The war is on over public sector collective bargaining in the state of Missouri. There may be a vote as early as today in the Missouri House. Though the state has a Democratic governor and a Democratic majority in the Legislature, passage is far from certain. On one side is the Missouri NEA and the AFL-CIO. On the other is the independent Missouri State Teachers Association, the Missouri School Boards Association, and a host of daily newspaper editorial boards. 

MNEA has been running phone banks and legislative contact campaigns for several weeks. A union handout lists "some issues that have been successfully addressed through collective bargaining." Strangely, pay and benefits are not on the list. In fact, pay and benefits don't appear very often in MNEA's literature. Collective bargaining is about "kids," "choice," "local control," and "collaboration." However, MNEA President Donna Collins told her local leaders passage of the bill would be "Christmas in March." 

On the other side, MSTA has also been running phone banks and legislative contact campaigns. Their handouts cite a Tennessee study that claims teacher pay is higher in districts without collective bargaining. And, of course, exclusive bargaining would probably signal a slow death for MSTA, currently the largest teacher organization in the state. No unaffiliated state teacher association has ever threatened NEA-AFT dominance in a collective bargaining state. MSTA believes there aren't enough votes to pass the bill as written, and are expecting some amendments will attempt to push it over the top. One idea is to remove teachers from the bill. EIA will continue to monitor events.

Maryland has me baffled. Today's Washington Post reports that the Prince George's Board of Education will boost teachers' salaries by $42 million next year. To pay for the increases, administrative salaries and costs will be cut, as will spending for technology and transportation. Everyone involved in the push for the money cites the same reason — it's needed if the district hopes to compete for top teachers. Lewis Robinson, executive director of the Prince George's Education Association, told the Post the county loses 500 to 750 teachers a year strictly because salaries are higher in nearby jurisdictions. Now stay with me. Today's Baltimore Sun reports that one nearby jurisdiction, Baltimore County, is studying a plan to pay 100 teachers $3,500 annual bonuses to work in 23 low-performing schools. The Teachers Association of Baltimore County is strongly opposed to the idea. In fact, it's so strongly opposed it commissioned a poll of 700 district teachers, equally divided between the low-performing schools, comparable schools, and high-achieving schools, to get their opinion of the plan. The results? They oppose the plan by wide margins.

According to the Sun, "Teachers in all three groups consistently said money was far less important in deciding where to teach than factors such as smaller class size, strong discipline policies, adequate supplies and supportive school administrators."  Prince George's and Baltimore Counties are comparable in size, geography, per-pupil spending and teacher salary. Are we to believe that higher pay induces teachers to change cities (or states), but cannot induce them to change schools within their own district? 

The California Assembly passed peer review funding, making $413 million available for districts that institute a program. Currently, the only district in the state with a full-fledged program is the Poway Unified School District in San Diego County. Many California teachers, and union representatives, are leery of the idea. Looking at Poway's figures, it's hard to see what they're afraid of. The Poway program is strictly voluntary for veteran teachers, as is the current statewide program moving through the Legislature. In the nine years the Poway Federation of Teachers has run its program, a grand total of eight veteran teachers have participated. Six returned to the classroom, one retired and one took disability. Not a single veteran teacher was fired, suspended or asked to resign.

Amid the sound and fury of California Gov. Davis' education reform package are the distant rumblings of what's yet to come. Says Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa about the state's public schools: "Clearly, at some point the people are going to have to make a decision whether they are willing to spend more and obviously... heresy, I'll say it, maybe even tax themselves to do it."

The 1997-98 California Safe Schools Assessment was released, revealing (surprise!) school crime is down in the state from its already low levels. In Howard County, Maryland, a school violence task force reported schools are "largely secure and safe," according to the Baltimore Sun. Nevertheless, ten schools will install closed-circuit TV cameras. In Missouri, the Blue Valley School District and the Shawnee Mission School District will also install video surveillance systems "to keep an ever-watchful, if dispassionate, eye on students," reported the Kansas City Star. Some Maine schools utilize lockdowns. "Sometimes I get confused," Maine principal Frank Keenan told the Bangor Daily News, "I think I must be a police officer." The Virginia General Assembly passed a bill that mandates jail time for anyone convicted of hitting, pushing or attacking a teacher. New York Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue told the New York State Parent-Teachers Association that "school violence is an escalating problem," according to Reuters. 

On the flip side, the College of Lake County Federation of Teachers filed a grievance against the school's use of hidden surveillance cameras, stating, according to the Chicago Tribune, that the use of such cameras "violates the educators' rights to academic freedom." Preschool aide Jessica Kantes was fired from her job of 21 years in Escondido, California, schools. Both she and her union representative from the California School Employees Association say it was in retaliation for Kantes' reporting a teacher's inappropriate behavior with a child. Former Fort Worth teacher Joel Lopez was sentenced to 22 years in prison for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old student on school property. Lopez had been forced to resign his teaching position in 1981 because of molestation allegations, but police were never informed and his personnel file is missing. He was rehired as a substitute in 1989, and subsequently hired full-time. He was arrested in 1996 and suspended from teaching in 1997. Several teachers testified on Lopez' behalf. 

A Washington Education Association publication on "Criminal Abuse of Students by School Employees" tells local union officials "It is important not to encourage any media coverage" and provides a tip to "acknowledge the seriousness of the event and put the association on the ‘right side' of the issue." WEA also wants its officials to know "The way we handle things in a crisis determines not only our public image, but can also affect the way future allegations are handled and perceived. It also establishes our ability to positively affect the media in other situations." 

Liz Seymour of the Los Angeles Times appears to be the first reporter to leave the school crime reservation. Her Feb. 24 story, "Getting Too Tough?," questions the expansion of zero tolerance policies. EIA's latest report, Rotten Apples: School Crime from a Different Angle, is still available free by contacting EIA at any of the numbers listed below. Please provide your snail mail address.

Quote of the Week: "We must work together with a display of unity that declares, loudly and clearly, that we, the professional educators, know what is best for our students; that we know what is best for our schools and colleges; and, yes, that we know what is best for ourselves." — Massachusetts Teachers Association President Stephen E. Gorrie.