The Need for Public Teacher’s Unions
Why We Need Public School Teacher Unions to Help Save Public Education
Civic Way continues to explore issues impacting every state’s public education system. This essay is about public school teacher unions. In the final essays of the public education series, we will discuss two other prominent issues, vouchers and accountability. The author, Bob Melville, is the founder of Civic Way, a nonprofit dedicated to good government, and a management consultant with over 45 years of experience improving public agencies.
You don’t improve education by demonizing the people who have to do the work every day.
– Diane Ravitch
Introduction
Its seductive rhetoric notwithstanding, the school choice movement is no longer about improving public education. At one time, led by fervent free market advocates, well-meaning columnists and gullible Milton Friedman acolytes, the crusade seemed benevolent. The campaign for public charter schools, for example, stressed the improvement of student outcomes (by freeing school officials from needless red tape).
After the pandemic, however, the school choice movement morphed into an unmistakable war on public education. With military precision, the extreme right launched cynical strikes on public health measures like school closures and phantom problems like critical race theory. Next, under the veneer of parental choice, it deployed groups like the Mothers for Liberty to incite fear and outrage. Soon, it started hurling ad hominem attacks at educators and disrupting school board meetings.
Make no mistake about the extreme right-wing’s true intentions. Demonizing public schools and educators with cultural missives is the equivalent of an artillery barrage. Its purpose is to put public schools on the defensive, not improve them. Its overarching goal is to eliminate—or at least weaken—teacher unions. To extremists, the impact on children attending public schools, and the communities that need those schools, is collateral damage.
The right’s war on education makes this moment a propitious time to reassess teacher unions. Are they essential or antithetical to public education reform? Like other entities—government, nonprofit, business or labor—teacher unions are imperfect. The purpose of this essay is not just to address perceived problems with teacher unions, but to offer a few ideas for making teacher unions part of the solution.
The Footprint of Teacher Unions
About 70 percent of the US’ teachers—public and private—are members of teacher unions or associations, down from 79 percent in 2000[i]. The US’ two largest biggest teacher unions—by far—are the National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
The NEA, with 3 million members and over 50 affiliated organizations, is the largest teachers’ union and largest white-collar labor union. It represents educators and has donated primarily to Democratic candidates. The AFT, with 1.7 million members, is the second largest. An affiliate of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), it primarily represents K-12 workers but also services college faculty, healthcare workers and other paraprofessionals. Its politics are decidedly progressive.
There are many state and local teacher associations affiliated with the NEA or AFT.[ii] The largest is the New York State United Teachers, an NEA and ATF affiliate with 612,000 members. The only other state-based unions with at least 200,000 members are the California Teachers Association, California School Employees Association and New Jersey Education Association. There are six more unions with over 100,000 members, most of which are NEA affiliates[iii]. Some states like Indiana and Ohio also have large local teachers’ unions.
Teacher Unions and the Law
Not every state has teacher unions. Federal law does not require public sector unions, but most states require collective bargaining so long as teachers unionize[iv]. Six states ban public sector collective bargaining[v], ten states allow but don’t require it[vi] and one state—Tennessee—replaced collective bargaining with collective conferencing. Some states have laws limiting union activity[vii].
The courts have become increasingly hostile to public sector unions, including teachers’ unions. In its 2018 Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) decision, the US Supreme Court took on public sector unions. The Court ruled that public sector unions, including teachers’ unions, could no longer assess agency fees[viii] on nonmembers.
The Court’s rationale was that public sector unions, by forcing nonmembers to pay agency fees (or lose job benefits), compelled nonmembers to support pro-union causes and candidates and thereby violated their First Amendment right to free speech. While the teachers’ unions feared the ruling would hurt their revenue and membership, the impact thus far has been relatively modest.
Another case, recognized at the time as a victory for public teachers’ unions, introduced a legal theory that ultimately could render the initial victory pyrrhic. In 2016, the California Supreme Court, by allowing a Court of Appeal decision to stand, effectively upheld several California statutes on teacher tenure and dismissals. While the California courts’ decision is not surprising, the theory challenging those statutes—that laws protecting “grossly ineffective" teachers denied equal protection to students—could reemerge to haunt unions. The current Supreme Court will likely look favorably on lawsuits employing this theory.
Finally, there is growing support in conservative legal circles for challenging the constitutionality of unions representing public school teachers. Inspired by John Locke’s Non-Delegation Doctrine, some conservative legal scholars argue that, under the Guarantee Clause of the 4th Amendment, government officials cannot cede their governing powers to private entities. They further argue that, by granting labor unions collective bargaining rights, government officials effectively cede their powers. Again, this US Supreme Court could agree.
The Case Against Teacher Unions
The only way we change education in this nation is to break the backs of the teachers’ unions. – Senator Tim Scott
Most Republicans believe that teachers’ unions—and collective bargaining—have no place in public schools. And there have been times when leading Democrats—and many supporters of Democratic causes—were dubious about public sector labor unions.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt had serious concerns about public sector unions. He worried that unlike private sector unions, which challenged businesses for a fair share of corporate profits, striking public sector unions hurt taxpayers, a situation he regarded as “intolerable.” In 1959, the AFL-CIO Executive Council added: “In terms of accepted collective bargaining procedures, government workers have no right beyond the authority to petition Congress.” More recently, President Obama took positions on educational policy opposed by teachers’ unions.
The conventional case against public teachers’ unions is that too often their demands serve their interests at the expense of the public interest. Some argue that the unions negotiate wages that make public services too costly. Others go further, contending teachers’ unions harm children by putting the interests of teachers—and unions—above the interests of students. One commonly cited example is when unions oppose charters and accountability measures without first trying to improve them.
Perhaps the most frequent criticism of teachers’ unions is that some union contracts make it too hard to reward good teachers or fire bad ones. There have been many reports on the impediments to disciplining, replacing and dismissing bad teachers, and many such stories are credible. Exorbitant costs, including legal fees, paid leave and substitute teacher costs. Unreasonably long dismissal processes. The far more profound long-term costs of leaving inept teachers in classrooms. The problem demands a solution.
The Case for Teacher Unions
Of course, there are many who believe that our public education system cannot be improved or saved unless public school teachers have a seat at the table, not just to negotiate traditional labor issues but to debate educational funding and policy matters. It is worse than naïve to think that we can improve public schools and student achievement without the engagement of public school teachers.
Teachers’ union advocates make other arguments. For example, they assert that unions improve teacher pay and working conditions. One study even found that teachers’ unions reduce stress[ix]. Most empirical evidence suggests that jurisdictions with strong teachers’ unions tend to have higher educational spending and teacher salaries (especially for experienced teachers). Union proponents also argue that districts with higher teacher compensation tend to attract better teachers.
Some teachers’ union champions contend that teachers’ unions improve student performance. They point to the more positive student achievement metrics of heavily unionized nations like Finland and Singapore or more unionized states like Maryland and Massachusetts[x]. Such comparisons can be misleading, however, since student achievement variances are attributable to many factors, only some of which are related to unions.
There have been independent studies of the link between teacher unions and student achievement, but they are anything but conclusive. In the aggregate, their findings have been mixed. Some studies suggest that strong teachers’ unions may contribute to modest achievement improvements for most middle-range public school students, but not necessarily the lowest- and highest-achieving students[xi].
A study of the link between teachers’ unions and student performance in California’s charter schools offered a different finding. Based on 2003-13 California Standards Tests (CST) data, the study found that teachers’ unions appear to have a statistically significant impact on student performance in math[xii] but not English. Interestingly, it also found that the positive effects of unions are more pronounced among low-performing students[xiii].
Teachers’ Unions and the War Against Public Education
As public education has come under increasingly withering assaults, especially in states like Florida, North Carolina and Texas, another compelling reason for public school teachers’ unions has emerged.
In many public school districts, working conditions have become a major reason for the plight—and flight—of public school teachers. Low job satisfaction. Weak staff support (e.g., teacher aides and counselors[xiv]). Undue teaching to the test. Insufficient autonomy. Ideological interference. Ugly culture war politics. Parental disrespect and worse. Universal vouchers pose an existential threat to public schools.
States without strong public teachers’ unions are far more vulnerable to demagogues that spread fear and laws that destabilize teaching conditions. When our politics fail us—and our children—we need public school teachers and their unions to defend the public education system. But we also need them to stand up for our children and stop protecting the small subset of teachers who don’t belong in the classroom.
The Teachers’ Union Our Nation Needs
Our nation needs teachers’ unions to promote the interests of public school educators—like full educational funding, competitive compensation and safe working conditions. We also need unions to reform public schools and help students excel. Reconciling these interests is not always easy—some politicians don’t even try—but it is vital to our nation’s future for teachers’ unions to make this their raison d'être.
How can we make this happen?
First, states should charter teachers’ unions to carry out this critical mission. Through state legislation (if not constitutional amendments), states should empower teachers’ unions to represent teachers in making teacher compensation competitive and classrooms safe and inspiring places for learning.
However, teachers’ unions should also be chartered to represent students. They should be champions for full public school funding, superb student outcomes and rigorous accountability. When the economic interests of teachers and the educational interests of children collide, teachers’ unions should always put the academic interests of children first. Unions should function more like professional associations, promoting their members’ interests and, at the same time, holding them accountable to professional standards.
Second, states should fund incentives to encourage public school districts to employ union-management partnerships and other collaborative mechanisms. Teachers’ unions, school districts and local governments should work together to improve public schools and increase academic achievement, e.g.:
Improve curricula and instructional standards.
Improve teacher preparation and development programs.
Develop teacher evaluation systems that use multiple factors, not just seniority or test scores.
Streamline dismissal processes and reduce the longevity of appeals processes[xv].
Strengthen accountability and reporting systems.
Revamp contract and negotiation mechanisms.
States should require local school districts to create formal education councils[xvi]. The councils should confer monthly on planning, management, fiscal and educational matters. They should recommend performance improvement measures to their respective boards of education. And politicians should start treating teachers and their unions as school reform collaborators instead of enemies.
Closing Thoughts
We should continue our efforts to improve public school performance and accountability. However, without good teachers, the educational reform we need will elude us. And without fair compensation, meaningful evaluations and efficient dismissal procedures, the quality of teachers will suffer. If we want the best teachers, we need empowered and effective unions to represent their interests.
As right-wing megadonors and other ideologues bully state legislatures and vilify public schools, we also need teachers’ unions to help us save public education. We need teachers’ unions to not only represent teachers but children as well. As teachers’ unions rethink their futures, they should recognize that they must be much more than traditional unions.
They should remember that their students—our children—need a union, too.