Claudia Peschiutta
GLENDALE - The Glendale Teachers Assn. has for years been trying to
get the school district to allow them to charge dues to nonmembers.
They're argument just got a lot more convincing.
In negotiating a new contract with the Glendale Unified School
District, the association has said it will consider approving a
state-funded teacher development program only if its members -- about 80%
of Glendale Unified instructors -- are allowed to decide whether all
teachers should pay dues. The Peer Assistance and Review program, which
must be established by each district in conjunction with its teachers
association, could affect about $1 million a year in funding for Glendale
Unified.
"This is our biggest issue," said association President Ken Neimeyer.
"It's the biggest bargaining chip we've got."
But district officials have long opposed forced dues for teachers.
"Our employees ought not to be required to join a union as a condition
of employment," said Glendale schools Superintendent James Brown.
Glendale Board of Education member Pam Ellis agreed.
"We've always stood firm that if you've showed your utility as an
organization, then people would join you but they should have a choice,"
she said.
The Peer Assistance and Review Program was one of four school reform
bills passed by Governor Gray Davis in April.
Tom Rose, a consultant for the California Department of Education,
said districts will get $2,800 for each teacher in the program -- in
which veteran teachers who receive an unsatisfactory rating will be
mentored by peers who are considered to be exemplary.
The bill that established Peer Assistance and Review abolished another
mentoring program that provided districts with $5,600 per teacher in the
program. That money will now go to the peer assistance program, Rose
said.
Those districts that do not establish the program by July 1, 2001,
will also lose out on funding for three teacher development days, he
said.
Brown estimated that without the peer assistance program, the district
could lose out on nearly $1.1 million a year.
"Both parties ought to be saying this program is a good thing for
public education," he said. But he added that its approval should not
depend on whether 369 teachers who are not members of the association pay
$620 a year in dues.
"Why would they put a jeopardy over $1 million when that money goes to
teacher development," Brown asked.
Neimeyer said the association is simply "asking the district for the
right to have a democratic vote to see if our members want the agency
fee."
The association represents all district teachers, including those who
do not pay dues, he said.
Ellis said the association is linking the peer assistance program to
agency fee, or dues, "because they know it's the carrot."
Despite their differing views on the issue, both district and
association officials say the contract negotiations, which include more
than 20 other items, are going smoothly but could not foresee when they
might be concluded.
