By now, everybody knows I’m not an educator. I’m just a local parent trying to navigate the waters of San Diego Unified.

By now, most of my readers understand I’m frustrated at what I’ve discovered on this journey.

By now, my strong support for teachers, and specifically not their union, is well-documented.

By now, people have begun to send me things, and among them are resources that come from researchers far more talented and patient than I. I just received one yesterday that summarizes the biggest frustration I have with San Diego Unified- the grip of the teacher’s union on the management of the district.

First, I completely understand why unions are formed. Unions are formed primarily to provide working people with the power to improve their working conditions. Many years ago, before the multitude of employee protection laws, unions were the only way to preserve safe and equitable work environments. These unions have ballooned to become their own beast, the HAL9000 of labor, who’s prime directive is self-survival and growth at all costs. Many teachers who will speak candidly are often embarrassed by their own representation and the protection their union offers poor quality teachers, often at the expense of higher-performing and better qualified individuals.

In recent months, we’ve seen the union-controlled school board vote our bond dollars to not just support the teacher’s union, but the construction worker’s unions as well. So the union has unions.

The basis and power of unions lie in collective bargaining, a constitutional right which I support, as long as a business or institution has the constitutional right to hire and fire the employees of their choice. And therein lies the rub.

Have a look at this 48 page report put together by Harvard University, The Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute and the Program on Education Policy and Governance. Heck, you can just read the Executive Summary if you’d like,but the details are in the rest of the 40+ pages. It’s about collective bargaining and it’s problematic effects on education. Here’s a favorite (however sad) clip:

• They restrict efforts to use compensation as a tool to recruit, reward, and retain the
most essential and effective teachers.
• They impede attempts to assign or remove teachers on the basis of fit or performance.
• They over-regulate school life with work rules that stifle creative problem solving
without demonstrably improving teachers’ ability to serve students.

The report also cites specific examples of some ridiculous clauses successfully negotiated by teacher’s unions- examples that defy all logic, but exist in the code because, frankly, they asked for it.

Now before you get your keyboard all heated up, I’ll reiterate my belief and support for teachers, the second most important part of the education equation. Most teachers earn the privilege and deserve to be treated and compensated fairly. Teachers also deserve the full protection of the employee legislation that govern conduct at any organization. I support teacher pay raises for those who are exceptional in their work conduct and make strong efforts to continuously improve the classroom environment for our children. No only do I believe this in the abstract, but continuously volunteer at our school and in our classrooms supporting and encouraging teachers.

But. As long as the union is running the school district we will be unable to create the changes necessary to move our district forward far enough to provide the level of education our children need for a global future.

Any superintendent hired as a change agent will quickly follow the lead of Bersin, Cohn and now Grier and get the heck outta this town. Read the report- you’ll see why.

Teachers, YES, unions, no.

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