LETTERS: BARGAINING BAD FOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS

To the editor:

Supporters of collective bargaining for teachers and other public employees are making their biggest push in years for this ill-conceived legislation in the Missouri General Assembly. Gov. Mel Carnahan urged lawmakers to send him a collective-bargaining bill this year in his State of the State address. House Speaker Steve Gaw is even on board with the idea.

While Governor Carnahan and Speaker Gaw have been very strong supporters of public education over the years, they are wrong on this issue. Collective bargaining would be very harmful to our schools and would do nothing to improve student achievement in our state.

First, collective bargaining would set up an adversarial relationship between boards of education and superintendents on one side and teachers on the other. In states with collective bargaining, the educational climate has been poisoned. Conflict and controversy are the norm. Collaboration is a thing of the past. Under collective bargaining, educators and school boards would begin shooting at one another rather than focusing on the goal of improving student achievement. This hostile environment is not good four our schools and would undermine public confidence in public education.

The Tennessee School Boards Association just completed a study of that state's collective-bargaining law. That report concludes, "For 20 years, collective bargaining has contributed to the erosion of public support and confidence in the schools. Additionally, it has resulted in the deterioration of relationships among teachers, administrators and board members. Certainly it has generated hard feelings through its adversarial approach. And, rather than resolving conflicts and solving problems, it has actually generated conflicts and problems."

Another inescapable result of collective bargaining in other states had been teacher strikes. Provisions in collective-bargaining laws prohibiting strikes do not keep strikes from happening. A comprehensive study of all public sector strikes between 1958 and 1980 by the Public Service Research Foundation shows that passage of compulsory collective-bargaining laws correlates to a fourfold increase in the number of strikes against government. Teachers have lost a substantial amount of credibility and authority in communities where strikes have occurred, not to mention the harm done to students when their education is disrupted. The incongruity of illegal strikes by school employees and establishing high expectations for ethical behavior for students is particularly troublesome.

I believe nearly all school board members and administrators in Missouri think teachers continue to be underpaid. We must find a way to compensate our teachers better if we are to attract and retain the best professionals to our classrooms. However, the supporters of collective bargaining who believe it is the best way to improve salaries are dead wrong. The Tennessee study shows that teacher salaries in districts in which collective bargaining was authorized actually lagged behind districts in which it was not used.

In Missouri, we have limited resources to spend for public education. We are dependent on state funding, local taxes and a smaller amount of federal funding to operate our schools. If we are to have more money to provide for higher salaries and other needs, we must have an increase in revenue from these sources. No amount of confrontation and negotiation would change that.

Public education is one of the great strengths of our state and our nation. Missouri's students consistently perform better than the national average on SATs, ACTs and other tests that are given on a national basis. Furthermore, we are improving at a faster rate than most other states. Collective bargaining would be a significant step backward for our schools and would make it more difficult to continue our progress. Collective bargaining would do nothing to benefit students. So let's abandon this harmful idea and instead focus on ideas that will improve our schools.

DR. CARTER D. WARD, Executive Director

Missouri School Boards Association

Jefferson City