Time To Stand Together

 
A message from AFT President Randi Weingarten
These undoubtedly are challenging times. As teachers, faculty, school support staff, nurses, public employees, and members or allies of our union, the AFT, we are facing the perfect storm—a time of widespread stress, uncertainty, pressure and fear, where workers and their unions are being scapegoated and vilified for the continuing effects of a recession we did not cause.

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker has just signed into law legislation stripping workers of their rights and crippling the unions that represent them. Walker and numerous other elected officials have claimed to need such legislation to address budget shortfalls, but these efforts have been unmasked as shrewd power grabs intended to eviscerate workers’ voice and other democratic rights.

As legislation depriving workers of fundamental rights advances in state after state, it is a blow for anyone who values democracy and fairness. But it is also a clarion call to defend these principles.
Join me and take the “We Are One” pledge to stand together .

As we have seen in Wisconsin, and also in Indiana and Ohio, tens of thousands of union members are standing up, standing tall and speaking out in solidarity against all these attacks on their rights and our values. Our allies include students, parents, farmers, firefighters, people of faith and people of good will, who have joined us—some in spirit, some in the halls of state capitols—day in and day out.
We can’t help but be inspired and motivated by this collective action.
Now our challenge is to take this moment and turn it into a movement. And the way to do this is by re-energizing America’s labor movement, which is the only institution fighting for working people at the ballot box and the bargaining table.

The AFT has joined with other labor unions and allies to stand together and participate in the “We Are One” Week of Action starting April 4.

Will you take the pledge to stand with us?
 
In just the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of traveling to dozens of states—from Wisconsin to Florida, New York to Texas, Ohio to New Mexico—to stand with AFT members and their allies. In every place, I have witnessed how you, as individuals, make a difference every day for the people you serve—children and adults alike. I’m in awe of your tireless dedication. But I have also seen that when we stand together in solidarity as one, we make a difference for everyone in our communities.

I hope you will take a minute to sign this pledge to make a difference together , and to participate in nationwide activities the week of April 4 in support of fairness, justice, democracy and workers’ voice.
I can’t thank you enough for your hard work and commitment. I know these times are difficult, and you can’t do it all and you can’t do it alone. But by standing together as one, we can do everything possible to protect the values that make our country great, including our voice in our own destiny.

Without a doubt, there will be setbacks and there will be victories. But as this past month has proven, every generation has to reaffirm and fight for its beliefs. This is our time to do so, whether we are Gen Yers, Gen Xers or baby boomers. Through our persistence and determination to never give up, we will forge a new path of opportunity for the next generation.

Thank you.

In solidarity,

Randi Weingarten
AFT President

DC Public Schools - Not As Advertised

Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public School System, has been cited as an example of a "get it done" school administrator that will control costs and turn around a district.  Mary Levy is an education finance lawyer and a contributor to Parents and Teachers for Real Education Reform.  The following is a summary of her testimony on the DCPS budget. 

Ms. Levy states that...

1.  The number of DCPS central administration employees rose by 112 or 18% from 2007 to 2010 (the tenure of Michelle Rhee), while enrollment went down by 6,600 or 12%. Since FY 2003 central office FTEs are up 38% while enrollment is down by 28%.
 

2.  As of October 1, 2010, about 100 of the central office staff have salaries of over $100,000 per year.

 

3.  Per student spending went up 28% during Ms. Rhee’s tenure, compared to inflation of 6%, leading to the possibility that better student/staff ratios, smaller classes and other resources were responsible for the modest test score improvements that did occur. Unfortunately, the level of spending – which is high compared to other school districts -- can’t be sustained.

 

4.  DCPS is now losing half its teacher workforce within 5 years, and half its new teacher hires within 2 years.

 

5.  The percentage of inexperienced (first and second year) teachers has risen to almost 20%.

 

6.  Beginning teachers (first and second year) are 25% of the teachers in three wards with mostly low-income students (1, 5, and 8).

 

7.  Basic budget and expenditure information is not available to the public – such as financial reports, current budgets for both the system and local schools.

 

Copies of the testimony and the attached tables are posted here. A more detailed analysis of central office positions is here and more information is on the SHAAPE web site here under High School Policy Areas-Budget Analysis.

 

Study: US Must Raise Status of Its Teachers - NY Times

From the New York Times (March 16, 2011)


To improve its public schools, the United States should raise the status of the teaching profession by recruiting more qualified candidates, training them better and paying them more, according to a new report on comparative educational systems.

Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the international achievement test known by its acronym PISA, says in his report that top-scoring countries like Korea, Singapore and Finland recruit only high-performing college graduates for teaching positions, support them with mentoring and other help in the classroom, and take steps to raise respect for the profession.

“Teaching in the U.S. is unfortunately no longer a high-status occupation,” Schleicher says in the report, prepared in advance of an educational conference that opens in New York on Wednesday. “Despite the characterization of some that teaching is an easy job, with short hours and summers off, the fact is that successful, dedicated teachers in the U.S. work long hours for little pay and, in many cases, insufficient support from their leadership.”

The conference, convened by the U.S. Department of Education, was expected to bring together education ministers and leaders of teachers’ unions from 16 countries as well as state superintendents from nine American states. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that he hoped educational leaders would use the conference to share strategies for raising student achievement.
“We’re all facing similar challenges,” Duncan said in an interview.
The meeting occurs at a time when teachers’ rights, roles and responsibilities are being widely debated in the United States.
Republicans in Wisconsin and several other states have been pushing legislation to limit teachers’ collective bargaining rights and reduce taxpayer contributions to their pensions.

President Barack Obama has been trying to promote a different view.
“In South Korea, teachers are known as ‘nation builders,’ and I think it’s time we treated our teachers with the same level of respect,” Obama said in a speech Monday.
Schleicher is a senior official at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, a Paris group that includes the world’s major industrial powers. He wrote the new report, “What the U.S. Can Learn from the World’s Most Successful Education Reform Efforts,” with Steven L. Paine, a CTB/McGraw-Hill vice president who is a former West Virginia schools superintendent, for the McGraw-Hill Research Foundation.
It draws on data from the Program for International Student Assessment, which periodically tests 15-year-old students in more than 50 countries in math, reading or science. On the most recent PISA, the top-scoring countries were Finland and Singapore in science, Korea and Finland in reading and Singapore and Korea in math. On average, U.S. teenagers came in 15th in reading and 19th in science. U.S. students placed 27th in math. Only 2 percent of U.S. students scored at the highest proficiency level, compared with 8 percent in Korea and 5 percent in Finland.

The “five things U.S. education reformers could learn” from the high-performing countries, the report says, include adopting common academic standards — an effort well under way here, led by state governors — developing better tests for use by teachers in diagnosing students’ day-to-day learning needs and training more effective school leaders.

“Make a concerted effort to raise the status of the teaching profession” was the top recommendation.

I couldn't have said it better...

"NYSUT reacts to Senate bill on layoffs." March 01, 2011. NYSUT: A Union of Professionals. www.nysut.org

Somewhere along the way the politicians have decided that experienced teachers have less to offer than their newer colleagues. Without experienced teachers, who would these new teachers have to mentor them through the difficult, early years of their professional careers. Each and every teacher has those who have come before them to thank for the skills that they employee daily in their classrooms. Mayor Bloomberg equates young teachers with energy and passion in his propaganda...these are not the sole province of the newer teachers these are the traits of all good educators.

Read the press release from New York State United Teachers President Richard Iannuzzi for more on the topic.

"NYSUT reacts to Senate bill on layoffs." March 01, 2011. NYSUT: A Union of Professionals. www.nysut.org

I Believed...

AFT wants you to pledge

If she’s got your e-mail address, Randi Weingarten just sent you a message.
The AFT President asked you to join her in making a pledge. Here’s the link to the page.