No surprise on how NYSUT views their pension benefits

"Seeking to abolish basic labor protections or destroy the public pension system should not even enter the debate when we are discussing true mandate relief," Andrew Pallotta, executive vice president of New York State United Teachers, said at a state Senate hearing in February.

Pallotta called for reduced spending on charter schools and the spreading out of pension payments for schools.

I'm getting the message that New York teachers really want to keep their taxpayer-guaranteed pensions.  That might be hard to do, considering our state's economic crisis and that tax-funded annual contributions to the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS) will more than quadruple over the next five years.

Read the entire story after the jump.

NYSUT candlelight vigil for school and jobs

The NYSUT Vigil for school and jobs is today in Albany.

Teachers, parents, community members and activists will gather at the West Capitol Park (between Swan Street and the Capitol) at 8 p.m. Monday, May 9 for a special "candlelight" vigil for schools and jobs....

Come to this vigil to shine a light on the union's fight to convince lawmakers to supplement the budget approved earlier this month. The best way to do that is to continue the income tax surcharge on the wealthiest New Yorkers and share the sacrifice.

Proposal from union leader to make it easier to fire tenured teachers

This seems noteworthy, a possible inroad into changing the "last in first out" policy of teacher employment.

Responding to criticism that tenure gives even poor teachers a job for life, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, announced a plan Thursday to overhaul how teachers are evaluated and dismissed. 
It would give tenured teachers who are rated unsatisfactory by their principals a maximum of one school year to improve. If they did not, they could be fired within 100 days.

Cautionary words:

...only school administrators should create improvement plans for a poorly rated teacher; otherwise, unions might use the process to obstruct their removal.
Michael J. Petrilli, vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative-leaning education policy group, agreed. “In any other field,” he said, “this would be considered completely nuts that a manager would not have rights and responsibilities to evaluate their employees and take action.”
He added that the proposal did not address the most pressing issue: how to lay off thousands of teachers because of budget cutbacks without losing promising newer teachers.
“Her strategy of making sure all teachers who get a negative review will get a year and 100 days, it strikes me as a delaying tactic,” he said.

Why are people angry at teachers?

Whether it's warranted or not, many people are angry with teachers or, perhaps more accurately, with teacher unions.  Here's The Other McCain's take on the teachers in Wisconsin.

The unemployed, the under-employed and regular folks trying to pay their bills aren't likely to have a lot of love for people who (a) have jobs, (b) work at taxpayer expense, (c) get paid more money than the average taxpayer, and (d) go on strike because they don't want to pay a dime toward their own generous benefits.

Here's one teacher's perspective:

Then I discovered that Wisconsin teachers currently pay nothing--nothing!--toward their own pension plans, and pay only 6% of their salaries toward their health care plans. Yes, I pay more, substantially more, yet, I still don’t begrudge them their relative good fortune. However, when I discovered that Gov. Walker is expecting them to pay 5.8% (instead of 0%) toward their pensions, and 12% (instead of 6%) toward their health insurance, any sympathy I had for them instantly evaporated.

Found at Instapundit

Here's more. 

THE AVERAGE TEACHER PAY IN WISCONSIN IS NEARLY $50,000; THEY GOT A 4.7% RAISE LAST YEAR AND 21% OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS.

http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2011/02/teachers-in-wisconsin-make-more-than.html

Do teacher unions want collaboration or conflict?

The same question could be asked of education reformers.  Although everyone seems to agree with the recent calls for civility, much of the rhetoric and actions we're seeing in the current debate is not amicable.

Some consider Wisconsin Governor Walker a bully for pushing an agenda to strip teachers of their rightful union rights.  On the other hand, the Governor says he will not be bullied by the teacher unions.

Big Government served up a list of antagonistic actions by teachers.  Here are a few:

• Last summer, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis told union members, “When we join forces together with our parents, our students and our communities and fight smart – well, they haven’t seen a fight like this. Not in a long time.”

•Lewis ramped up the rhetoric at a rally last fall, telling union members, “I’m not wearing earrings because we’re in a fight, a real fight.”

•United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew attacked New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying “It’s apparent the mayor shares his definition of democracy with Hosni Mubarak.”

•In a recent letter to union members, Indiana Federation of Teachers President Rick Muir repeatedly refers to the state’s education reform efforts as a “war.” “Make no mistake about it,” Muir writes, “we will lose the war if we sit back and do nothing.”

It was disheartening to see all the negative posters on display during the teachers' march on the Wisconsin legislature.  Ann Althouse posted photos here and here.

Teacher unions "facing the harshest political climate" in decades

The Department of Education recently sponsored a labor-management conference, called Advancing Student Achievement Through Labor-Management Collaboration, seeking ideas for collaborating to raise student achievement.

Education historians said the unions were facing the harshest political climate since states began extending legal bargaining rights to schoolteachers decades ago. 
The conference, convened by the Department of Education, drew school authorities and teachers’ union leaders from 150 districts across the nation to Denver to discuss ways of working together. To participate, each district’s superintendent, school board president and teachers’ union leader had to sign a pledge to collaborate in good faith to raise student achievement....
The conference comes at a time when thousands of districts are facing their most severe budget cuts in a generation, and union contracts calling for layoffs based on seniority could force many districts to dismiss their most energetic young teachers.
But changing these policies could also prompt some districts to remove more experienced, higher paid teachers to balance their budgets.

Role for Teachers Is Seen in Solving Schools’ Crises - NYT, 2/15/11
 
In Idaho and Indiana, legislation has been proposed limiting the role of unions in the design of education policies.  Given that the primary goal of unions is to protect the rights of its members, I see the wisdom of these proposals.  Should parents have a stronger voice than teacher unions in setting education policy?

In Wisconsin, legislative action to limit union rights has led to massive protests by teachers, shutting down Madison public schools two three days in a row.

In addition to eliminating collective bargaining rights, the legislation also would make public workers pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care coverage — increases Walker calls "modest" compared with those in the private sector.

In Tennessee:

The Senate Education Committee voted along party lines Wednesday to abolish collective bargaining between teachers unions and school boards across the state.