Voices: Teachers not synonymous with unions

The policy director for the Professional Association of Colorado Educators says teachers – union or not – have valuable perspectives on key issues facing the profession.

Voices: Why stop at a bar exam for teachers?

The head of the Professional Association of Colorado Educators argues teachers should be treated like lawyers, not factory workers.

Commentary: Unfair treatment of non-union teachers

Since leaving the classroom to help promote the non-union teacher movement, it has never ceased to amaze me that so many teachers are unaware of their choices, one being the Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE).

However, having worked in Florida and now Colorado, I am appalled at how inequitably teachers who want to exercise their right to join a non-union association are treated.

For starters, I was shocked to learn when I moved to Colorado that the unions in many districts are allowed to take advantage of teachers when they join by locking them into paying dues for the rest of their teaching career, unless a teacher cancels his or her membership during a ridiculously short (usually two-week) window in the fall. What is worse, unions don’t adequately disclose this provision when teachers sign up.

From a basic consumer standpoint, we would all be irate if service providers tried to lock us into a lifetime of payments with only a short annual window to cancel, especially without telling us. PACE is an organization that wants to respect teachers and their freedom to choose. So if a PACE member asks for a cancellation we always promptly grant the request.

Commentary: School choice gives teachers options too

School choice is a hot topic in Colorado, especially as our great state is viewed as a national leader in education reform. School choice is usually discussed in terms of policies that provide families with options, but we often overlook the fact that teachers are likewise given options for their profession. The fact is every educational setting is a choice. In creating a profession for the 21^st century, teachers across the country, and here in Colorado, have begun to take advantage like never before of the possibilities offered by new school environments.

When I think of school choice I think of my own experience, growing up in a backwoods Louisiana town with limited options in high school for courses in advanced sciences or foreign languages. I wish I’d had the ability to access virtual classes that would have better prepared me for college. I think of my eventual choice to become a teacher, and being just a signature away from switching from a traditional school to teaching in a charter school in New Orleans before deciding instead to get involved with the non-union teacher movement. I sought out a charter school because I was attracted to the better pay, dedication to student success, and freedom to teach diagnostically without a mandated curriculum.

Some try and promulgate a myth that teachers are not in favor of choice policies, yet thousands of teachers across Colorado not only support this new direction, they are teaching in choice schools every day.  According to the membership survey of PACE’s national partner the Association of American Educators (AAE), which is the largest national, nonunion teacher association, teachers polled in all 50 states agree with laws that are advancing parental and student choice.

Ask a teacher; they bring diverse perspectives

Back when I was a member of the NEA teachers union, one of the things that bothered me the most was that, in their attempt to present a unified front to the public, they silenced valid dissent and stifled healthy debate about the future of the profession. Now that I am working with Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE), one of the things that make me proud is that PACE is demonstrating the diverse viewpoints that educators hold about the profession.

And apparently we are not alone. As was pointed out in a recent Heartlander article non-union teacher groups are growing rapidly; yet the NEA lost 100,000 members last year alone. Even in forced-union states, where teachers are forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment, TIME magazine wrote an article about groups of teachers that are tired of the top-down, outdated thinking union leaders are imposing on the profession. Though they are forced to be in the union, these teachers are forming “insurgent” groups to try and usher in reform.

I recently received an email from Karen Steflik, a high school teacher and PACE member in Pueblo, CO. She mentioned how she was thrilled to have made the “informed decision to join PACE” based on her beliefs about education and reforming tenure, which she believes protects complacent teachers.

While most everyone is in favor of protecting an employee’s basic rights, Karen’s comments represent the understanding of thousands of teachers who, like me, believe the current system is broken and needs to change. Unfortunately, too many are given false information about potential reforms or feel intimidated to say what they really think.

Mr. President, don’t just hire, fix the leaky bucket

I recently wrote a blog post for Education Next in which I discussed the need for more innovative thinking when it comes to the way we spend money in education; particularly on the teaching profession.

What initiated my thoughts was the news that the President’s jobs plan would direct $30 billion toward teaching, but only to hire more teachers. While I understand this would help the unions by increasing the number of dues-paying members, I do not see how this would result in any long term benefits for the profession.

Spending money this way is just like, as the the old analogy goes, pouring water into a leaky bucket. We have first to fix the bucket. If we distribute this money and districts spend it to hire more teachers, what is going to happen next year? I doubt that this will become recurring federal spending. Will we hope that magically the state coffers will recover enough to keep these teachers?

The truth is that this shortsighted measure, which is the old union-supported scheme of more hiring and more dues revenue, only provides more teachers for one year, making no long-term impact on student learning and the teaching profession.

Professional associations are the future of teaching

I wholeheartedly support teachers’ right to agree with and join a union, should they choose. However, I equally support teachers’ right to disagree with the union and join a professional association.

As a former member of the National Education Association, I witnessed first-hand as union officials were always trying to get us teachers riled up, as though we were laborers, not professionals. The union didn’t provide us with sound information and foster healthy, intelligent conversations; it always seemed more like “Get in line, or get out of the way.”

It is this approach that leads to counter-productive entrenchment, instead of cooperation towards what should be the goal: Improving student achievement.

I was ecstatic to learn that there is a growing movement amongst educators toward a more professional approach. Association of American Educators (AAE) nationally and Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE) here in Colorado are leading the way by providing teachers with a choice of professional organization. AAE and PACE are non-union and focus on elevating the profession of teaching and improving public education for every student.