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1) NEA Affiliates as Employers: Navigating the
Maze. I hadn't realized it until I examined the archives, but EIA has
become a sort of clearinghouse for information about unexplained NEA
affiliate dismissals of high-ranking employees – particularly executive
directors. Bear with me as I lead you through a short timeline before I get
to the latest news on this front.
The current wave probably began in February 2006, with
the
abrupt departure of Richard Miller as executive director of the South
Carolina Education Association. Miller was
replaced by Chip Zullinger, who also left under mysterious circumstances
(see
Item #6 here).
In 2007 we had the
strange Education Minnesota purge, and this year began with a
host of retirements. Three weeks ago, NEA regional director
Michael Butera got the unexpected axe.
On March 31, EIA reported that the Florida Education
Association was planning to
terminate the contract of Chief of Staff Aaron Wallace. I can now report
the official word from FEA that Wallace "has announced his retirement from
the FEA to permit him to work on behalf of public education at the national
level." FEA wishes Wallace "much success in his new endeavors" with no
mention of why this step was taken or how this compromise was reached.
In last week's communiqué, I scolded an anonymous
source for claiming that yet another state affiliate executive director had
been canned (see
Item #6 here). The union denied the action had occurred and I took the
source to task in these pages. I now offer my public apology to the source,
who produced further evidence, teaching me yet again that when dealing with
the union, one must be very precise about one's questions, and equally
precise when interpreting the answers.
The affiliate is Vermont NEA, and Executive Director
Joel Cook has not been fired. However, there is a heated debate going on
right now within the union over whether his contract will be renewed when it
expires in August.
After the original denial (which was accurate, as far
as it went), Vermont NEA informed EIA that the "Vermont NEA board of
directors has been discussing the renewal of the executive director's
contract since the fall. During those discussions, management differences
have arisen and resulted in ongoing conversations among board members and
the executive director."
Of course, the union feels constrained from publicly
saying more until the matter is resolved, but others in Vermont NEA have a
lot of questions about what has transpired, and what is going on now.
Based on the evidence at hand, it appears the union's
executive committee decided last month not to renew Cook's contract and its
board of directors reportedly concurred, though without a formal vote. This
naturally raised the question of what method was used to authorize the
decision.
As news of the action spread through the union's inner
circles, so did the mystery regarding the reasons for it. The evidence in
EIA's possession suggests no one in authority in Vermont NEA is willing to
say, relying instead on vague generalities and amorphous "concerns."
EIA's union contacts in South Carolina, Minnesota,
Florida, Vermont and NEA's northeast region all recognize the irony inherent
in a labor organization summarily dismissing or non-renewing long-time
employees without cause or explanation, even though it has the power to do
so. The blackout that usually accompanies these actions suggests union
management is well aware of the irony, too, and the argument that if such
employer discretion is in the union's interest, why it can't also be in the
interest of a school district.
2) Public School Workforce Swells While Enrollment
Growth Flattens. America loves its public school teachers. So much so
that it continues to hire legions of them while growth in the number of
students continues to peter out. An Education Intelligence Agency analysis
of the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures shows that while K-12 enrollment
grew only 2.45% between 2001 and 2006, the K-12 teacher force grew by 5.71%
over the same period.
State level figures further illustrate the phenomenon.
Twenty-five states had fewer K-12 students in 2006 than in 2001. Of these,
14 (Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
Vermont), had more K-12 teachers in 2006 than in 2001.
Even in states with significant spikes in enrollment,
teacher hiring is keeping pace – and often greatly exceeding – that growth.
Nine states (Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North
Carolina, Rhode Island and Texas) experienced double-digit growth in the
K-12 teacher workforce from 2001 to 2006.
Per-pupil spending continues its steady upward spiral,
with an increase of more than 25% (unadjusted) in the same five-year period.
Spending on compensation tracked closely with a 24.51% increase. Oregon is
the only state that did not experience double-digit growth in
spending over that time.
The full state-level table is available at
http://www.eiaonline.com/districts/USA06.pdf. District-level tables will
be updated with the latest figures over the next few weeks.
3) Randi Weingarten Makes Her AFT Accession
Official. Spilling what was arguably one of the worst-kept secrets in
American labor history, United Federation of Teachers President Randi
Weingarten
officially announced her candidacy for the presidency of the American
Federation of Teachers.
She also made official her intention to continue as UFT
president while holding national office. When the
New York Daily News remarked
that holding both positions would nearly double her annual salary to reach
almost $600,000, Weingarten referred to her previous career as a Wall Street
attorney and replied, "I took a huge cut in any kind of pay that I was ever
going to make in my life to do this job. And so money has never been an
issue with me other than to try to champion those causes for my members."
Weingarten spent three years as an associate for
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. While there is no way to know what career path
she might have taken had she not been hired by UFT in 1986, it's pretty
clear how much she would have made had she stayed at Stroock & Stroock &
Lavan as an associate. She even
mentioned it in a 2004 speech:
"If I were starting out today
as a young new attorney in my old firm – Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, I would
be starting at $125,000. After eight years as a teacher here in New York,
I'd be making $60,700. After eight years in my old law firm, I'd be making a
base salary of $215,000."
A
more recent look at the firm's salary schedule shows a $280,000 level
after eight years. Certainly we can generate scenarios in which Weingarten
would have made more than $600,000 as an attorney, but in reality she made
more money in her first eight years as UFT president than she would have had
she spent those eight years as a Wall Street attorney.
4) Why Math Is Important. Because then you can
perform an empirical analysis of important questions, such as:
Do red-shirts on Star Trek really die more often than other crew
members?
5) Scheduling Note. Next Monday is
Patriots' Day, and as usual, I will be taking the day off in order to
watch the Boston Marathon on television. With some luck this December
I'll qualify for the 2009 Boston Marathon. I tell you this now for the added
incentive, knowing that I'll have to publicly admit to failure if I fall
short. The communiqué will return on Tuesday, April 22.
6) Last Week's Intercepts. EIA's blog,
Intercepts, covered these topics from April 7-14:
*
Wait Your Turn. The Memphis Education Association won't let Reginald
Fentress run for president because he's not white. You read that correctly.
*
New Orleans Jazz. So, how are New Orleans teachers doing since their
union was decimated in the wake of Katrina?
*
Pennsylvania NEA Endorses… No One. Profile in courage.
7)
Quote of the Week.
"District officials say they are literally comparing teachers down to the
day they were hired. If they need to cut 900 teachers, they look at how many
teachers they have in the school population, figure out how many might
already retire and then determine where the seniority cut off is. If you
started with the district, in the way the union deems OK, one day before
that, you're OK. One day after, though, and you've got to turn that pink
slip into something to eat." – Scott Lewis of the Voice of San Diego,
in a commentary headlined "How to Lay Off a Teacher of the Year." (April 10
Voice of San Diego) |
