A modest proposal for reforming public education | Eastern North Carolina Now

    There's a lot of talk these days about teachers. More specifically, what kind of compensation should teachers receive and whether they should receive "tenure." And in other states the issue is tangled up with public-sector unions who are fighting for their lives after having fallen to a new low in private-sector union membership (6% at last report). More than half the union members in the country today are public-sector employees.

    The time has come, I think, for educators, particularly in North Carolina, to take a deep breath and step back from the hoopla that is going on in the news these days.

    As an educator with 38 years of experience, I can honestly say I have never felt my profession more under the gun than these days. And while it is, in my judgment, not the fault of educators, it is something nonetheless that educators will have to solve. If we don't, nobody else will, at least not in a way that is in the best interest of educators.

    Note that above I said nothing about the best interest of children or students. And that is the first thing that our profession must change. Pleading for respect and just treatment of educators should not be done on the backs of children. Educators are professionals and we should and must defend our profession as professionals, not because of the "product," if you will, that we work with. When we try to project "students" as the reason we should be treated better we get sidetracked in our focus. So forget what is best for students for a minute.

    Here's what I think is wrong today. Our schools are failing. The public knows this. The students know this. And most honest teachers know this. The fundamental problem in Wisconsin and other states in the news is not that much different from what we have in North Carolina. That is, the public that pays the bills does not believe it is getting its money's worth.

    And to my colleagues, the single most important thing we as professional educators can do is to assume responsibility for education and decide that we are not going to try to pass the blame somewhere else. It is our profession and we must reform it ourselves.

    Part of that malaise is simply an extension of a larger belief that government in general is not doing its job as it should be done. And that perception is what is going to have to be changed.

    Educators cannot reform government. But educators can reform education. To do that we must make education work and work the way it is supposed to work.

    The irony is that I believe that we are doing just that in most of our classrooms. The problem is not what happens in the classroom, it is the perception the public has of the Education Establishment. And in that the public is correct in perceiving the problem not to be with most teachers, but with The System. And teachers are just as much a victim of The System as are the students and parents.

    Let's take a few examples.

    First, and I believe this is the number one thorn in the public's side, tenure must be eliminated. It must be eliminated simply because the public does not believe that anybody should be protected if they are not getting the job done.

    I understand why we have tenure. I began my career when we did not have tenure in North Carolina and I know about the abuses teachers suffered at the hands of incompetent and corrupt administrators and particularly petty-minded school board members. In fact, I believe control over personnel is the top reason most school board members choose to serve on school boards. It gives them a sense of power they are not capable of generating elsewhere. But the answer is not to call in a troop of lawyers to protect teachers from unscrupulous school board members and administrators.

    Teachers should take the leadership in proposing the repeal of NCGS 115C-325 (the "tenure law".) They should propose that it be replaced with a simple measure that takes the same reasons now in the law that a career teacher may be dismissed and include those in the new law. But the change that should be made is to make school administrators and school board members personally liable for violating a teacher's rights to substantive and procedural due process. A panel of educators should be used to "try" any case of abuse of teacher rights and if that panel finds that an administrator or a school board member has acted or voted contrary to established due process then the violator should have to pay his/her legal bills as well as the teacher's legal bills and the panel should be able to award compensatory and punitive damages against the administrator or school board members personally. And liabiity insurance paid for by the taxpayers should be eliminated.

    That's basically what we do in any other arena. If someone inflicts injury or damages another, then the one inflicting the damage can be held accountable by having to cough-up their own money.

    Secondly, educators should reform the N. C. Association of Educators. The first step should be "de-unification." That is, any teacher should be free to join whatever education organization they wish and not be required to join any they do not wish to join. And that would include eliminating "dues checkoff" or automatic withholding. If a person wants to join the National Education Association they should be able to do so, but not required to do so as a condition for joining another organization and every organization teachers wish to join should be given equal treatment in having access to teachers. Teachers should insist on being free to associate with any organization they choose and The System should stay out of that association beyond insuring equal First Amendment rights.

    Thirdly, teachers should support Freedom of Choice. Parents should be able to select the school their child attends as long as there's space and the parent should be able to select the teacher their child has as long as there are vacant seats in the class. The choice should be made at the beginning of the year and it holds unless mutually agreed otherwise. But no student should have a "right" to any particular assignment. The school and the teacher should be able to decline to accept any student. And then teachers should be paid a bonus for all students beyond a prescribed number with a provision that below a minimum number their salary would be decreased.

    Now if that sounds like a radical idea, think about it. We already have it. At the high school level we have it with every elective course we teach. We have it in extra-curricular activities such as athletics. And we have it in our community colleges and university system.

    Here's the crux of the third proposal: Customer satisfaction rules the system. Teachers who carry a heavier load get paid more than those who can't attract enough students.

    The principals in the top half of local schools as measured by individual student gain scores should be able to select their own teachers and get rid of low-performing teachers as defined in the Fifth suggestion below. Principals in the bottom half of the schools should suffer a 10% reduction in salary for every year they remain in the lower half. Their personnel decisions should be subject to approval by the Superintendent.

    Fourthly, half (more or less) of the money appropriated for "administrative, clerical, instructional support" should be given to local schools in the form of an allotment that can be used to purchase those services from the central office. They would of course be required to purchase some services, such as payroll, accounting, transportation, maintenance, etc., but others would be at the option of a school-based committee to decide what kind of services they need, from whomever, based on an annual contract.

    Fifthly, school boards should be taken out of personnel functions except to contract with three positions: The superintendent, one deputy superintendent and an internal auditor. The deputy superintendent should be responsible for managing an accountability system under the direction of and accountable directly to the School Board. Everyone else should be held accountable to the Superintendent with a quasi-judicial review of termination, demotion, discipline or transfer decisions by members of the local board of education who, again, are held personally liable for their decisions.

    And finally, the N. C. Department of Public Instruction should be reduced to no more than 200 staff positions. I've got some ideas on how those positions should be used, but we need to get the local school systems on the right track first.

    Delma Blinson writes the "Teacher's Desk" column for our friend in the local publishing business: The Beaufort Observer. His concentration is in the area of his expertise - the education of our youth. He is a former teacher, principal, superintendent and university professor.
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