Layoffs the direct result of irresponsible teacher contracts, and the school boards that ratify them
Gov. Tom Corbett was exactly right when he blamed the state’s teacher layoff problem on local school boards and the irresponsible way they’ve been spending tax dollars.
What the governor left unsaid was the role teacher unions have played in creating this debacle.
Pennsylvania’s teachers unions have a reputation as being among the most selfish, unreasonable and aggressive labor groups in the country. They push for higher salaries and expensive benefits in collective bargaining agreements regardless of a district’s financial health, and too many school boards cave in and rubber-stamp their proposals.
As a result of these agreements districts are forced to pay for things they can’t afford, such as annual, automatic “step” raises, attendance incentives, generous health insurance and pension plans, to name just a few common perks.
A database containing the collective bargaining agreements of many Pennsylvania school districts can be found at PublicSchoolSpending.com.
The end result of collective bargaining is that 75 to 80 percent of a typical school budget is eaten up by labor costs. Districts are bullied into these expenses, which go unnoticed during good economic times.
But during recessions, districts lay off teachers, increase class sizes and eliminate academic programs just to meet their financial commitments to the school employee unions. Students and young teachers who are on the wrong side of seniority are the ones who wind up getting hurt.
So Corbett is correct when he says lawmakers aren’t laying off teachers. Unwise school boards and greedy unions deserve the blame.
Experience suggests that teachers unions won’t willingly open up their contracts and give back any goodies. If Pennsylvania taxpayers are serious about saving their schools from mass teacher layoffs and the gutting of academic programs, they will need to limit the teachers’ collective bargaining privileges, as has been done in Wisconsin, Indiana, Florida, Utah and Tennessee.
By putting limits on collective bargaining, many school districts in Wisconsin, for example, are turning persistent budget deficits into budget surpluses.
The responsibility for these teacher layoffs belongs squarely on the shoulders of Pennsylvania’s teachers unions and the school board members who allow themselves to be bullied by the unions.
It’s time Pennsylvania taxpayers wake up and realize that the state’s schools don’t have a revenue problem – they have a union problem and a spending problem.
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