Teachers at three Cleveland charter schools signed a contract to create a union and join the AFT. This must be a shock to charter organizers, because one of the goals of the charter industry is to get rid of teachers’ unions. The Walton Family Foundation has underwritten the start-up costs of one out of every four charter schools in the nation, and the Waltons (Walmart) are known for their hatred of unions. More than 90% of charters nationwide are non-union. As the AFT press release points out, there are now 228 charter schools that have unionized. That is about 4% of the nation’s charter schools. While it is great to see that teachers in 228 charters have organized to defend their rights, let’s hope that their presence does not cajole the unions into embracing the charter industry.
Contract Creates Labor-Management Committee, Guarantees Planning Time, Rewards Experienced Teachers
WASHINGTON—Teachers and support staff at three I Can-managed charter schools in Cleveland have overwhelmingly ratified an historic contract, making them the first organized charter schools with a collectively bargained contract in Cleveland. The educators are members of the Cleveland Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff (Cleveland ACTS), an affiliate of the Ohio Federation of Teachers.
The contract covers three high-performing charters that educate more than 900 students in the Cleveland metropolitan area. The new contract creates a labor-management committee to increase teacher input, guarantees planning time, and rewards experienced teachers who make a commitment to the school and advance their own education. This contract makes strides toward meeting teachers’ and the community’s goals of reducing teacher turnover and providing a voice for professional educators. The contract also contains a commitment from I Can to allow for other I Can schools in Cleveland to join Cleveland ACTS, if the educators so choose, without intimidation or harassment.
Abi Haren, a second-grade assistant teacher at University of Cleveland Preparatory School, said, “Yesterday, we ratified a strong contract that gives my co-workers and me a voice in making I Can Schools better for our students and for educators. This agreement will allow me the freedom and autonomy to speak up for the needs of my students without fearing for my job security. We look forward to building a partnership with the I Can administration to strengthen our schools.
“This has been a long road to win a real voice in our school, and it would not have happened without the support of Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke and our fellow educators in the CTU. Their support, along with I Can families’ and community members’, sent a clear message that we are professional educators who deserve respect for our commitment to Cleveland students.”
Sean Belveal, a middle school social studies teacher, said, “This contract shows the voices of teachers and students have been heard. Our contract will help to reduce turnover and increase stability for our students. I am very excited to see this new partnership between students, teachers and administration come together as we work to close the achievement gap in Cleveland.”
Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper, who is an AFT vice president, said “I Can teachers and staff stood together for the last three years to speak up for greater classroom stability, respect and a true partnership with their school’s administration. This contract is a step in the right direction to achieve those goals. The Ohio Federation of Teachers welcomes the new members of the Cleveland Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff to our union. We are a stronger union with the voices of teachers and staff at charter schools.”
CTU President David Quolke, who also is an AFT vice president, said, “On behalf of the 4,500 members of the CTU, we congratulate I Can teachers and staff on winning a strong contract that recognizes their professionalism and commitment to their students. Whether you work for the district or in a charter school, those closest to the education process must have a voice in education policy and practice. We look forward to working with Cleveland ACTS members to raise the voices of educators, students and their families in Cleveland.”
“As a union, we’ve focused on reclaiming the promise of public education,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “This contract helps do just that by allowing these educators not simply to advocate for the schools their students deserve, but to negotiate the tools and conditions needed to help get there. This contract is historic for the state of Ohio, and these teachers deserve a round of congratulations for wanting the voice to help their students succeed. What we’ve seen at I Can and across the country is teachers forming unions and negotiating contracts to have a real voice in the education of their students.”
Educators at 228 charter schools across 15 states are represented by the AFT. This agreement offers hope for teachers and staff at charter schools who are committed to improving their schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This IS big news. A few minutes ago I called the Walton Family Foundation to get their take on it and the very nice young woman who answered the phone said that she’d take a message and have someone get back to me. I’ll let you know, if or when they do, and let you know what they had to say. I hope they’re freaking out and sweating bullets.
However, I agree with you, Diane, that I hope the AFT and NEA DO NOT start pretending that there aren’t major differences between charters and real public schools.
Hey, maybe in a bizarre turn of events, the WFF could start defunding charters in fear of the possibility that they could “go union:” that would be terrific. We’ll see what happens. Thanks for the “heads up” on this.
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Puget
Let us know if anyone from Walton calls you
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Perhaps if more charter employees join the AFT as is their legal right to do, it may sort out the privateers that are in it to bust the union. “Reform’ could lose some of the big anti-union members that may have diminished interest if they see charter school teachers joining what they hope to crush.
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Or, they’d simply fail to approve the expansion of unionized charters and deny them philanthropic funding.
This isn’t, actually, a real “market”. They’re picking and choosing which schools to open and close and which schools to subsidize with donor funding. There’s absolutely nothing stopping them from disfavoring expansion and funding of unionized charters.
We have no idea how the process works. It’s completely opaque. I have no way of sifting thru the charters who apply for federal and state funding and determining how they were chosen over other charter school applicants. If they wanted to stop charters from unionizing they could just quietly stop funding the chains who have organized employees.
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Any employer who was willing to accept a Union with out a fight would already have one . This was a three year fight . Why not 30 days.
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Maybe, but charter operators often fight this with everything they have. When University Yes Prep voted to go union in Detroit, the charter operator threatened all kinds of legal action. (Yes Prep claims to be a college student generating machine which would be true if their attrition rates weren’t sky-high.)
Yes Prep went so far as to claim that TFA members weren’t even classified as teachers and didn’t have the right to vote on the union issue. TFA teachers spearheaded the unionization vote. So they are teachers when they’re in front of kids but not at any other time? Sounds like their public claims. Public when they receive taxpayer money. Private when they spend it.
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The AFT supports charters. It donated money to Teacher Village in Newark,
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Does the AFT publicly, in a national forum, demand that schools have elected boards, exercising democratic control? If the AFT is not a driving force in citizen participation, they are part of the problem that Laura Chapman identified in her Ravitch post, “Beware the Reform Networks.”
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“. . . let’s hope that their presence does not cajole the unions into embracing the charter industry.”
You can bet that if the top dogs of the unions see personal benefit in “embracing the charter industry” they will do so.
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It’ll be interesting. I think you would see a huge drop in support from wealthy individuals and the feds if charters start to unionize though.
They’re really hostile to labor unions. The hostility to labor unions started well before ed reform hit the scene and it may well trump ed reform itself.
If they think the Walton heirs are funding any entity that has anything to do with a union they’re very naive.
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Since they are not public schools, all they have to do is to pack it up and say goodbye, no questions nor answers needed as to why they are folding up.
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See, I think I’m on the other side on this one. I’d love to see charters get unionized. It would sort out who is really “for the kids.” The teachers who want longevity or the operator who wants the profit. I believe that the main plank of charter advocates is simply destruction of the union and an end to teacher voice.
But, Dwayne is right. If the charter wants to, it can pack up and disappear. The Yes Prep example I provided above used that as a threat when unionization came to the table.
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Unions may give teachers a voice. But a unionized charter school is still not a public school.
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Why do Weingarten and Mulgrew sit on New Visions Charter Board?
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It is interesting how rhetoric works for leaders when they want to explain their wrong decisions –““As a union, we’ve focused on reclaiming the promise of public education,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “This contract helps do just that by allowing these educators not simply to advocate for the schools their students deserve, but to negotiate the tools and conditions needed to help get there.” Reclaiming the promise of public education is a noble and strong statement that is certainly not accomplished by organizing these teachers. If the AFT leadership wanted that, all they needed to do was to advocate for the public school teachers from which the promise of public education has been taken away.
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I view this as good news.
And, it’s nice to get a little bit of good news these days.
Some people must have worked damn hard at those Cleveland schools to organize. Hats off to you.
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Just wondering if unionization of Charter Schools is being considered in Columbus OH. Thanks
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REP, ask your union president.
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Where does the AFT stand on the important question of citizen participation through democratically elected school boards? Where does the AFT stand on ownership of assets bought by taxpayers, for the purpose of education? The primary argument, for majority popular support for public education, rests on those two points.
Worker collectives are the essential ingredient to a functioning democracy. We have watched the US become an oligarchy, while we’ve watched union membership decline.
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It’s all about the money for the leadership of NEA and AFT. In L.A., United Teachers Los Angeles actively helped fire 5,000 senior teachers and have spent untold millions to “organize” Alliance Charter School scabs without the approval of the membership. The difference between the two groups is plain to see, the scabs are younger, naive and will pay the same dues as older teachers. UTLA is now a company union that does the bosses bidding so that the leadership can prosper.
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