NCUEA Conference Day 3

Yesterday was the final day of the conference.  Diane Ravitch was the keynote speaker. She was part of the Bush administration and supported NCLB. She has seen the effects and changed her position. She wrote a book called "The Death and Life of the Great American School System" which discusses how choice and testing have harmed public schools.  She spoke about the narrative of failing public schools full of bad teachers who don't care about kids, because the union makes sure they have a lifetime job. She does not support this. She said unions are not the reason schools are failing. Finland is 105% union, because all teachers and principals belong to the same union. Teach for America (TFA) is not a teacher training program, it is a leadership training program where young people are not teaching very long then becoming superintendent. The problem is privatization and de-professionalization of teaching.

The union doesn't give tenure. We need to stop using the word. Tenure only means we have due process, not lifetime employment. Last in, first out (LIFO) campaign followed. Problems with firing older teachers. She understands the conservative thinking, because she worked in their think tanks for many years. They want vouchers. Charters are a substitute for vouchers. This is a campaign for choice, which leads to privatization.  Unions are the enemy of all the conservative think tanks want to accomplish. The ideas she thought were bad have now been adopted by Obama. Under first President Bush, she was swayed to support testing and vouchers. She sees the problems now. Testing, accountability, and choice is the single message coming out of Congress. She doesn't think it is right that states must compete for federal funds. The majority of kids with needs will not get the money they need because of the competition. Federal funds should be distributed by formula based on need. NCLB needs to go away.

‎100% proficiency goal is unrealistic. What NCLB has done is set up public education to fail. This is demonizing the profession and demoralizing teachers. Congress is not looking at the big picture. Race to the Top is NCLB 2.0. To be eligible for federal funding, you must increase the number of charter schools. Most charter schools are not out-performing public schools. The general public has been led to believe charters are better. Charters do not have to meet same requirements as public schools.  With all the advantages of charter schools, charters are not doing a better job educating students. A public school is not a "chain store" to close if it doesn't make money.  Conservatives are  not privatizing firefighters and police force. Some places are starting to privatize libraries, which is also wrong. Low-level corporate thinking is the problem. Best corporate thinking is to treat your employees like gold (i.e. Google). Students know they can withhold their efforts on tests to hurt their teachers.

Tea party people like the conservative narrative. The governors are cutting benefits for teachers and taxes for large corporations. New Orleans district is rebuilding from TFA and receiving praise. Diane can't find foundations that support public education, but the big ones support "reform" (Gates, Walton - owners of Walmart). Democrats for Education Reform are gaining support. Billionaires around the nation are spending a lot on politics to push the conservative agenda for privatization. They are recommending for other people's children what they would not allow for their own children. Stand for Children, Teach First, Educators for Excellence, are some of the other organizations that are influencing policy and laws in other states.

NEA needs to persuade Obama administration that if they don't change their education policy, teachers won't come out to vote for him. Jeb Bush is working hard for privatization. Cyber-charters are the cash cow of education. Full per pupil spending but not all the services of a public school (librarians, teacher help, socialization) are provided for that amount. Test scores and graduation rates are very low for cyber-charters. 

No other country uses test scores as part of evaluation. Principals in New York want the new evaluation system piloted somewhere before full implementation. The real problem is poverty. Testing and evaluation is a diversion tactic. The biggest predictor of success on any test is family income.  Why is Finland number one if they don't have standardized tests? New book out "Finnish Lessons". Finland spent 30 years transforming education system. Young people compete to get into teacher preparation programs. Teaching is a well-respected profession. Only 4% poverty. Less diversity than us, but better test scores than other similarly homogeneous countries.  Accountability must include all people who make decisions about education. Tests should be used for diagnostics and not for punishment. Students who are overly tested do not learn to think creatively. Incentives and sanctions, carrots and sticks, reward high tests and punish low tests. 21st-century thinking is that most important motivation is intrinsic, so carrots and sticks don't work. Family is important to school success. Poverty is not an excuse, it is a fact. Anyone who says they can turn around a school in a year is lying. Transformation takes time.

We are in a dark time for education. It will survive because of millions of teachers and parents who support them.  We need to tell President Obama that his policies mirror President Bush's policies, and that the evaluation tied to test scores is wrong. He needs to publicly change his position. San Diego has community based school reform that is making gradual steady progress. 

The final session was about moving from payroll deduction to Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). We need to have conversations with individual members during this process. In Australia after the loss of payroll deduction, they began to gain members. Other forms of payment include EFT, credit card, or cash. District will not be involved and will no longer know how many members we have.  PCI Compliance for credit card information is strict rules about security with paperwork, computer access, and internal processes and requires additional audits. Members only website for self-enroll in EFT or credit card payment, which is through Bank of America, is secure and BOA handles PCI. 2 weeks for EFT and 6-8 weeks foe credit card payments to work.

Update all member information (school, phone, address, email). We need to use home email accounts. Utah has been working with NEA on this conversion. Weekly conference calls to stay updated. NEA is still building the system.  Alabama had 60% of members flip the first time they were asked. AEA had 93% of all members flip by the date necessary. In Arizona, they polled members about issues that helped drive the message for the flip. Database was updated as part of the process.

Historically there is a 1-2% EFT failure rate where member has overdraft fee. Have to contact members about failures of transfers. Failed transactions cost UEA $2. Each transaction costs NEA $0.02-0.05 per transaction. In states already using EFT, the average fail rate was 1.93%, with the most recent month being 0.91%. The charges for credit card transactions are much higher. Per transaction cost is $0.09-0.35. The failure rate is 11%. Credit card is much more expensive.

The system is currently not set up for new members. We need to set up a complex and smart system because of all the variables involved (district, part-time/full-time).


The NCUEA conference has been a good experience. In addition to all the training sessions, I have been able to connect with other local presidents from Utah and around the nation. Knowing we are not alone in our fight to save public education renews my commitment to continue moving forward.

State Board of Education Meeting

I attended the State Board of Education Meeting today during the time they were discussing and voting on the proposed legislation about repealing the Orderly Termination Act, making teachers "at will" employees, and mandating performance pay.

They voted 9-3 to "support the concepts of moving human resources control to local school boards, changing the duration of a contract from perpetual to a time limit to be renewed (like every 3-5 years), and performance pay".  See Salt Lake Tribune article.

Kim Burningham (Bountiful) voted against stating that the legislation says local control, but then also says what the duration of contracts must be and that districts must implement performance pay.  He thought the bill was contradictory.

Larry Shumway, State Superintendent, said teachers would not be truly "at will" because they would have a contract for a specified length of time.  After that time, the district would not "renew" a teacher, but would "offer subsequent employment."

Carol Murphy (Midway) supported this because she believes the state will be forced into performance pay and wants them to be ahead of that.

Joel Coleman (West Valley) said it is harder to remove a teacher who is just not a good fit.

Laurel Brown (Murray), who voted against, said the data they have received is only anecdotal.  She wants empirical data on what needs to be changed.  She asked, "What is the problem we are trying to fix?" and "What are the positive outcomes?"  She also pointed out that this legislation would impact administrators and classified employees as well as teachers.

Ike Spencer (minority rep and principal at West Lake Junior High in Granite District) claims there is no way for him to get rid of teachers once they are no longer provisional.  Then he said it would take three years to fire a tenured teacher.

Leslie Castle (Salt Lake) claimed teachers fear being evaluated and feel entitled to their jobs.

Dixie Allen (Vernal, State Board Chairperson) said a "quality administrator can get rid of bad teachers."  She asked about the responsibility of administrators.  She asked Board members to consider where teachers are right now, what the legalities might be, taking away due process is wrong, and putting everything on the teacher is wrong.

Tami Pyfer (Logan) pointed out that the State Board can set provisions for consistency across the state and that the legislation allows for an opt out.

Martell Menlove, Deputy Superintendent, said this is not strictly "at will", just a limited length of employment expectation.  He said there would still need to be a process for firing a teacher including timelines and notifications.  There would not be a statewide performance pay, that that would be decided by each District.

Craig Coleman (Genola - South Jordan) supports giving authority to local boards, performance pay, and more professional development resources.

At this point, public comment was allowed.

Jim Johnson, Superintendents Association, said they need more details to form an opinion, but are concerned this is moving too fast, that all stakeholders need a chance to respond.

Kory Holdaway, UEA, speaking for Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh who is ill, said teachers are concerned that this was not a collaborative effort, that it suggests nothing about student improvement, and seems politically motivated.  Teachers are willing to support reforms when they are included.  Slow down and consider the current work being done on educator evaluation standards.  Kory then asked his own question. "Should it be easy to terminate teachers?"  He then stated that teachers are not afraid to be evaluated.

Jeff Leonard, Utah Support Employees Association, said this law is more harsh on classified employees, because they are not included in the five year contract, they are "at will". 

Pete, an Ogden parent, said this was a solution looking for a problem, that it will discourage new teachers, that in his experience "without cause" means "someone cheaper", that there is no data to support performance pay, that this will not improve schools, and it tells teachers they are the problem.

Derek Brown, House of Representatives District 49 (Salt Lake), said he applauded the Board for moving forward with local control since it is hard to terminate teachers.

Shirley, AFT, talked about her experience as a teacher and administrator.  She said poor teachers are still there because administrators don't do their jobs.  She said Utah educates more kids with less money and more of those kids go to college than other states, "Utah's teachers are glorious."

Tim Beagley (Charter School Board Member) said that charter schools would be exempt from this legislation.

Although the actual legislation may change, the concepts of leaving orderly termination to local  school boards, no expectation of perpetual employment ("at will"), and performance pay are on their way to the legislature with the support of the State Board of Education.

Day Seven at the Legislature - Educator Day on the Hill

We had a good turnout for Educator Day on the Hill with 10 teachers.  In total, there were 45 teachers from around the state lobbying on your behalf.  As a group we were able to talk with many legislators.

We started by talking to Representative Jim Bird, pictured with Robin Frodge of West Jordan High, and thanking him for being a great supporter of public education. 

Then Representative Merlynn Newbold, pictured talking to Melinda Mansouri of Bingham High, spent quite a bit of time talking to several teachers.  Melinda was well prepared to ask questions about specific bills.  We asked many questions about Rep. Newbold's HB 313 - Charter School Funding.  She does not see why we view the bill as bad for education.  Go to my prior post about this bill to learn more.

Several of the teachers from Jordan live in Draper and Sandy and are represented by Representative Greg Hughes, seen with Karen Brown (left) of Bluffdale and Vivian Gubler of Rosamond.  They asked him about HB 313 - Charter School Funding.  His children attend charter schools, and he became defensive as the teachers asked more questions.  He said, "You are demonizing parents and children who attend charter schools," then he walked away.  It was a surprising interaction.

Ginny Raiser, a literacy coach, talked to her representative, Ken Ivory.  He listened intently and asked her some questions.  He is willing to meet with her after the session and have more dialogue.  This is a positive step.

Another friendly legislator we were able to talk to is Representative Joel Briscoe, pictured with Linda White of Rosamond.  He is a UniServ Director for Davis Education Association, so he does all he can to influence his colleagues on the hill to understand education issues and support UEA.

Congressman Jim Matheson was in town and spoke to us for a few minutes mid-morning.  You can see Mallory Meyer of Sunset Ridge, Debbie Atwood of Falcon Ridge, and Karen Brown in the background.  A question was asked about AYP and NCLB and how there are a lot of other factors besides the teacher.  He gave an example of the same teacher having 18 students who all come from stable homes or having 34 students with issues at home and how the test results would be different despite the teacher being the same.  He understands the variables we face in the classroom.

He said there is a positive relationship between teachers and the communities where they teach, and that relationship needs to be used at the legislature.

He was asked about the issues in Wisconsin.  He said there are 140+ items in the huge bill their governor has proposed in addition to the collective bargaining that haven't even come to the attention of the public.

Rep. Matheson emphasized the importance of attending caucus meetings to become county and state delegates.  He believes the majority of people in Utah are centrist in their views, but they don't participate.  Usually the extremists on both sides are the ones involved in the process of caucuses, become delegates, and select the candidates to go on the ballot.

NCLB should have been reauthorized in 2007, but it hasn't been yet.  He said that there is still a lack of clarity with new members of Congress.  Until they get their feet on the ground, nothing happens.  The budget is taking a lot of time right now.

His final thoughts were on curriculum.  He doesn't think the legislature should be making currciulum.  Parents may see the idea that students learn civics and character education as good, but if presented with the idea that the legislature is legislating curriculum, they would not like that.

We then went to the Senate to see if anyone would come talk to us.  The Senators do not come out of the chamber as readily as House members.  Since four in our group live in Senator Howard Stephenson's area, they put all of their names on the request, and we were summoned into the Senate office.  Senator Stephenson was very cordial.  He would like data on students being asked to leave charter schools.  He admitted that some teachers in charter schools are not certified, a different story than what we heard from Rep. Newbold and Rep. Hughes.  He admitted that some have higher test scores and some do not. 

Sen. Stephenson made an interesting point.  He said that when there is scarcity (lottery to enter a charter school), people tend to think it is better, because it is scare.  He said that is not necessarily true.  He still supports HB313 - Charter School Funding, but he was civil.  He had to cut our conversation off to make an amendment on a bill coming to the Senate floor.  It was to make the Association Leave bill harsher. The bill would have allowed up to 10 days per person to take days of leave for Association business and be paid.  He amended the bill to 0 days, and it passed out of the Senate.

After lunch, we listened in on the House for a while, but no education related bills came up.

Legislature Today

HB 301 - School District Property Tax Revisions by Representative Merlynn Newbold passed out of the House on a 39-31 vote with 5 absent.  This bill appears to be a companion to HB 313 - Charter School Funding Amendments.  See Utah Gravy Train blog for how the two are connected and how harmful they will be to public schools if passed. 

Please visit UEA President Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh's blog to see what is happening from her perspective.  Also, Under the Dome gives an overview of many of the 110 education related bills that are being followed by UEA.  Stay informed and active.  We only have 5 days of the legislative session to go!

Charter School Funding Bills

Please see the blog at UtahGravyTrain on Parents for Choice bills being run by Representative Merlynn Newbold.  The blog looks at the long-term impact of the two bills, HB 301 and HB 313.  Please contact your legislators and encourage them to vote against both of these bills.