Wednesday, December 19, 2012



Dear Colleague,

We first told you about a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles about a year ago that could possibly affect you all.

Recently, some parents in Los Angeles filed a lawsuit that will undoubtedly have ramifications all over the state and perhaps elsewhere. It seems that the “Stull” evaluations we have undergone in our teaching careers have been “incomplete.” According to the Stull Act (Section 44660 of the state’s education code, (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=edc&group=44001-45000&file=44660-44665), part of a teacher’s evaluation is required to include a student achievement component, but this has not happened anywhere in the state.

Earlier this month the suit was tentatively settled. The agreement, awaiting a final okay from the judge and acceptance by the union rank-and-file, is embedded here - http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2012/12/03/29514/la-unified-and-teachers-union-reach-agreement-on-p/    The question is, has anything really changed?  It seems to us that this agreement won’t have much effect at all. Apparently, the Los Angeles Times agrees - http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/09/local/la-me-lausd-eval-20121210

Accessing her inner Joel Klein, American Federation of President Randi Weingarten came out recently in favor of a “rigorous professional exam for K-12 teachers that would serve the same function as the bar exam for lawyers and board certification for doctors.” It certainly is an interesting thought to ponder, but near the end of a Washington Post piece (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/union-proposes-bar-exam-for-teachers/2012/12/01/883f8bc8-3b38-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_print.html ), the union leader seems to expose her real agenda. Teacher, blogger and CTEN board member Darren Miller nails it in a 12/3 post - http://rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com/2012/12/putting-fox-in-charge-of-henhouse.html

In an attempt to rally the troops both the California Teachers Association and the Chicago Teachers Union have come out with videos that push the class warfare theme but, in our opinion, do little to advance the union cause. See if you agree. The CFT video can be found here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S6ZsXrzF8Cc   and the CTU video here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=g1eV8EHII5Q

Perhaps the teacher (and any) union story of the year is that Michigan, just last week, became the nation’s 24th right-to-work state. This means very simply that teachers and other workers can choose whether or not they want to join a union. Contrary to what many believe, collective bargaining will not be affected. Much has been written about this, but perhaps the most eloquent piece came from the Wall Street Journal. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323401904578157453687608428.html?mod=googlenews_wsj) The op-ed makes the case why right-to-work is a good thing. She ends the piece with,

As impressive as all of this evidence is, the best case for right to work is moral: the right of an individual to choose. Union chiefs want to coerce workers to join and pay dues that they then funnel to politicians who protect union power. Right to work breaks this cycle of government-aided monopoly union power for the larger economic good.

If you have a different take, please post your thoughts on the CTEN blog - http://www.ctenteachers.blogspot.com

The National Council on Teacher Quality has come out with a study well worth paying attention to. No One Benefits is a report

…that examines how teacher pension systems are failing both teachers and taxpayers. In addition to a 50-state analysis of the funding crisis, we explore the technical and sometimes hidden features of teacher pensions that make them so costly and identify the features of these systems that aren't fair, advantageous or beneficial to all teachers.

Some of the key findings are:
·         Pension systems are severely underfunded.
·         Most retirement eligibility rules are burdensome and unfair.
·         Costs to teachers and school districts are on the rise.
·         The squeeze is on teachers in numerous other ways.


The always interesting Education Next yearly survey has just been published in the hard copy of the magazine. (One of the things that makes their polling different from others is that they will ask a question like, “Do you think that teachers are paid enough?” Then they will tell those being polled what teachers make and then repeat the question. Needless to say, the second response is frequently different than the first one.) Highlights from this year’s poll include:

• the Republican tilt of the education views of independents
• the especially high marks that Hispanics give their public schools
• strong support among the general public for using test-score information to hold teachers accountable
• lower confidence in teachers than has previously been reported
• the public’s (and teachers’) growing uneasiness with teachers unions
• the shaky foundations of public support for increased spending
• majority support for a broad range of school choice initiatives.

To read more and access the survey’s results, go to http://educationnext.org/reform-agenda-gains-strength/

If you are interested in giving CTEN brochures to colleagues, you can print them right from the home page - http://www.ctenhome.org/index.htm  Or, if you prefer, we will be happy to send you as many preprinted ones as you need. Also, anyone wishing to donate to CTEN can do so very simply through PayPal - http://www.ctenhome.org/donate.htm  As a non-profit, we exist only through the generosity of others.

It has been another exciting year for CTEN - www.ctenhome.org/ and we look forward to an even more vigorous 2013. We remain grateful for your support and wish you and your families the happiest of holidays. See you in January!

Sincerely,

Larry Sand
CTEN President

Monday, November 19, 2012



Dear Colleague,

We sincerely hope that if you are an existing agency fee payer, you have sent in a request for your rebate. The November 15th deadline has passed. If you haven't filed by now, you will not get your rebate this year. However, if you are a first time filer, you may resign from the union after the 15th; you will not get the full amount, however, but a prorated one dependent on how long after the 15th you file. For more information, go to http://www.ctenhome.org/know.htm

For an interesting and friendly debate on “The Future of Teacher Unions,” the Fordham Institute corralled Stanford Professor Terry Moe and Democrats For Education Reform (DFER) President Joe Williams for an in-depth back-and-forth on the subject. To watch it, go to http://www.edexcellence.net/events/after-chicago-the-future-of-teacher-unions.html

Also from the Fordham Institute, in conjunction with Education Reform Now (an arm of DFER), we now have a state-by-state comparison of teacher union power. There are several surprises here. For example, the Alabama (right-to-work state) teachers union is considered more powerful than the union in non-right-to-work Massachusetts. To watch a brief video about the study and to read the study itself, go to http://www.edexcellence.net/publications/how-strong-are-us-teacher-unions.html

And one final note about the unions – courtesy of RiShawn Biddle – we now can see where the American Federation of Teachers spent its members’ dues money in 2011-2012.

Another year, another LM-2 filing from the American Federation of Teachers. And once again, the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union is spending plenty to maintain its declining influence over education policymaking. The AFT spent $27 million on political activities (including lobbying) and contributions to what should be like-minded groups.


From the media and the unions we hear many things about charter schools. But here in this brief video from the California Charter School Association, we hear directly from charter school teachers on why they prefer to teach in a charter school. Certainly some food for thought here - http://www.calcharters.org/blog/2012/10/new-video-what-is-it-like-to-teach-at-charter-school.html

Back in June, we told you about the “Students Matter” case which could have an effect on every teacher in California. This case was filed on behalf of eight students from around the state,

…claiming provisions of California’s education code—rigid tenure rules, a seniority-based firing system that ignores teacher quality, and a “due-process” system that makes it all but impossible to remove incompetent or criminal teachers—violate student rights. As a result of these arbitrary distinctions in hiring and firing, the complaint reads, “children of substantially equal age, aptitude, motivation, and ability do not have substantially equal access to education. Because education is a fundamental interest under the California Constitution, the statutes that dictate this unequal, arbitrary result violate the equal protection provisions of the California Constitution.” To read more, go to http://www.city-journal.org/2012/cjc0606ls.html

On November 15th, there was a ruling in which the judge said the lawsuit should go forth. Whatever your feelings are about this case, it would behoove you to pay attention to it. To read more, go to http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/15/4989297/lawsuit-over-teacher-employment.html  For the Students Matter homepage, go to http://studentsmatter.org/

For those of you who were in favor of Prop. 30, you got your way on Election Day. However, please understand this is a very temporary fix in a state that is in deep fiscal straits. For a balanced view of what Prop. 30 can and can’t do, go to http://collegian.csufresno.edu/2012/11/05/proposition-30-a-smart-move-or-a-gamble/

And on the subject of spending, the Friedman Foundation has come out with a staggering study which claims that,

America’s K-12 public education system has experienced tremendous historical growth in employment, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Between fiscal year (FY) 1950 and FY 2009, the number of K-12 public school students in the United States increased by 96 percent while the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) school employees grew 386 percent. Public schools grew staffing at a rate four times faster than the increase in students over that time period. Of those personnel, teachers’ numbers increased 252 percent while administrators and other staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students. (Emphasis added.)


For a rare and fair mainstream media analysis of education issues facing us in California, Ken Malloy at CBS Fresno put together a five part series that is well worth watching. To watch “The State of Education,” go to http://www.cbs47.tv/news/local/story/Special-Report-The-State-of-Education/dLDoabahFEm3mMZSzLUGBw.cspx

The National Council on Teacher Quality has a monthly online newsletter that is worthy of your attention. The current issue has interesting piece, “How We Stopped Guessing and Hired Smart,” written by a middle school math specialist. To read it and the rest of the November newsletter, go to http://www.nctq.org/nl/emailPreview.jsp?nlIdentifier=294#Avictoryfortransparency

As always, we at CTEN want to thank you for your ongoing support. Please visit us regularly at www.ctenhome.org.  We do our best to keep our website up-to-date, but if you need information and can’t find it there, please send us an email at cteninfo@ctenhome.org or call us at 888-290-8471 and we will get back to you in short order. 

Sincerely,

Larry Sand
CTEN President

Thursday, October 18, 2012



Dear Colleague,

In last month’s newsletter, we mentioned that education spending levels are at an all-time high.
Nationally, average per-pupil spending exceeds $11,400 this year. To learn more, go to http://blog.heritage.org/2012/08/27/back-to-school-some-surprising-education-numbers/ 

One of our subscribers suggested that we post California’s spending numbers. There are actually two sets of figures that are used: one for actual spending (we are 41st nationally at $8,667 per pupil) and one is adjusted for cost of living. Using this formula, we are 47th nationally. For more, go to http://california-in-crisis.news21.com/node/24  As I wrote last month, for a comparison of years past, go to the National Center for Education Statistics website for some surprising numbers – http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66

The California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the charter school movement with the “California’s Charter Schools: 20 Years of Reinventing Public Education” campaign.

According to CCSA:

Charters are tuition-free public schools.
·         Serve all student populations and are designed to boast student achievement.
·         Can make innovative changes to meet a student’s individual needs.
·         Have more flexibility and greater accountability.

The schools are flourishing, engaging more students every year, and giving families and kids more educational options than ever before.

Since the signing of the charter school legislation, California has been on the leading edge of the innovative and fast-growing charter public school movement. There are currently 982 schools across the state, which serve more than 412,000 students.

More information about the anniversary, events and milestones can be found on the campaign website: http://anniversary.calcharters.org.

By now most of you are aware that there is a new (and in some quarters controversial) education movie playing all over the country. Won’t Back Down centers around two determined mothers, one a bartender and the other a teacher, who team up and try to transform their failing public school in Pittsburgh. Facing a powerful and entrenched bureaucracy, administrative corruption and the teachers union, they devote their lives to making a difference in the education and future of their children.

It’s a very good film, with a narrative in which the educational establishment is presented in a realistic and honest way – the portrayal of good teachers, bad teachers and mediocre ones and the parents’ frustrations in dealing with the system’s bureaucracy are quite true to life. The union leaders are not caricatures, but are like many that I knew and worked with during my long teaching career. Here is the trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J5-w7a78Xg

For a libertarian take on unions and their relationship to management, John Stossel has written a pointed piece on the subject. (http://townhall.com/columnists/johnstossel/2012/09/26/strangulation_by_union/page/full/ )  If you would like to share your thoughts on the article, please do so at http://www.ctenteachers.blogspot.com

Last week, Jay Greene had an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about a topic that will get a lot of mixed reactions from teachers. “The Imaginary Teacher Shortage” (“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443482404578042704123153548.html) will definitely rankle some of you. Again, if you are so inclined please let your feelings be known here - http://www.ctenteachers.blogspot.com

Mike Antonucci had a very interesting post recently which included some rather startling information. Here is one of the more provocative bullet points:
*That CTA Board explore options to generate additional resources from both internal and especially external sources to counter the vast resources available to our political opponents due to the Citizens United decision.

Rationale: CTA needs to recognize we are in a war we do not currently have the resources to win. Since the Citizens United decision our political opponents have been able to raise unlimited amounts of money via “Independent Expenditure Only Committees,” popularly known as “Super PACs.” Although CTA currently has such a committee, it has only been utilized on an ad hoc basis. We need to aggressively pursue consistent funding sources. These could include entertainers, professional athletes or other wealthy individuals with possible ties to public education. CTA-retired members could be a valuable resource to assist in this effort.

To read more, go to http://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2012/09/21/charter-caps-laser-pointers-and-superpacs/
 
Maybe the teachers unions need a new strategy. Motoko Rich suggests just that in a New York Times piece, “Teachers’ Unions Court G.O.P., Too” To read it, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/us/politics/challenged-by-old-allies-teachers-unions-court-gop.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
 
A report from our friends at the Education Action Group tells us that,

Prior to the 2010-11 school year, the San Francisco Unified School District made a series of painful spending cuts in an effort to eliminate a $113 million budget deficit.

Teachers, principals and support staff were laid off, according to the media reports. The school year was shortened by four days, teachers were given unpaid furlough days and many programs like summer school, art, music, and special education were trimmed back.

Yet somehow the district found the resources to spend $134 million on salaries for athletic coaches and other extracurricular labor costs, $44.8 million on health insurance for union employees (employees only contributed a combined $14.7 million), more than $800,000 on national board certification bonuses for teachers, and more than $500,000 on retention bonuses for teachers.

To read the report, go to http://eagnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/San-Francisco-report.pdf
 
CTEN now has a YouTube page. We have three videos posted with more to come; they deal with agency fee status and conscientious objector status. To view these videos, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCTEN?feature=mhee

And talking about becoming an agency fee payer….

Final reminder: If you are considering becoming an agency fee payer, it is a two-step process. First, you resign from the union (thus becoming an agency fee payer) and then request that the political part of your dues be returned to you. Sample letters for both steps are available here - http://www.ctenhome.org/knowMembership.htm#exoptions  (First timers, you must complete both steps by November 15th to get a full rebate.)

If you already are an agency fee payer, you must request your rebate this year (and every year!) by November 15th. If you are even one day late, you will not get a penny back. Also, because liability insurance is very important for teachers, we suggest joining the Association of American Educators http://www.aaeteachers.org/  or Christian Educators Association http://www.ceai.org  Both AAE and CEAI are professional organizations, not unions, and are apolitical. (Also, teachers who mention CTEN when they sign up with AAE for the first time will get a $30 discount off the regular $180 first year membership.)

A repeat from last month, in case you missed it…regarding information about how teachers can start up their own independent teacher association, and the details of a lawsuit that could affect all teachers in CA: I have pasted in the salient information at the end of this newsletter. If you contact either of the parties, please keep CTEN in the loop, via CC or separate email; it will help us keep track of our members’ activities and involvement.

In any event, if you enjoy these letters and find them informative, please pass them along to your colleagues. We know that there are many independent-minded teachers in California who are looking for alternative sources of information.

If you would like to see us address certain issues, topics, etc. in these newsletters or on our website – http://www.ctenhome.org - please let us know.

As always, we at CTEN want to thank you for your ongoing support and feedback.

Sincerely,

Larry Sand
CTEN President

------------------------

A Better Model

The big teachers’ unions have been taking from teachers for decades, often pushing policies that build their membership and power but don’t necessarily improve working conditions or wages for the very teachers they claim to represent – let alone improve the educational system. The power of CTA in California seems too big, too entrenched to ever change. But what if there was a better model, and the shift to that model could happen one school district at a time?

In California, individual teachers can opt out of paying a portion of their union dues by becoming an agency fee payer.  That can save a teacher hundreds of dollars a year, but they are still forced to pay as much as $700 a year or more. Teachers who become agency fee payers also lose many benefits of union membership, including the right to vote on their contracts.

The Better Model is an independent public teacher association that controls its own destiny. By contracting out for expert legal and labor representation, but retaining for its members all policy and decision-making authority, teachers can easily save half of their current dues ($500/year or more) and get better and more responsive representation than the big union model.

CTA apologists will say that such a model would be risky and leave the teachers unprotected by the vast resources of the statewide organization. The thing is that tens of thousands of California public employees are already doing it. Hundreds of public employee associations are independent - meaning, they are simply not attached to CTA, SEIU, AFSCME, or one of the other large national and international unions. Public employee associations represent California public employees that work for the state, counties, cities and special districts, including police officers, nurses, managers, firefighters, general employees, and everything in between. There are even public school teachers operating under this model, including traditional public and charter schools.

This model works. Ask around. Chances are that your local police officers’ association or deputy sheriffs’ association are not affiliated with a statewide or national union (though they probably belong to a lobbying organization and/or legal defense fund) and they pay substantially less than teachers do in dues.

The truth is that CTA and CFT have had a virtual monopoly of teacher representation in California. While we can debate the long term success or failure of such representation statewide and nationally, there is no doubt that locally, the big union model is not responsive, not independent…but it is very expensive.

California Independent Teachers was founded by labor and legal professionals that have been working for independent employee associations for decades. We know that this works; we make our livings from making sure that we provide superior value and responsive representation to our association clients.

If you are interested in talking to someone with CIT about their model and about the steps that need to be taken to decertify CTA in your district, go to www.caindependentteachers.com or call Rafael Ruano at (888) 993-1600.


Students Matter Case

Students Matter was formed to bring an education reform case here in California. The purpose of the litigation is to remove barriers from the education code that make it nearly impossible to identify and reward quality teachers and almost equally as impossible to remove those who persistently underperform. Students Matter believes so strongly in the critical importance of teachers to improving student achievement, we want to ensure that there is a quality teacher in every classroom.

We filed our case, Vergara v. California, on May 15 on behalf of eight students currently enrolled in California public schools. The case challenges three provisions of the education code: the process for granting teacher's permanent employment, mandated seniority-based layoffs, and teacher dismissal procedures. For more information, please visit the Students Matter website studentsmatter.org, where you'll find recent press coverage and editorials, and read the attached FAQ and statement of support from Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Dr. John Deasy.

The voices of courageous teachers who stand up for school reform help us bring attention to the issues at the heart of our case and ultimately help us help those who matter the most: students.

If you would like to get involved in any capacity, either through contributing your story to an op-ed piece, sharing your insight on background with reporters or simply passing our information along to interested friends and colleagues, please email Jaclyn Matthews at jmatthews@griffinschein.com.