Some Oakland school officials speak out against Proposal 2
Two Oakland County school board members
and a school superintendent have come out against Proposal 2 because
they maintain it would do more than guarantee employees’ right to
bargain in the Michigan Constitution.Oakland Schools Board of Education Trustee Marc Katz, Farmington Hills Board President Frank Reid and Walled Lake Superintendent Ken Gutman said that if approved Nov. 6, Proposal 2 could undo legislation that has helped local schools.
Katz said because the ballot proposal is so murky, “If it does pass and goes into the Constitution, lawyers will be paid for years” to sort it all out and determine the actual impact on recent school reform legislation.
Legislation that gave school districts some control over costs may be overturned, Katz said.
For example, Proposal 2 could eliminate
legislation that allows local districts to require that teachers pay at
least 20 percent of their insurance premiums; follow new state teacher
evaluation guidelines; and lay off and bring back teachers according to
their effectiveness, not seniority.Reversal of that legislation, the county educational leaders said in a news release and interviews on Thursday, could devastate school budgets by adding back millions in health care costs, thereby forcing cuts to schools; as well as end progress made toward improving teaching and students achievement.
However, Aimee McKeever, president of the Pontiac Education Association argues that much of the legislation affecting teachers’ unions are things that can and should be negotiated at the bargaining table, not be set down by legislators.
In reaction to the opposition to Proposal 2, McKeever cites the decision by lawmakers and Gov. Rick Snyder that took more than $1 billion out of the school aid fund.
“How does that help districts,” McKeever asks. In Pontiac school district, “We are sitting on a serious deficit and they are cutting our funding. How does that help students?” she said.
By guaranteeing bargaining rights in the state Constitution, “We want to protect class sizes and safe working environment,” just like nurses want to protect the patient load, the union president said.
“Undoing restrictions on bargaining
would not cost millions of dollars,” McKeever argues. “It would give us
bargaining rights. We would negotiate (those things) back and forth
across the table,” including what premium teachers would pay for health
insurance, McKeever said.
The union president said teachers don’t want to hurt schools where they work.
“We gave up 6 percent of our salary as part of bargaining ... because we knew what kind of deficit the district is dealing with,” she pointed out.
McKeever also cited the fact that PEA and MEA members have been providing copying for Pontiac teachers to provide material to their students and donating classroom supplies, such as pencils and paper.
Districts are already wasting money going to court on tenure issues because of recent legislation, said McKeever.
“We are certainly not anti-union,” said Reid, who, besides being president of the Farmington Board of Education, is a member of the board of directors of the Michigan Association of School Boards.
“A number of laws have passed late last year that help us maintain the best and brightest of teachers and provide a comprehensive evaluation model,” which Reid says helps teachers grow and be supported. Also, the legislation allows layoffs to be done with consideration of a teacher’s effectiveness, not just seniority.
“When I look at how hard our school district worked at the new evaluation and the teachers worked on it...” he wouldn’t want to see the new system eliminated, Reid said. He said all stakeholders who were involved in the process are proud of the teacher evaluation model, including the teachers.
Reid also said the requirement that teachers pay 20 percent of their health insurance premiums contributed towards Farmington school district’s savings.
“I don’t know how that will play out for us (if the Proposal passes),” said Reid, who said what Proposal 2 would “really do is unclear.”
“I think people in the community
all pay toward their health care premiums. I think they would think
school employees should pay for it as well,” Reid said.The union president said teachers don’t want to hurt schools where they work.
“We gave up 6 percent of our salary as part of bargaining ... because we knew what kind of deficit the district is dealing with,” she pointed out.
McKeever also cited the fact that PEA and MEA members have been providing copying for Pontiac teachers to provide material to their students and donating classroom supplies, such as pencils and paper.
Districts are already wasting money going to court on tenure issues because of recent legislation, said McKeever.
“We are certainly not anti-union,” said Reid, who, besides being president of the Farmington Board of Education, is a member of the board of directors of the Michigan Association of School Boards.
“A number of laws have passed late last year that help us maintain the best and brightest of teachers and provide a comprehensive evaluation model,” which Reid says helps teachers grow and be supported. Also, the legislation allows layoffs to be done with consideration of a teacher’s effectiveness, not just seniority.
“When I look at how hard our school district worked at the new evaluation and the teachers worked on it...” he wouldn’t want to see the new system eliminated, Reid said. He said all stakeholders who were involved in the process are proud of the teacher evaluation model, including the teachers.
Reid also said the requirement that teachers pay 20 percent of their health insurance premiums contributed towards Farmington school district’s savings.
“I don’t know how that will play out for us (if the Proposal passes),” said Reid, who said what Proposal 2 would “really do is unclear.”
Proposal 2 would ...
— Allow public and private employees in entities of one or more employees the constitutional right to organize and bargain collectively through labor unions.
— Invalidate existing or future state or local laws that limit the ability to join unions and bargain collectively or to negotiate and enforce collective bargaining agreements, including employees’ financial support of their labor unions.
— Override state laws that regulate hours and conditions of employment to the extent that those laws conflict with collective bargaining agreements. Laws may be enacted to prohibit public employees from striking.
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