In a move that made headlines across the state, the Illinois Education Association endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate George Ryan over his opponent, Democrat U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard. "It was a tough choice, but we believe George Ryan knows state government and how to get things done," said IEA President Bob Haisman. 

It is extremely rare for NEA affiliates to endorse Republicans in high-profile races with Democrats, but the Ryan endorsement seems to be tailor-made for IEA's own agenda — both internal and external. To begin with, Poshard has been running to the right of Ryan on many issues. IEA was particularly disturbed by Poshard's belief that local school districts be allowed to consider corporal punishment. Ryan, the current Illinois secretary of state, is known as a moderate with the ability to work both sides of the aisle. 

But outside of the political considerations, Haisman and IEA are sending a clear message to the NEA leadership with the endorsement of Ryan. The Illinois union was one of the strongest opponents of the proposed NEA/AFT merger.  Haisman cited IEA's bipartisan political strategy as one of the reasons for his opposition. Both the AFT-affiliated Illinois Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO have endorsed Poshard, a former teacher and dependable pro-labor vote in Congress. In backing Ryan, IEA is highlighting its independence not only from AFT and the AFL-CIO, but from NEA. 

The Chicago Heights Federation of Teachers Local 1260 is threatening to strike if its pay demands are not met. The union is seeking a 27 percent increase over three years. The board claims it is currently operating with a $700,000 deficit and cannot possibly meet the teachers' demands. Union president Rhonda Sneed disagrees. "Our school district is not financially distressed," she said. "They've got millions of dollars just kind of sitting around." 

A Missouri state law requires school districts to spend a minimum percentage of their budgets on people who work with students. The state School Board has the authority to approve waivers, and has approved 59 since the law passed in 1996. Last week, the Missouri NEA filed suit against the School Board, claiming the waivers were granted without a stringent screening requirement. Union officials also claim that 112 additional districts are violating the spending floor without holding a waiver. Missouri NEA wants a moratorium on further waivers until the state implements stricter requirements. 

A recent state audit of the Columbus (Ohio) Public Schools revealed the average teacher missed nearly 11 days during the school year, costing the district more than $5.6 million for substitutes. Columbus Education Association President John Grossman said a sizeable amount of that figure was due to the district sending teachers to workshops and then charging them with an absence. "I think, once they really break down that statistic, they'd find our use of sick leave isn't really that high," he explained to The Columbus Dispatch. 

The audit also says that Columbus teachers spend less than four hours a day teaching. By increasing classroom time, the auditors believe the district could cut 69 positions for a savings of $3.9 million. They also suggested a 69 to 78 employee reduction in custodial staff for an additional savings of $2.7 million. "I think what you're seeing here is auditors — who don't really know how the schools operate — making some assumptions," said Grossman. Meanwhile, the Columbus Education Association's Peer Assistance and Review program has expanded its staff to 37 consulting teachers, and its office space accordingly. 

Back on December 8, 1997, EIA reported on the battle between Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Brenda Reneau and Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Businesses in Oklahoma are required to post in the workplace provisions of the minimum wage laws. Reneau had added to the minimum wage poster an explanation of employees' Beck rights, which state, in part, that workers cannot be required to pay for union activities unrelated to collective bargaining. Edmondson ordered Reneau to remove that section from the poster, saying it would invite a lawsuit against the state. So Reneau removed the section from the poster.... with scissors. The posters now distributed by the state labor department have a hole where the Beck notice used to be. Employers are still allowed to post the Beck notice, but not on the minimum wage poster. Reneau's staffers are deliberately cutting the hole large enough so that the notice can be placed inside the hole, but not touching the inside of the rest of the poster. 

Last year, the Green Bay, Wisconsin, school district began to require teachers to complete report cards by the end of the school year (previously, they could be mailed to parents after school let out). This new procedure was interpreted to have added to teachers' duty time. So, this year, Green Bay teachers will receive an additional 3.5 hours compensatory time "in recognition of the time needed to prepare report cards." Teachers will not receive compensation for unused report card time, nor will they be allowed to accumulate it from year to year. The Green Bay Education Association encourages it members to "use this compensatory time first," rather than using personal or sick days. 

In his Sept. 8 advertorial entitled "Pay teachers well and they won't leave," NEA President Bob Chase awarded the July 27 issue of Forbes "the dunce cap for its article arguing that teacher salaries are too high." The short article, authored by Peter Brimelow, was based on research performed by yours truly. The title of Mr. Chase's column unintentionally reveals one of the problems associated with the current structure of teacher pay. In an August 5 Washington Post column entitled "The Education Money Pit," Robert J. Samuelson applied the research of economists Michael Podgursky and Dale Ballou and concluded: "Their explanation is that the ways teachers are hired and paid — reflecting custom and union contracts — offset most benefits of higher pay. 

Salary scales are typically uniform; teachers receive across-the-board increases. Teacher tenure, earned after a few years, makes it hard to fire incompetents. The result: Higher pay caused the worst teachers to stay longer, because their other job prospects were poor. This reduced openings for better new teachers, who — with good skills — found other work." 

"Shaping the Profession that Shapes the Future" is the name of the first NEA/AFT joint conference on teacher quality, taking place Sept. 25-27 at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, DC. Among the scheduled speakers are U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, and United Mind Workers authors Julia Koppich and Charles Kerchner. EIA plans to cover the conference in person, but you can join in as it happens at www.teacherquality.org between September 18 and October 3. The "virtual conference" will offer keynote speeches, question and answer sessions, and cyber-discussion of teacher quality issues. 

The report contains intimate details, embarrassing disclosures, hidden events and secret uses of political power. It's the report that has the whole country abuzz. People are demanding their very own copies. Yes, it's NEA Confidential: A Practical Guide to the Operations of the Nation's Largest Teachers' Union. EIA's annual report is going fast, so order now. Single copies are free and, best of all, they contain no references to illicit sexual activity (EIA is saving those for the next quarterly report). 

Quote of the Week: "AFT President Sandra Feldman commented that some NEA delegations ‘did not come as a cohesive group' who voted as their leaders told them to vote. We who are the NEA vote our consciences via the secret ballot — we are neither obligated to nor bound by the dictates of a leader who tells us how to vote and what to think. We who are the NEA have principles that give us the same rights we have as U.S. citizens, to enter the voting booth and cast our vote without someone looking over our shoulder. To indicate that I should have voted as part of a ‘cohesive group' as the national leadership wanted me to vote not only abdicates my basic rights as an NEA member, the rights I voted to uphold and protect, but both saddens and offends me." — Cherylin J. Roeser, first vice president of the Bergen County (NJ) Education Association, in a letter to the editor published in Education Week.