REPORT: Teachers pay jump after union reforms
The Education Action Group Foundation web site features a compelling report on Wisconsin's landmark Act 10 that Oklahoma teachers and legislative leaders should review in detail.
Beyond Act 10's obvious contribution making operations less expensive for local public schools, the elimination of most labor union collective bargaining has also allowed K-12 officials the freedom to adjust their budgets according to their districts’ needs and resources to reward quality teachers and institute best practices in education.
The benefits of Act 10 go beyond dollars and cents, which is the theme of a new report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), titled “Untold Stories of Act 10: How Superintendents Have Used Act 10 to Reform Public Schools.”
The authors of the report contacted superintendents throughout Wisconsin, to determine how the new flexibility provided by Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011 legislation has allowed them to alter their education programs for the benefit of students, without the self-interested intrusion of organized labor.
“Superintendents of public schools no longer have to seek approval from public unions in order to make changes to the administration of their schools,” the report said. “They are free to adopt the best practices of teacher pay and classroom management.
“They can hire and fire teachers according to criteria other than the rigid policies from a union (collective bargaining agreement). The words ‘seniority’ and ‘teacher tenure’ can be terms of the past for many districts.”
The study reveals several types of fundamental changes and reforms that many schools have implemented, now that they have the freedom to do so.
One is merit pay for teachers, in various forms across the state. In the old days of collective bargaining, teachers were stuck on rigid pay scales based strictly on the number of years they taught and the number of graduate credit hours they earned.
EAGnews.org is the flagship website of Education Action Group Foundation, Inc., a national organization headquartered in Michigan. EAG is a non-partisan non-profit organization with the goal of promoting sensible education reform and exposing those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
[Tip of the hat to YoungCons.com]