Teacher Bargaining Research Articles

Public Schools and Their Pensions: How Is Pension Spending Affecting U.S. School Districts?

Abstract State and local government decisions about how school funding is raised and allocated have profound impacts on American public education; in recent years, experts have documented large increases in one type of spending in particular: public pensions. Because most data on school district pension expenditures are at the state level, it has so far been difficult to assess what changes local school districts have made in response. In this paper, I analyze a new dataset of the annual pension expenditures of approximately 200 unified school districts across the United States from 2005 to 2016. Consistent with findings in the literature, I find that pension expenditures rose in real terms in most of them, but also that there has been significant variation in that growth. Moreover, in a descriptive analysis, I find that larger within-district pension expenditure growth is associated with (1) greater revenue growth in the subsequent year and (2) reductions in school district employment, mainly through reductions in the number of non-teaching staff. Finally, there is evidence that districts’ responses to rising pension expenditures may depend on state political institutions, in particular whether the states have mandatory collective bargaining for teachers.

The Social Psychology Behind Teacher Walkouts

Why are we seeing so many teacher walkouts when traditional collective bargaining for teachers has weakened considerably in recent decades? A key part of the answer involves the social psychology through which teachers develop their professional culture, and how the evolution of accountability has been toxic to that culture.

Teachers’ Union Power in a Budget Crunch: Lasting Ramifications of Differential Spending Responses to the Great Recession

In the wake of the 2007 housing crash and subsequent economic recession, state legislatures across the country faced substantial declines in revenues, and by 2011, for the first time in more than a decade, average spending on education declined. However, states’ budgetary responses to the Great Recession were decidedly uneven, with some making lasting cuts to public education. This article uses longitudinal data on state-level educational spending, politics, demographics, economic well-being, and a unique set of union strength indicators to assess the strength of teachers’ unions as advocates for education spending by examining their role in states’ varied budgetary responses to the Great Recession. We find that states with laws prohibiting collective bargaining for teachers and states with lower union dues per teacher made substantially larger cuts to overall educational expenditures, even after controlling for time-invariant state characteristics, secular trends, and an extensive set of time-variant state-level covariates.

Compensation Practices of School Districts When Collective Bargaining Disappears

ABSTRACTTwenty-five Wisconsin school districts were located that had undertaken compensation reforms after state law drastically curtailed collective bargaining for teachers. Document reviews and interviews determined (a) the impetuses for pursuing compensation reform, (b) change process characteristics, and (c) the specific compensation reforms. Districts typically made multiple compensation changes, based on flexibility, financial, and talent needs. The change process typically involved a compensation change team to guide reform structure and implementation, and then district-wide implementation over a two to three year period. Examples of district change processes and reforms, along with indications of study limitations and implications for research, policy, and practice, are provided.

Same Contract, Different Day? An Analysis of Teacher Bargaining Agreements in Louisville since 1979

Background/Context Recent political efforts to minimize the influence of teacher unions have called new attention to collective bargaining in American education. Such attention has only heightened a longstanding controversy within the realms of both research and practice. A renewed scholarly literature has systematically considered the relationship between teacher unionization and educational outcomes. The current paper provides additional context for such work by considering teacher contracts over time. Purpose/Objective/Research Question In this study we examine the ways in which the collective bargaining agreements in a large, Midwestern American school district have changed during more than 30 years of policymaking. Research Design The paper presents an historical content analysis/case study of every contract in Louisville, Kentucky since 1979. We focus on several areas of current interest to researchers studying teacher quality. These include salary schedules, transfer and assignment policies, teacher evaluation, dismissal, and working conditions. To fix our analysis within a theoretical framework, we consider an interpretation of our evidence suggested by the perspective of New Institutionalism. Conclusions/Recommendations We show that these contracts have changed very little in more than three decades, and most key provisions are identical. The time period we examine covers important educational reforms at the state and federal levels, as well as a number of popular movements such as efforts to reduce class size and enhance teacher quality through new evaluation schemes and tenure reform. If confirmed in other districts, our evidence would suggest limited potential for policy change to be reflected in individual bargaining agreements.

Monopsony and teachers’ salaries in Georgia

Does monopsony power in the labor market for teachers affect teachers’ salaries? Prior studies have found mixed evidence of monopsony effects in teacher labor markets. A major problem has been controlling for union wage effects, which potentially mask the wage-depressing effects of monopsony. We use data from the state of Georgia, one of the few states in the United States where no teacher bargaining takes place. We detect no evidence of lower average teacher salaries in less competitive labor markets. We also find limited evidence that salaries of beginning teachers may be about two percent lower in less competitive labor markets, but our findings are not robust with respect to our various measures of monopsony and labor market boundaries. We conclude that even in the absence of unions the effect of monopsony on teachers’ salaries appears to be very small.

Ineffectiveness in Teacher Bargaining: The Anatomy of a First Strike

The objective of this paper is to identify characteristics which distinguish first strike situations from other strike actions. It is based on both collective bargaining and conflict resolution literature as well as the detailed analysis of a recent walkout by a public school teachers' union.

The Assault on School Teacher Bargaining in Ontario

Between 1975 and 1997, school teacher bargaining was conducted under the School Boards and Teachers Collective Negotiations Act (Bill 100). By most accounts, the teacher bargaining law was successful in promoting bilateral settlements with minimal strike activity. Following its election in 1995, the Harris government reduced public expenditures and introduced educational reforms. In doing so, it repealed Bill 100 and passed laws restricting teacher bargaining. These measures ranged from imposing restrictions on the scope of negotiable issues to attempts to make “voluntary” extracurricular activities mandatory. This study finds that the government’s blunt and heavy-handed efforts to control collective bargaining processes and outcomes, not only proved futile, but led to an increase in work stoppages and protracted guerilla warfare at the school board level.

Dispute resolution mechanisms and teacher bargaining outcomes

This study investigates the impact of dispute resolution mechanisms on the wages and hours of public school teachers. The 43-state analysis presents evidence that (1) a permissible right to strike increases teacher wages by 11.5 percent and reduces class hours by 37 minutes per day; (2) a de facto right to strike increases salaries by 5.7 percent and reduces class hours by 44 minutes per day; (3) arbitration availability is associated with a wage effect of 3.6 percent and 70 fewer class minutes per day; and (4) factfinding and voluntary arbitration have no significant influences on outcomes. A direct comparison of the right to strike and the right to arbitrate indicates that a legal right to strike affords teachers greater power to increase the dollar value of their work.

Estimation of a simultaneous equations model with an ordinal endogenous variable: The extent of teacher bargaining and the state legal environment

This paper presents a simple two-step estimator for a simultaneous equations model that contains an ordinal endogenous variable. The estimation rules are extensions of the Heckman (1978) estimators, also considered by Amemiya (1978). Asymptotic covariance matrices of the estimators also are derived. The estimator is applied to an economic model in which the statewide extent of teacher bargaining and teacherbargaining legislation are determined jointly.

Teacher Bargaining in Indiana: The Courts and the Board on the Road Less Traveled

Teacher Bargaining in Indiana: The Courts and the Board on the Road Less Traveled

TEACHER BARGAINING IN MINNESOTA: RETROSPECT ON THE 1980s AND PROSPECTS OF FEWER BARGAINING UNITS

TEACHER BARGAINING IN MINNESOTA: RETROSPECT ON THE 1980s AND PROSPECTS OF FEWER BARGAINING UNITS

Teacher Unions and Black Students' Scores on College Entrance Exams

Using data from the National Assessment of Economic Education survey, this paper examines the influence of teachers' unions and students' race on college entrance examination scores. An “education production function” is estimated for a sample of white and black high school seniors. The model accounts for variations in school distrits and student inputs and controls for the self‐selection nature of taking an entrance exam. The results indicate that students in unionized schools score higher on the SAT than like students in nonunion schools, ceteris paribus. Black students who attend unionized schools are estimated to score 13.11 percent above the black SAT mean. These findings suggest a positive productivity effect of collective bargaining for teachers which significantly benefits minority students.

Teacher Unionism and Collective Bargaining in England and Wales

This article analyzes the teacher union movement and the system of teacher bargaining in England and Wales. Although the teacher union movement is marked by an unusually high degree of organizational fragmentation, salaries in both countries are negotiated in a single forum at the national level called the “Burnham Committee.” This committee is unusual in the British context in that it has a statutory basis and negotiates fixed-term agreements which are legally enforceable. The author traces the postwar history of teacher negotiations and shows that the Burnham system has experienced increasing difficulties in the past decade, such as a rise in teacher militancy and a frequent resort to arbitration and other forms of government intervention in the negotiation process.

Public Sector Bargaining: A Policy Reappraisal. Myron LiebermanFaculty and Teacher Bargaining: The Impact of Unions on Education. George W. Angell

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook Reviews. Myron Lieberman Public Sector Bargaining: A Policy Reappraisal. Myron Lieberman Faculty and Teacher Bargaining: The Impact of Unions on Education. George W. Angell Wayne J. UrbanWayne J. Urban Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Education Volume 90, Number 2Feb., 1982 Sponsored by the Penn State College of Education Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/443639 Views: 1Total views on this site Copyright 1982 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

A Juxtaposition of Laborers and Scholars

Abstract Faculty and Teacher Bargaining: The Impact of Unions on Education edited by George W. Angell, Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books, x + 114 pages, $15.95. Unions and Universities: The Rise of the New Labor Leader, by Joel Denker, Montclair, New Jersey: Allanheld, Osmun, 160 pages, $20.00.

Teacher Bargaining: The Experience in Nine Systems

Teacher Bargaining: The Experience in Nine Systems

Teacher Bargaining: The Experience in Nine Systems

Analyzes teacher bargaining processes in public school systems in the United States. Patterns in the overall conflict record of the systems; Role of the budgetary cycle in imposing discipline on the bargaining process; Kinds of wage increases that teachers receive. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

Educational Administrators and Teacher Unions: An Alliance of Convenience

he traditional concept of conflict oriented labor-management relations that has been used to describe interaction in educational settings by theorists such as Saunders and Lovell' and Kleinman2 may no longer be applicable due to conditions markedly different from those associated with the formative stages of collective bargaining for teachers. The author suggests that administrative and teaching personnel are moving toward mutual accommodation. This development is manifest at and above the building level. It implies that accommodative behavior is rather commonplace between individual participants such as principals and building representatives, as well as between organizational participants such as teacher unions and associations representing organized administrative personnel. The purpose of this analysis, therefore, is threefold:

Open government: What about teacher bargaining?

Open government: What about teacher bargaining?