In November 1998, the Kentucky Education Association approved a reorganization of the union based on the findings of an internal report written by 18 KEA officers that concluded: "The handwriting is on the wall, and we cannot ignore the overwhelming evidence that KEA is at risk as an organization." The committee reported few members had contact with the union. "The current perception of KEA is that we are an organization far removed from the rank-and-file membership," the committee found. "Some perceive that a few elite, power-hungry leaders and management personnel sit in Frankfort in ivory towers making all the decisions. We are seen as uncaring toward the real problems of real teachers in real classrooms. Leaders and staff alike are seen as self-serving, disrespectful to one another, jealous, and sometimes resentful of one another."

As reported by EIA last month, retiring Ohio Education Association Executive Director Robert Barkley issued his personal warning in December while delivering his farewell speech. "However, one thing I am sure of is that we are not truly listening to all of our members," Barkley said. "All the Association feedback we have to review - both nationally and in Ohio, supports this conclusion. In particular, we are not listening to our newer and younger members. It’s time for me to be more specific. I know that all my suggestions are not perfect. They are my best thinking today. What would we really do differently if we really did listen to our members? First, we would very rarely, if ever again, give a cent to a politician or a political party."

The newest passenger on the Straight Talk Express is new Wyoming Education Association Executive Director Jean Hayek. Hayek was hired after completing her term as WEA president. She addressed the WEA Delegate Assembly in Casper on April 7 and told the delegates of the need for the union to change its culture to fit the needs of the new members. "If there’s to be an NEA in the future, fundamental changes have to take place," she said.

Hayek then described common characteristics of Generation X and teachers new to the profession, including, "They have faith in American institutions -- except for government and unions." When describing their views on education issues, Hayek, Wyoming-style, warned the delegates to "take a deep seat and a short rein, `cause this one’s gonna buck!" She then went on to tell them that new members "approve of innovative compensation systems that encourage and reinforce their strengths and skills; merit pay is not anathema to them;" believe that "testing teachers is okay;" and believe that "qualifications and ability are more important than seniority."

But Hayek didn’t stop there. "As to their view of unions, it’s not very flattering," she said, listing their beliefs:

"* They don’t see them as relevant to their daily work life.

* They see them as divisive and only concerned with insignificant issues; they can’t tell their union is working for them.

* They view unions as being about protecting teachers, but not in the best interest of children.

* They see unions as beneficial only when you are in trouble.

* And they see them as being about collective negative action."

Hayek explained to the delegates that if the union did not account for the different perceptions of the new generation of teachers, member recruitment would suffer and the NEA would be irreparably harmed. "If we don’t harken to this clarion call and dramatically change our culture, we will indeed slowly starve to death while looking in the same old places for our cheese," she said.

+ Exodus of New York City Teachers to Suburbs? The New York Times reported the results of a New York City Board of Education study that revealed 1,679 New York City teachers left their jobs to take teaching positions in other districts, a fourfold increase from four years ago. The findings bolstered the teachers’ union’s arguments that higher salaries are needed in the city. Before the panic sets in, the study fails to place that number in context: 1) New York City employs about 80,000 teachers, meaning the "exodus" for higher-paying jobs elsewhere is about 2 percent of the total; 2) the study fails to provide any number for teachers the city has hired from other districts -- that is, there is no figure for the net loss, if any, of teachers to other districts; and 3) most of the total of 6,700 teachers lost to the district last year was due to retirement, suggesting, contrary to the conventional wisdom, that the overwhelming majority of New York City teachers are pretty happy where they are.

+ Performance Pay Showdown Looming in Wisconsin... We all know what happened when supporters and opponents of performance pay met at the NEA convention last year. That conflagration will easily be matched by the flames ignited at the open hearing of the Wisconsin Education Association Council Resolutions Committee on April 27 in Green Bay. Traditional unionists will attend to express their opinions on a proposed amendment to resolution C-36, which eliminates WEAC’s straightforward opposition to performance pay and substitutes the following language: "The Council believes that merit pay schedules and those that rely on student testing and/or other assessment mechanisms, foster or encourage competition for resources or standing among colleagues, or negatively impact the expected growth of current compensation structures are unacceptable. The council supports and endorses performance-based compensation systems based on education employees’ acquisition of skills and knowledge."

Those of us who don’t belong to teachers’ unions can be forgiven for thinking this language fails to move toward performance pay, but many WEAC members and officials will think differently. Delegates from Madison, Racine and Green Bay are expected to fight this one tooth-and-nail.

+ ...While St. Paul Wonders What Went Wrong. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported the results of the first two years of the district’s performance pay schedule. Teachers who fail to complete "improvement plans" after being notified of deficiencies do not receive their expected step increase for seniority. Last year, 10 of about 3,700 teachers were given improvement plans. Four chose to quit and the other six successfully completed the program and received their raise. This year, eight teachers are on improvement plans. "This is not where I would expect it to be," said school board vice chairman Al Oertwig.

+ Waxing Philosophical in Hawaii. NEA President Bob Chase is in Hawaii today to address business leaders and picketing teachers. Perhaps he will single out for praise the courageous souls who filled all the keyholes at Maili Elementary School with wax.

+ Forced Busing. The three executive officers of the California Teachers Association will spend a large portion of this week on a bus, riding from San Diego to Sacramento, making stops at "California’s schools of greatest need," along with whatever reporters can be roped in. "New research commissioned by CTA clearly shows that the lowest-scoring schools face obstacles that higher-scoring schools do not," said CTA President Wayne Johnson. EIA expects CTA’s bus will bypass the union-run Kwachiiyoa Charter School, which has some of the lowest scores in the state.

+ Military Conspiracy? Elements within NEA and AFT believe their ideological opponents are part of a vast conspiracy engineered primarily by corporate bigwigs through conservative foundations. But anecdotal evidence suggests the source of union trouble may lie within a shadowy cadre of the military officer corps, in place since the early 1980s, especially among Air Force navigators. Last week, U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary of Tennessee, expected to run for governor next year, laid out his education program. Among other things, Hilleary revealed his plans for the Tennessee Education Association (TEA). "The TEA at its essence is a labor union that doesn’t want its members accountable. We may have to go out and beat some legislators because they are in the TEA’s pocket," he said. Not well known is the subtle clue that Hilleary was a member of U.S. Air Force Undergraduate Navigator Training Class 83-14, a class that also produced the evil mastermind of the anti-NEA conspiracy: Education Intelligence Agency Director Mike Antonucci.

+ Patiently Awaiting the Next Earthquake. While the San Francisco school board devotes itself exclusively to the revocation of the charter of Edison Schools, Inc., auditors from the Arthur Anderson accounting firm found the district had used $30 million in school construction bond money to pay for salaries and overhead, could account of only half of $30 million in bond money received since 1996, purchased three properties without being able to demonstrate a need for them, awarded contracts through verbal agreements, failed to install windows at Hillcrest Elementary School, and spent $250,000 to bulldoze a vacant lot it did not own.

The Anderson report attributed most of the district’s problems to "lack of leadership, of skilled employees, of planning, of experience, of communication and of oversight." The district’s response? Well, it gave 87 district administrators a retroactive 8 percent salary increase, bringing about one-third of them over the $100,000 a year mark. Raises were dished out to administrators who had previously been reassigned for mismanagement of public funds. "[Superintendent Arlene Ackerman] says raises are needed to attract quality people. So why give raises to those already running a lousy system?" asked San Francisco Chronicle columnist Rob Morse.