Intercepts
A listening post monitoring public education and teachers’ unions.

+  How committed to democratic practices are the teachers’ unions? Critics, including EIA, are never slow to emphasize those instances when union democracy falls short of union rhetoric about democracy. In North Carolina, NEA’s state affiliate silenced those critics. The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) is so committed to democracy, it repealed the laws of mathematics through a majority vote.

For the past few months, the biggest internal issue for NCAE has been whether to grant full membership rights to ESPs (education support personnel — custodians, bus drivers, teachers’ aides, et al.). Most NEA state affiliates already do this, the notable exceptions being California, Connecticut and Hawaii. NCAE’s elected leaders were forceful in their advocacy of the ESP inclusion amendment. NCAE President Joyce Elliott (who, interestingly enough, is running for vice president, while her vice president, Geraldine McNeill, runs unopposed for president) called it “the right thing to do.” NCAE publications listed the locals and districts that supported the amendment and admitted to “intensive lobbying by NCAE leaders.”

As with all constitutional amendments, the ESP inclusion measure required a two-thirds majority of the NCAE Representative Assembly to pass. The day of the vote, banners, fliers and buttons reading “ESP Yes!” were seen everywhere. NEA national headquarters provided financial assistance to the amendment supporters. A long debate was held, and then 1,304 delegates voted.

The final result was 869 in favor and 435 against. The measure was pronounced “passed.”

Opponents of the measure (evidently led by math teachers) challenged the result, pointing out that the measure fell one vote short of a two-thirds majority, and had in fact received only 66.6411 percent of the vote. The challenge, however, required a majority vote of delegates, which it did not receive (naturally). The definition of “two-thirds” thus succumbed to the will of the majority and ESPs are now full voting members of NCAE — able to participate in the upcoming election of NCAE officers.

+  More fun with democracy is on display in Rhode Island. Last month, EIA reported on a decision by the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the eviction of 24 top teacher union officials from the state’s public employees’ pension plan. These officials claimed the time spent on union work as public employee time. Since pension payments are based on salary, the state found itself asked to dole out huge amounts of money. For example, current AFT Vice President Edward McElroy (a former Rhode Island union president) contributed $34,400 to the pension fund and would have received a benefit of $550,000 — in addition to his union pension.

The circuit court ruled that the union officials were never public employees for pension purposes and ruled their eviction legal. But it isn’t over yet. NEA Rhode Island had already called in the big guns for this case — namely NEA General Counsel Robert Chanin. Last week, NEARI’s executive board voted to spend union funds on an appeal. Some local officials balked at the vote, since it was held without first placing it on the board’s agenda, without copies of the court’s decision, and without copies of counsels’ opinions. This week, former NEARI President Ronald L. DiOrio and former NEARI Executive Director Donald Hill will be tried on conspiracy and pension fraud charges. Both men stand accused of misrepresenting DiOrio’s employment status in order to gain him a state pension.

On September 21 and 28, EIA reported on the curious merger of the Minnesota Education Association and the Minnesota Federation of Teachers on September 1. Under a new business item passed by the NEA Representative Assembly in July (and, coincidentally, submitted by MEA President Judy Schaubach), no state mergers could take place until guidelines were passed by the NEA Board of Directors. This has not yet happened. When EIA asked NEA President Bob Chase about this last week, he replied, “The state affiliates in Minnesota have merged,” he said, “and we will now institute the process for them to affiliate with us.” Then asked, “Are you saying that during the interim period, Education Minnesota is not affiliated with the national unions?” His answer was interrupted by AFT President Sandra Feldman, who remarked, “I consider them to be an affiliate.” 

EIA is now able to report that Education Minnesota (EM) is currently affiliated only with AFT, having been refused affiliation by NEA for violating the new business item. 

No word of this has gotten into the news, but NEA has sent a helpful question and answer sheet to its affiliates in preparation for this weekend’s Board of Directors meeting. The document notes that MEA violated NBI#1 and “it is for that reason that NEA to date has refused to recognize EM as a state affiliate. EM informs us that because of legal and organizational commitments, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to postpone the September 1 merger date.”

On Friday and Saturday, the NEA Board will be asked to approve guidelines for Minnesota alone. If approved, the Executive Committee will be asked to take immediate action on EM’s application for affiliation with NEA. Guidelines for other states will be developed at subsequent board meetings in December and February. The Minnesota directors will not be seated at the meeting until and unless the Board approves the special merger guidelines and the Executive Committee then approves its affiliation application. 

In the meantime, according to the document, “NEA has entered into a 6‑week service contract with EM, pursuant to which NEA is providing services and benefits to EM, EM’s local affiliates, and EM’s members. If the Board of Directors approves the proposed guidelines at its meeting on October 9‑10, and EM is affiliated at that time, EM will pay full NEA dues retroactive to September 1, which will cover the cost of these services and benefits. If EM is not affiliated at that time, EM will be legally obligated under the service contract to reimburse NEA for the cost of the services and benefits that were provided during the interim period.”

Under the NEA unified dues structure, Minnesota members are liable to pay full national dues for the entire 1998-99 membership year. However, under its merger agreement, 35% of EM’s national dues are to go to AFT. This dual commitment requires EM to come up with an additional 35% somewhere. According to the NEA document, “In order to enable EM to pay the remaining 35% of the NEA dues on a timely basis in accordance with NEA Bylaw 2‑9, the Board of Directors will be asked at its October 9‑10 meeting to authorize a long‑term loan of up to $2.5 million to EM.”

However, NEA will ask its Board of Directors to place before the 1999 NEA Representative Assembly “the question of whether to waive - in whole or in part - the loan to EM.”

I encourage NEA readers, particularly those from state affiliates who voted against the national merger, to call or e-mail EIA with your thoughts on this development.

+  I have only just received a copy of the July 1998 issue of Z Magazine, a left-wing political and cultural opinion publication. It contains an extensive article on the NEA/AFT merger debate that I highly recommend to those of you with an continuing interest in the issue. The article, authored by Rich Gibson, the director of social studies education at Wayne State University, has many stunning behind-the-scenes revelations. It is available on the web at www.pipeline.com/~rgibson/mergerconvention.htm. 

+  The common belief among voucher supporters present at CEO America’s School Choice Conference is that the 2000 Presidential race will be launched by whichever candidate is first to propose a school choice plan and make it his or her issue. The expectation is that this will be a governor — perhaps George Bush of Texas or Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, the Children’s Education Scholarship Fund, a group put together by Ted Forstmann and John Walton, is expected to announce today at the National Press Club new support for its efforts from such luminaries as Colin Powell, Rep. Charles Rangel (Dem. – NY), and others. Even with such high-powered people aboard, expect school choice supporters to highlight voucher recipients in upcoming media campaigns. 

+  I spent a pleasant lunch at the school choice conference with the National Education Association observer sent to monitor the proceedings. Perhaps there really is a fraternity of spies. 

+  Too much went on at the AFT/NEA Teacher Quality Conference to allow for adequate summarizing here. There were multiple workshops and presentations on peer review, national certification, teacher recruitment, licensure and professional development. Here a few random events and quotes. I am, of course, available to answer your specific questions about the conference by phone or e-mail.

*  Several speakers (with the notable exception of NEA President Bob Chase) expressed the hope that the conference would be an important step on the road to unity between the two major teachers’ unions. These remarks were met with perfunctory applause and more than a few snorts from the back of the room, where many members of the NEA Board were seated.

*  In her remarks, AFT President Sandra Feldman asserted that unions were “largely excluded from decisionmaking” in school districts.

*  Feldman noted that Japanese teachers meet with their colleagues as often as 10 hours every week and called for “time — time in the day for teachers to meet.” This idea was later shot down by William Schmidt, National Research Coordinator for the Third International Math and Science Survey (TIMSS). Schmidt said that without common standards and curricula, “Who are they going to talk to, about what?”

*  “I don’t think having money out as a carrot is going to work.” — Feldman on merit pay.

*  “If a public school is not doing the job it is supposed to do, I think it ought to be closed down and redesigned.” — Feldman.

*  Linda Darling-Hammond of the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future had a different interpretation of the teacher shortage. “We actually have, nationally speaking, a surplus of teachers,” she said. “What we have is a distribution problem.” She suggested that among the remedies should be national certification and a nationwide teacher job database. Her stance on alternative forms of teacher certification caused some controversy among the crowd. Terming these programs “education lite,” Darling-Hammond claimed they “keep salaries low and use teacher education as the cash cows to fund the law school and the engineering school.” Her view angered many proponents of alternative certification, particularly those who were holding a workshop at the conference to introduce their programs to the participants.

*  By far the most interesting speaker was William Schmidt of TIMSS. He first reintroduced the results of the TIMSS study, which showed US students placing above the international average in math and science in 4^th grade, only to fall to the bottom by 8^th and 12^th grades. He showed the audience a sample math question from the test — a simple dual perimeter problem. He explained that more that two-thirds of 12^th graders were unable to solve the problem. He emphasized and repeated the lack of subject matter and content knowledge among both teachers and students. He did not place the blame solely on teachers, but noted that US curricula tend to be “a mile wide and an inch deep” — covering too many topics too superficially. He also displayed data showing teachers were effective in teaching — and students in learning — many of the areas wrongfully emphasized by faulty curricula. For example, US math students ranked first in the world in rounding numbers. As many education observers have noted in the past, US schools tend to place extraordinary weight on rounding and estimating. In science, American students topped the world in “lifestyles and genetics” — in other words, as Schmidt explained, reproduction. The public school’s stressing of self-esteem has also worked wonders, resulting in students who believe themselves to have great skills in math and science, even when their test results indicate otherwise.

* Evaluations of the California class size reduction program will have to be made very carefully. After citing the fact that the state currently has 28,000 teachers on emergency credentials, an official from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing remarked that many districts are making great efforts not to place these teachers in the reduced classes. The logic is that these new, inexperienced, and perhaps unqualified teachers would offset the benefits of class size reduction and hurt public support for the program. The converse problem, of course, is that these teachers are being placed in the larger, upper grades, where we may expect to see student performance drop precipitously. 

+  New Business Item #1, passed by the 1998 NEA Representative Assembly, says in part: “The President and Executive Committee will develop guidelines to deal with the question of mergers between NEA and AFT state affiliates before an NEA/AFT merger takes place, and arrange for the introduction of any amendments to the NEA Constitution and Bylaws that may be necessary.  These guidelines will be approved by the Board of Directors before they are implemented, and any proposed amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws will be approved by the Board of Directors before they are introduced.  No state affiliate mergers will take place except in accordance with these guidelines.”

Many delegates, particularly those who voted to oppose the Principles of Unity, have asked EIA how the Minnesota Education Association and the Minnesota Federation of Teachers were able to merge on September 1 in light of this requirement (introduced, it should be mentioned, by MEA President Judy Schaubach). So, I asked NEA President Bob Chase about it at the Teacher Quality press conference.

“The state affiliates in Minnesota have merged,” he said, “and we will now institute the process for them to affiliate with us.”

I asked, “Are you saying that during the interim period, Education Minnesota is not affiliated with the national unions?”

“I consider them to be an affiliate,” interjected AFT President Sandra Feldman.

This is very curious. The NEA Board of Directors is fully expected to approve the guidelines for state affiliate mergers (which have not been seen outside of the Executive Committee, to EIA’s knowledge). Apparently unwilling to take any chances, the Minnesota unions went ahead and merged without guidelines, contravening NBI#1. Of course, if the merged union were (quietly) disaffiliated, it would not be subject to NBI#1. The Board of Directors would then vote on whether to allow this huge new state union to become NEA’s Minnesota affiliate. That vote would be much more likely to have a positive outcome for Education Minnesota. 

+  Quote of the Week #1: “There’s no accountability in that kind of environment. We know from our contacts, from people in the business world, that you can have exceptional skills, but if you can’t work with other folks, you’re useless in the work force.” — NEA spokesperson Kathleen Lyons, speaking about home schooling. 

+  Quote of the Week #2: “She said, ‘You know, you’re destroying public education as we know it.’ And I said, ‘I pray to God every night that that’s true.’ ” — Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Graham Keegan, describing an encounter with a political opponent.

Reporting from Washington, DC… The following e‑mail was forwarded to EIA from a reliable source…

+++

To:     State Presidents@ST@AFF, State Executive Directors@ST@AFF, ExecComm@Exec@NEA, Executive_Staff@Exec@NEA, State PR Contacts@ST@AFF, State GR Directors@ST@AFF

From:   Bob Chase@Exec@NEA

Date:   Fri Sep 18 10:22:23 1998

Attached:       None

Don Cameron and I are sending you this alert.  The National Education Association is poised to release a major new study revealing a hidden national network to de‑fund the public schools.  This message is to provide you a “heads up” on the release of that report.

As part of the assistance NEA provided the California Teachers Association on Proposition 226, we conducted a massive research project of the major proponents of the initiative.  Our research revealed that the Proposition 226 campaign was not a California grass‑roots movement.  Instead, proponents of the measure were mostly national conservative organizations and some of the nation’s wealthiest right‑wing individuals.  While the media did pick up on the connection between Grover Norquist (Americans for Tax Reform) and J. Patrick Rooney (Golden Rule Insurance Company), it did not reveal the extent of the hidden agendas behind Proposition 226.

Our research draws exclusively from public documents and filings (Federal income tax returns, Federal Election Commission reports, etc.), extensive Internet research, interviews, and articles in  magazines and newspapers.  It shows that not only are the Proposition 226  proponents reaching into virtually every state in the nation, they are also the same network of organizations and individuals pushing vouchers.  This anti‑public education agenda is being carried out by national organizations, conservative foundations, wealthy individuals, and state chapters.  The network is very complex, and the NEA report (titled “The Real Story Behind Paycheck Protection”) goes to great lengths to describe these individuals and organizations and how they work together.

We anticipate media interest in the report.  We are now in the process of printing the document and will express mail copies to every state affiliate as soon as they come back from the printer.  We expect to have them to you no later than September 29.

A memo with talking points and the embargoed news release will be sent to you via e‑mail next week. It is an eye‑opening document, and one which we hope will provide you with information you can use in your state.

+  About 3,500 health care workers in Rhode Island want to form their own union but a powerful organization is standing in their way: their present union, the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals. The AFT affiliate sought a temporary injunction to prevent the health care workers from disaffiliating. The U.S. District Court refused to grant it, but the case is being revisited today. AFT itself is conducting an investigation into allegations that the union “secessionists’ violated AFT’s constitution. “There is nothing in the constitution that prevents us from leaving,” said Jan Salsich, president of a nurses’ local. “We have a democratic right to affiliate or not affiliate. You can’t force someone to stay in a union.”

The health care workers claim the state union has not kept pace with changes in the health care industry. Rhode Island teachers’ union officials claim the dissidents are being misled. “The members who are following the recommendation of the leadership are not terribly well educated with all the issues,” said Marcia Reback, president of AFT’s state affiliate. “Their welfare is at risk.”

+  Seasoned observers of labor unions are predicting more problems like those described above. Harry Kelber, who writes a pro-union column called Labor Talk, sees this “catch-all” organizing as diluting the power of organized labor. “In the nursing home and hospital field,” Kelber writes, “the Service Employees are clearly doing the best organizing job; yet there are a half-dozen unions like the Teachers, Office and Professional Employees, AFSCME (public employees), UNITE (apparel workers) and others, who are competing for health care members, even though countless workers within their own jurisdiction remain unorganized. Even the United Mine Workers has signed up a nursing home.”

Kelber says such organizing inflates membership numbers at the cost of focus. “Why, for example, should nurses want to be segregated into a half-dozen different unions, most of which know nothing about their personal and professional needs?” he asks.

+  Is education reform an oxymoron? Five weeks ago, EIA reported that had California’s paycheck protection initiative passed, there would have been no reduction in the income of the state teachers’ union. Now comes this headline from the San Francisco Chronicle: “Educators Working Around Prop. 227, Districts plan bilingual programs that don’t violate law.” Wayne Miller, the bilingual education director for the Mount Diablo Unified School District, described how the district’s programs would change under the new law which requires immersion in English for most of the state’s limited-English students. “It’s essentially the same as what we offered last year,” he said.

+  Teacher contract negotiations in Middletown, New Jersey, have gotten so turbulent that the union bought billboards and newspaper advertising to advise prospective home buyers to avoid the area. A billboard ad along Route 36 read, “Moving to Middletown? Think twice.” The school board retaliated by imposing a contract. The union has promised to strike on September 1. “The Middletown association has gone as far as suggesting to possible candidates that they not work in the district,” said Lynn Maher, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Education Association. “I don’t know of another parallel to that.”

+  The Nebraska State Education Association used a little sleight-of-hand on Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Johanns. The union’s board of directors said it would withhold its endorsement until Johanns and his Democrat opponent, Bill Hoppner, announced their stands on a petition drive to limit government spending. Hoppner opposed the initiative and Johanns withdrew his support last month. So last week, NSEA’s board endorsed… Hoppner. “This group just does not endorse Republican candidates for governor,” said Johanns.

+  Fill in the blanks. The following news bulletin was sent by officers of a labor union, complaining about the practices of their employer. Can you guess the name of the employer?

“The {BLANK} has adamantly opposed any improved working conditions for its employees and has instead continuously sought to take away benefits contained in our current agreement. Illustrative of {BLANK}’s bargaining stance is its ongoing refusal to agree to such commonly accepted principles as seniority, just cause for discipline of discharge, and increased job opportunities for its own minority and female employees. The {BLANK} has already been found to have committed numerous unfair labor practices in violation of its employees’ rights.”

The {BLANK} is the National Labor Relations Board. Who watches the watchers?

+  Higher teacher salaries in California and efforts to reduce administrative spending have led to an unintended consequence: a shortage of principals. The gap between experienced teacher salaries and those of principals is shrinking, reducing the incentive for teachers to get an administrative credential and work an additional 35 days each year.

+  EIA always applauds those who seek out the source data. High profile school shootings have been in the news for several months. The Justice Policy Institute, a liberal criminal justice think tank, released a report that showed incidents of school violence remaining relatively steady over the past five years. “School is about as safe a place as you can put your kids,” said Jason Ziedenberg, co-author of the study. There were 40 shooting deaths last year, up from 25 in 1995-96, but down from 55 in 1992-93. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that students had less than a one-in-a-million chance of dying violently in school.

+  Quote of the Week #1: “If The Patriot-News proved anything by publishing Antonucci’s propaganda as hard news, it only served to support the old cliché about liars and statistics. And if your headlines about the Antonucci ‘findings’ are to be treated as valid research, you might do better marketing The Patriot-News at supermarket checkout lines rather than a legitimate newspaper.” — Jerald L. Rosenthal of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, responding to a story that the average Pennsylvania teacher earns 65.2 percent more than the average Pennsylvania worker.

+  Quote of the Week #2: “I don’t see how the truth can hurt.” — John Gabrielson, president of the Pascack (NJ) Education Association, upon learning his teachers were the highest paid in the state.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all Intercepts readers! The blog and communiqué will return with new material on Monday, January 10. In the meantime, each weekday we’ll have classic EIA news items from the vault. Please have an enjoyable and safe holiday season and we’ll see you in the new year.

From the Courthouse News Service:

The 9th Circuit on Monday dismissed a class action that accused the National Education Association of tricking teachers into buying expensive retirement annuities in exchange for millions of dollars in annual royalties.

The federal appeals panel in Seattle ruled that the lead plaintiffs – two public school teachers in California and Washington – had failed to state a claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) because the annuities at issue do not qualify as employee pension benefit plans.

The ruling was in keeping with a previous decision in a case involving the New York State United Teachers last year, although it’s clear that the firm of Keller Rohrback is seeking other avenues to advance its suits.