The local story that has grown out of the Bruce Randolph School's quest for autonomy from Denver's red tape and union work rules reached the op-ed pages of the New York Times yesterday. Andrew Rotherham, a center-left Democrat reformer who co-runs Education Sector and famously blogs as Eduwonk, writes in the column:While laws like No Child Left Behind take the rhetorical punches for being a straitjacket on schools, it is actually union contracts that have the greatest effect over what teachers can and cannot do. These contracts can cover everything from big-ticket items like pay and health care coverage to the amount of time that teachers can spend on various activities. Reformers have long argued that this is an impediment to effective … [Read more...]
Teachers Union Getting Ready to Ask Permission to Run Its Own School
Following the Bruce Randolph and Manual HS episode in Denver, the teachers union now says it has a proposal coming to run its own school:Denver's teachers union plans to submit a proposal this spring to create its own school, hoping to launch a teacher-led demonstration site for how to improve student achievement. "Teachers are supportive of reform," Kim Ursetta, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, said Tuesday. "We have ideas how to improve student achievement and we want an opportunity to put our ideas forward." More power to them. Given an ideal public education system guided by parental/consumer choice where the money followed the child based on need and local schools had autonomy over employment, curriculum, … [Read more...]