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AAE Featured on Examiner.com
posted by: Alix | August 22, 2012, 05:46 PM   


Peter Cohee discusses AAE as an alternative to teacher unions on Examiner.com:

Alternatives to teacher unions?



Reaction to teachers unions is coming not only from their usual opponents but increasingly from teachers themselves.

Teachers unions have suffered damage lately. The National Education Association, the nation's largest, has lost nearly 180,000 active members in the last three years. In Wisconsin the enactment of Gov. Scott Walker's Act 10, limiting the collective bargaining power of public-sector unions, and the failure to recall him, reveal greatly weakened union power. A new film, Won't Back Down, scheduled for release next month, reportedly represents teachers unions as protecting the jobs of ineffective teachers and seniority rules, even at the expense of childrens' educational quality. In his latest book, Special Interest, Terry Moe, expert on teacher labor relations and school reform, suggests that, while parents and the taxpaying public have tended to distinguish teachers positively as individuals apart from their unions, outrage over perceived union stonewalling and excessive political power might negatively affect that view.

Criticism of teachers unions is directed at their protection of bad teachers by contractual seniority rules, single-party political alignment and support of non-educational activism, and the increasing public burden of teacher pension and benefit plans. It has come primarily from frustrated politicians and fed-up parents and taxpayers. But a growing group of teachers themselves have been organizing in a different way.

Dissatisfied with forced union dues, increasingly progressive political activity and influence, and a factory-union militancy that, in their view, has damaged the public image of teachers, a number of non-union professional associations emerged as early as the 1970s. Most of these are state-based. The Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE), Professional Educators of Tennessee (PET), and the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana (A+PEL) are some examples. While they each differ in their several ways, they have in common the provision of liability insurance, access to legal representation in case of wrongful termination or demotion, low dues, professional development opportunities, and group member insurance and other benefits. These associations are finding increasing support among teachers at non-unionized charter schools.

The largest of these is probably The Association of American Educators (AAE). As the other associations, the AAE is concerned chiefly with the high quality of teaching practice: they do not engage in collective bargaining, do not support teacher strikes, and do not involve themselves with social or political issues outside of academics. Heather Reams, associate director of AAE, believes that her organization might be having some push effect on teacher union policy, but more in so-called "right to work" states than in "union shop" states. AAE membership is growing, with members in all fifty states and state affiliates in Florida, Indiana, New Jersey, Utah, Georgia, and Wisconsin. The latter is of special interest because of the recent actions there regarding Gov. Walker and Act 10 and consequent union resignations.

As public and political frustration with perceived union obstruction of educational improvement gathers momentum, more union teachers might feel increasingly uncomfortable with their own unions and seek out these professional educators associations instead. It will be interesting to see if this will be so, as political pressures mount, as public dissatisfaction increases, and as charter schools proliferate.



 

 

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