Is the candidate willing to reform collective bargaining?
In Michigan, unionized teachers’ employment details must be negotiated by teachers unions. Unions such as the MEA have developed sophisticated collective bargaining methods for more than 30 years. Using significant resources taken involuntarily from teachers’ paychecks, the union uses deceptive, high-pressure tactics on school board members for considering decisions that are in the interest of advancing educational quality. Issues affected by union bargaining include raising costs so that fewer funds are available for the classroom, restricting administrators’ ability to lead high-performing schools and rewarding effective and ineffective teachers alike. FURTHER READING: “Reform Collective Bargaining,” in “Six Habits of Fiscally Responsible School Districts”; “Union Contract Prevents Budget and Classroom Reforms.” 3. Does the candidate want to extend to the district the benefits of competition in Michigan’s limited education market? Competition has been shown to improve educational qua
