Charters, Unions, and the New Paradigm
Posted by dirkt
February 11, 2009, 10:22 am
The days when it was charter schools versus unions in NYC are quickly becoming a thing of the past. This year, staffs of two more charter schools, KIPP Infinity and KIPP AMP, signaled their intention to collectively bargain, by majority vote. This alongside opening the first Green Dot school, a highly reputed California-based non profit charter management organization that formed its own union, and the potential replication of other excellent union schools such as Renaissance Charter in Queens, have shown that charters are not the enemies of unions, in some ways they may be crucial, critical friends.
In an echo of yesteryear’s wars, NYSUT Executive Vice President, Alan Lubin, in testimony on the budget, made the audacious suggestion that charter schools should get even less money. As it is charters get somewhere between 60-80% of the funding that traditional public schools get in NY. I wonder how the Union’s newest potential members greeted this call by their new leader that their already tight budgets, and perhaps positions, should be singled out and cut. Not smart.
Meanwhile, far away from the stuffed suits and stuffier posturing, students and teachers were struggling and succeeding at existing unionized charter schools, including the UFT charter school, started by a progressive and smart union leadership. While having its struggles, like all new schools, the school can boast some of the top test scores in the City. And they are not alone, among the many high flying charters, union schools are well-represented. That’s smart, finding new vehicles to deliver high quality education that is localized and responsive.
So let’s face it, Unions are here to stay and, given the track record of charter schools, so are they. But what does it mean when a group of union teachers start a school that is collaboratively run, or when starting teachers’ salaries are $125,000, with longer days and higher qualifications. Would those teachers rather have the current union contract? Presumably not, at least in the latter case.
This is not to say that everyone in the so called “charter movement” and every union rep will hold hands singing kum ba yah. Rather it’s a challenge to think of new ways to protect staff rights and interests and also ensure the flexibility that context sometimes requires with an eye ultimately toward the cooperative goal of really giving students the education they deserve. And it’s also time to stop the posturing on both sides and try to figure out solutions.
As Albert Shankar, longtime union leader said, “[w]e know that teachers need a union if they are going to engage in conflict. But do they need a union to cooperate with management?”. This like so many other questions will be tested and pushed by the creative disruption that the charter movement can bring.
By Dirk Tillotson
Mr. Tillotson is an attorney and school reform advocate, he currently runs a new school incubator program for community-based schools for the New York State Charter Schools Association. The views expressed here are Mr. Tillotson's personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of his employer or any organizations he is associated with.
