Issue #16: Many have discussed the issue of teacher union concessions on the forums. To address this, we have to look at both sides of the issue first.
One way of approaching this highly complicated issue is to use Robert Mager’s Criterion-Based Instruction (http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/Mager.html and http://coe.ksu.edu/jecdol/Vol_3/articles/Cox.htm.) As a CRI-certified instructor, I’ve applied Mager’s general theories to this particular issue. That means: we need identifiable objectives, goals, and tasks to attain the ultimate objective(s).
These same theories should be, in my opinion, the core of evaluating educational ROI in any community.
The objective, in this case, is obvious: we need to control budget increases in Hebron.
What remains to be identified are the goals and tasks required to accomplish that objective. According to Mager, we have to establish the goals in order to identify the tasks required. But what are those goals? In order to establish goals, we have to look at the issues from both sides of the table. So here goes with a resident’s fairly succinct summary of those pro’s and con’s.
Why we can NOT ask the teachers' union for concessions:
1 – We are increasing non-mandated and unfunded programs, such as ADK
2 – The Board of Education, on behalf of the community that elected them, signed a contract
3 – We do not really understand how much a teacher makes, nor do we understand their current or retirement benefits package
4 – The teachers are doing a great job
5 – There is the possibility that the majority of the citizens in Hebron CAN afford to pay the contracted amount
6 – According to the Superintendent, we are giving teachers (at a rate of 38%) unprepared children
7 – The Board of Education agreed to the system that provides teachers their salary increases
8 - We will have less of a chance to permanently fix the system if we use this "band-aid" for the current fiscal year
9 – The teacher’s union may offer concessions anyway when they are faced with the potential reality of laid-off colleagues
Why we CAN ask the teachers' union for concessions:
1 – Factoring guaranteed state benefits, which are generous as compared to the private sector, teachers may be well paid
2 – We do a great job being involved parents, which is a key factor in school success
3 – Hebron gives them a good working environment, especially when compared to inner city school environments
4 – The economy stinks and they have jobs, while a significant number of taxpayers do not have jobs
5 – The system that provides the salary increases is broken and completely inconsistent with the private sector system of salary increases
6 – Teachers may very well not want to deal with the results of salary increases (e.g., more kids in their classes, more unpaid monitoring responsibilities, and so on)
7 – Other town unions gave concessions; that includes Hebron town employee unions as well as teacher unions in other Connecticut communities
This is an issue that possibly needs to be solved the hard way for lasting improvements to take place. But by carefully considering the pros and cons of asking for teacher union concessions, we can formulate goals – Do we want 0% salary increases? Do we want furlough days that don’t have to be “repaid” in subsequent years? Do we want higher co-payments on health insurance? What exactly do we want from the teachers? Do we want to end some of the “stipend” payments for additional responsibilities? Is it some of these or all of these?
Those are the goals that have yet to be established. And from those goals, we can then identify the tasks that need to take place to accomplish the goals.