did not get their way and receive an additional $250, student test scores will suffer.
Inexplicably, Ms. Koehler is paid, not by the union she leads on a full-time basis, but by the Little Rock School District. At lrsd.org, her salary is listed as $64,524.68 a year, with a $3,000 stipend. Throw in the 1.5% retroactive raise approved at the last board meeting, and Ms. Koehler is paid $68,492.55 (9.5 month contract), not to be in the classroom, but evidently to threaten the futures of Little Rock School District students.
I believe in private sector unions. I'm a 20+ year member of two. But when public sector unions get in the way of good government and/or student performance, they should be vigorously opposed as any other obstacle.
I also believe in a level playing field when it comes to negotiations. However, because of years of making nice, the Little Rock School District is subsidizing the very union that is its adversary across the bargaining table.
It doesn't have to be this way. Here are four common sense proposals, which if enacted by the board, would immediately put the district back on even footing with the union:
1) Stop paying the salary of union presidents. With 1,426 members out of 2,222 total teachers (as of January 2010), union members pay $1,026,720 million collectively in annual dues. She's their president, let them pay her.
2) Stop payroll deduction of union dues collected by the district then sent to the union. It's the union's money. It should be independently responsible for the cost and labor to collect it.
3) In the spirit of Arkansas's constitutional right to work law, insist that any Little Rock School District teacher be allowed to join or quit the union at any time. Currently, a teacher may join when they want, but there is a narrow two-to-three week window in June to quit. If missed, teachers are stuck with another year in dues.
4) Eliminate tenure. With origins in colleges and universities, where tenure is still earned, it has been bastardized in the public schools and given to anyone who lasts three years, regardless of performance.
Last night, the board courageously stood up to the unions' threats and vitriol and voted to distribute a $750 federal stimulus bonus to most all school district employees. It was a voice vote, so while the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Cynthia Howell reported Mr. Adams, Mr. Armstrong, Ms. Curry, Ms. Fox and Mr. Carreiro voting for it, I thought Mr. Nellums was also in the mix. Earlier, he had joined Mr. Adams, Mr. Armstrong and Ms. Curry in defeating a proposed amendment to give $1,000 to teachers and $500 to other employees.
Let's hope - no, let's insist - that last night's action heralded a new day in the district's dealings with the union.
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