Why It's So Easy For School Unions To Hold The Public Up
No competition. Andrew J. Coulson puts the striking Chicago teachers in perspective at Cato. Nobody's surprised that they're striking just as kids are supposed to be starting school:
Wouldn't you be a lot more shocked if you logged on to Amazon.com and were greeted by the message that its site was down due to an employee walkout? Or if you took the kids to the movies to see the latest cartoon extravaganza and found picketing ticket-takers? What is it about public schools--and other government enterprises, for that matter--that have made their unions so much more dominant than those in the private sector? [Two thirds of the public school workforce is unionized compared to about 7 percent in the private sector].Competitors. Or, rather, the lack of them. Private sector workers can only demand so much from their companies before the demands become self-defeating. Get a pension package that's too cushy, a salary that's too far above the market rate, and the employer will have to pass those costs on to customers. And if those higher prices aren't accompanied by correspondingly better quality, customers will simply go elsewhere--hurting the employees who asked for more than the market would bear.
And there's the problem with public schooling: there's no "elsewhere." If you don't like the way your local school district is run, there isn't a competing school district vying to provide your kids with a better education at a lower cost. You've got no place else to go, and unions know this. So they can ask for more employees to be hired, better pensions or health benefits, and they can demand that their compensation not depend on their performance. And there's very little that parents and taxpayers can do about it.
This is why unions are the single greatest enemy of school choice and charter schools. Competition kills their bargaining power -- which is a polite way to say it'll be hard for them to hold the public hostage if there are other options.
Here's a pipe dream: Parents in Chicago set up their own "underground" schools and hire some teachers. How long would it take for the unionized teachers to return to work?
Old RPM Daddy at September 12, 2012 5:33 AM
Check on line. There are some alternative schools available as well as home school sites. Go to Instapundit for more info.
BarSinister at September 12, 2012 6:30 AM
The funny thing is, Chicago's public schools do have competition. I will have to go find where I saw it, but about 40% of the public schools there have been converted to charter schools, which have non-union teachers and are not on strike. Most of them have waiting lists to get in, which will no doubt get much longer now.
Cousin Dave at September 12, 2012 7:13 AM
It is the lack of options -- either competition or to not buy at all. That is the problem with most government associated unions. In the case of the schools, the taxes can simply be raised. Individual citizens cannot say that it is too much I am not going to pay it. They have to move. And guess what, where they move it to is likely to have similar issues.
I haven't found any confirmation of this (haven't looked too hard either). But I heard that on average the teachers there make twice as much as other employed people in the district. And that teachers' average salary was around 70k and they are asking for over 100k. I hope that is just propaganda...
The Former Banker at September 12, 2012 8:20 AM
a little bit off on my numbers per this http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/12/chicago-teachers-make-more-than-the-national-average/
median teacher salary $71K, median household income for the area $47K, Median salary for area $27K
The Former Banker at September 12, 2012 8:40 AM
Our charter school has no contracts or union teachers. You perform or you're gone (and a few have been fired for just that reason). Our teachers are FANTASTIC. There is a strong, strong correlation between these 2 facts.
They are also paid well. The are paid well because parents at our school work voluntarily the arrival and dismissal and cafeteria duties, among other things. The less you pay for non-skilled things, the more you can pay for skills. Our middle school math teacher consistently wins best teacher awards nationwide. He's all over Utube with his math raps. He's great. He's also not told HOW to teach at our school.
momof4 at September 12, 2012 11:16 AM
We also have waiting lists of up to 200 students per grade. And we're in a GOOD school district.
momof4 at September 12, 2012 11:18 AM
I also heard that about half the teachers with children send them to private or parochial schools.
But what ticks me off is when a teacher makes more than many private sector IT types.
Jim P. at September 12, 2012 2:13 PM
The teachers union demanded a 30% raise, but was willing to settle for a 19% raise. The district offered 16% (doubling its earlier offer).
Wait. The city offered 8% when the true national unemployment rate is north of 14%? Go down to the unemployment office and get new teachers! Strike over.
The teachers union is also striking against proposed performance evaluations that include measuring the student's performance on standardized tests. The teachers union wants the teacher evaluations to include mitigating factors in the student's life, such as violence, poverty, and homelessness.
I want a job with a higher-than-median salary, tenure, a watered-down performance evaluation, and a guaranteed 16% raise despite a lingering 14-15% actual unemployment rate.
This is what you get when the taxpayers are represented by people who are depending on the union for campaign funds.
That's like paying the fire department on a per-fire basis and then wondering why there are so many fires.
Conan the Grammarian at September 12, 2012 5:01 PM
I'd like to see the Department of Education dissolved. The responsibility for education is, at best, a state responsibility.
Your state, or local county, or even local metropolis, should be setting the standards that your child needs to achieve to be considered a graduate.
If the state requires that your child go to school, then it can either pay for it or allow tax credits for it. In a free market system you could have your kids attend a public school, a private school with tax credits, or home school.
But any system that has a government encroaching on the choice is not free market. It is a government loaded system.
Jim P. at September 12, 2012 7:53 PM
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