Will Teachers Save Public Schools?
As alternatives like vouchers and charter schools gain momentum, time may be running out
The refusal of the NEA's delegates to back the merger plan makes plain just how difficult it will be for Chase to persuade his 52 state affiliates and 13,250 locals to back tenure reform, public-school choice, and other increasingly popular changes. Most of the delegates who rejected the merger did so primarily because they believed it would have decreased the power of the NEA's local memberships.
NEA officials like Robert Gilchrist, the past president of the Iowa Education Association and a vocal merger critic, insist that the vote didn't undercut Chase's credibility with the rank and file. And Chase himself notes that, in a separate vote, the NEA delegates supported the merging of state and local affiliates of the two unions.
No second term? But others say that Chase was privately dismayed by the size of the vote against the merger and that there's a good chance he won't be returned to a second, three-year term next summer. Chase responds: "I've already announced for next year; the campaign has begun."
While only a tiny fraction of NEA's locals have adopted significant reforms, plenty of state and local leaders have argued for them. And there have been some encouraging signs of wider change: 500 NEA union representatives last spring gathered in Columbus, Ohio, to learn about a "peer review" program that places both new teachers and failing veteran teachers under the tutelage of mentor teachers. The mentors, in turn, have the power to recommend the removal of underperformers from the classroom (though they don't do so often). In Seattle, the union has permitted schools to begin selecting their own teachers and to link teachers' evaluations to their students' achievement. Still, in many quarters there is intense opposition to any talk of new unionism.
Chase hasn't been helped by the fact that AFT President Sandra Feldman has done little about teacher union reforms since taking office after Albert Shanker's death a year and a half ago. Instead, while professing a commitment to teacher reforms, Feldman has frequently attacked vouchers and other "threats" to public education. She plans to present a resolution on teacher quality to the AFT convention delegates later this month, but the resolution has little edge: It calls for tougher entrance standards in teaching and peer review, but sidesteps the key issues of performance pay and seniority-based staffing.
Tokenism toward teacher reforms isn't likely to do the unions--or public education--much good. An increasing number of traditional public-school supporters are now becoming advocates of vouchers, charters, and other competitive reforms. In the Senate, eight Democrats, including Dianne Feinstein of California, sided with the Republican leadership last month, approving legislation that would permit modest tax-free educational savings accounts for students in either public or private schools. The bill would also give states financial incentives to institute performance-based pay and competency testing for teachers.
Teacher unions have had a longstanding role in shaping the Democratic Party's education platforms. But the merger defeat may also place that in jeopardy. "Among the public there is a rejection of the system as now designed," says Sen. Bob Torricelli of New Jersey, who is co-chairman of the committee that seeks to elect Democrats to the Senate. "But the movement for reform may be understood last by those in the classroom. They could find themselves out of the process. All of us are not going to wait." Torricelli cosponsored the education savings legislation in the Senate.
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