Chicago Union, Board Seek Right to Negotiate

The Chicago Teachers Union has struck a deal with the school
district that would restore some of the bargaining rights the union
lost in 1995, when the state gave the mayor control over the city's
schools.

If approved by the Illinois legislature, the agreement has the
potential to enhance both the educational power and the public image of
teachers in the nation's third-largest school district, some observers
say.

The draft legislation, unveiled Sept. 4, would still permit district
leaders to make unilateral arrangements with private firms, and changes
in class sizes, layoffs, pilot programs, staff assignments and
schedules. But it would force management to let teachers negotiate over
the impact of those changes. Disputes that arose during such bargaining
would be settled by a mediator.

District and union leaders hailed the agreement as a compromise that
would allow teachers a greater voice while still preserving enough
maneuvering room for management.

Arne Duncan, the chief executive officer of the 437,000-student
district, called it a "fair and flexible" arrangement that recognizes
the "shared commitment" of teachers and district leaders to improve
Chicago schools.

"In this wave of reform, the missing ingredient has been teachers'
voices," Deborah Lynch, the president of the CTU, said in an interview.
"We believe this agreement will translate into better programs and
initiatives informed by the front-line professionals who have to carry
them out."

Election Issue

The issue of Chicago teachers' bargaining rights has become a
football in this fall's gubernatorial race. Illinois Attorney General
Jim Ryan, the Republican nominee, has accused his Democratic opponent,
U.S. Rep. Rod R. Blagojevich, of being a "captive" of the teachers'
union because Mr. Blagojevich supports expanded teacher-bargaining
rights.

When the agreement was announced, Mr. Ryan said it would "turn back
the clock" on school reform by giving teachers too much power. He
gathered leading state Republicans together to publicly denounce the
deal.

State Sen. Dan Cronin, one of the architects of the 1995
mayoral-control law, said in an interview that enhancing bargaining
rights for teachers "dilutes" the intent of the law, which was designed
to place authority and accountability for schools in the hands of one
person: the mayor.

"Teacher input is fine, but more collective-bargaining rights just
means more and more negotiating," he said. "Why don't we just give the
teachers the keys to the buildings, the [district] checkbook and go
home?"

Mr. Blagojevich, who won the endorsement of the Illinois Education
Association, cast Mr. Ryan's reaction as sour grapes, noting that in
June, the attorney general had sought but failed to secure the
endorsement of the National Education Association affiliate. The CTU is
affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers.

"Mr. Ryan has a glaring lack of substantive ideas in education, and
this just helps him cover that up," Billy Weinberg, Mr. Blagojevich's
spokesman, added. "What the school board and the union agreed on is
simply the right to discuss."

Among teachers, the desire for more influence in school policy has
been a sore spot since 1995, when state leaders pared back teachers'
bargaining rights to allow the mayor a stronger hand in running the
schools. Ms. Lynch made the issue a rallying cry of her campaign for
the union presidency last year, and backed a legislative attempt this
past spring to repeal the section of the law that restricted those
bargaining rights.

During that attempt, state lawmakers and Mayor Richard M. Daley, a
Democrat, suggested that the school board and the 34,000-member union
instead negotiate a compromise. Talks over the summer produced the
agreement announced earlier this month. Since the agreement—a
draft bill—would amend a section of the Illinois Educational
Labor-Relations Act, the legislature must approve it. Hearings are
expected in November.

'Part of Solution'

If approved by the legislature, the agreement could prove pivotal in
repositioning the Chicago Teachers Union in the public eye, said
Dorothy Shipps, a former director of the Consortium on Chicago School
Research who is now an assistant professor of education at Teachers
College, Columbia University.

Many of the backers of the 1995 law perceived the teachers' union as
an obstruction, rather than an aid, to school improvement, Ms. Shipps
said, so their aim was to "defang" the group. "But now," she said, "the
union has taken the stand that they want to be part of the solution,
not part of the problem, and not be seen as scapegoats for why reform
fails."

The previous restructuring of Chicago's schools, in 1988,
decentralized authority, giving an increased voice to parents and
teachers. The more recent law centralized more power under the mayor
and has improved district finances and governance, Ms. Shipps said, but
neither has made a huge impact on teaching and learning.

"This agreement is a very positive move," she said. "You are never
going to get serious change, better outcomes for students, unless you
have the teachers on board."

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