Oops! Forgot about the Extravagant Pensions....nevermind.
Public sector employees should not be afforded Collective Bargaining in a Monopoly business that is maintained by the Government, by harshly limiting competition.
Thats EXACTLY what the Republican Governor, Scott Walker, and the Republican-controlled State Senate did in the state of Wisconsin under Act 10 in 2011. You can imagine the reaction from the Wisconsin Education Association (WEA) and Trade Unions state-wide. The 17 Democrat Senators (including MY representative) fled the state boarders to prevent a vote, thinking the Senate no longer had a quorum (enough legislators to hold government business), but it was passed anyway, withstood State Supreme court lawsuits, and the state recall election of the governor (the ONLY state governor to win a recall in the history of the USA).
Its passage did some BIG things in Wisconsin education:
1) Teachers where no long forced to join the WEA and pay association dues (the right-to-work in currently on hold state-wide by declaring it unconstitutional in Wisconsin by a liberal district judge in Madison)
2) Local teacher associations must re-certify each year, meaning the rank-and-file members MUST hold an election about keeping the Association active and representative of the members. If there are not enough votes, the association is disbanded, and no association dues are collected.
3) School boards (and the tax-payer whom they represent) now control teacher fringe benefits, class sizes, and length of the school day. These are no long negotiable items for teachers. The only thing they can negotiate is pay scales and length of time (contract length).
4) There is no longer binding arbitration, which means if the school board and the local teachers association could not agree on pay scale, it went to a third-party (independent) arbitrator, who decision was final (binding) for BOTH parties. If the teachers wanted a 3%/per year raise, but the school board wants 1%, and they could not reach an agreement, the arbitrator decided, usually in the middle. So 2% MAY have been the decision, but it is 1% more than the school board and property tax payers were willing to pay. Now, teachers can ONLY negotiate their pay scale with local school boards and if it cannot be agreed on, an arbitrator can decide, BUT the decision in not binding.
5) The school board can determine pay based on performance, not on tenure (length of time served as an teacher). This issue is VERY controversial, as what determines "performance" (usually student state test score results) . Also, discipline and dismissals for lack of performance are now determined by school boards, not contract language.
6) Teachers are now forced to pay a certain percentage set by the school board for their insurance and retirement . Before it was almost 100% by the school district (almost free to the teachers) and insurance came through the WEA, not free-market providers.
7) School districts cannot raise property taxes more than 3% per year which is how school districts are funded locally in Wisconsin, so it limits competition between districts of haves and have-nots. This can be over-ridden by local referendums, but is limited to 5%.
As you can see, it has a HUGE economic impact on teachers and the "quality" of education. What it really did is put the power of economic education decisions back in the hands of school boards and the local property taxpayers and severely limited the power of the WEA that had hamstrung the taxpaying public for so long, which is why the legislation was passed during the Great Recession. Teachers needed to be brought back into the economic realities of the day, just like other private-sector business workers have come to know. Another BIG effect is that WEA-funded lobbying on state legislation has been reduced by almost 2/3!!
Good teachers have left, seeking better pay and conditions in the private sector. Many older teachers took advantage of early retirement built into contracts negotiated before the law took effect after its passage. However, teachers are now free to move between school districts which offer better fringe benefits or pay scales.
We will NOT get into the voucher program (also know a Parent Choice in Wisconsin) for private and parochial schools (which I believe is hypocritical for church groups that have parochial schools that accept this money and advocate "Separation of church and state", yet still want religious liberty or freedom.)
