The Battle Over Education - Councilman and Union Chief

The Battle Over Education - Councilman and Union Chief

The first in a series of Education Subcommittee hearings on the Providence Teachers Union contract took place Thursday and it appears new Councilman Sam Zurier and PTU President Steve Smith are on different pages when it comes negotiating.

Zurier, a former School Board member and the Chair of the Education Subcommittee, called the hearings unprecedented and advertised the meetings as a chance for the City Council to offer a “wish list” of suggestions for the Teachers contract before it is submitted for approve.

The contract expires in August.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

For the first meeting, the Subcommitee invited Smith, School Board President Kathleen Crain and Providence Superintendent Tom Brady to answer four specific questions: What do you perceive as the strengths of the current relationship between teachers and the administration? What major challenges do you see with the current relationship between teachers and the administration? What are you hoping to accomplish through negotiations and ratification of the new contract? How do you plan to take into consideration the City’s severe financial constraints, in which the municipal contribution to the overall school budget may be level funded for the next two or three years?

Wish Lists Are About Winning

Smith was the only one of the invited guests to appear at Thursday’s hearing. Both Crain and Brady were in Denver for a conference. The Union President voiced his displeasure with the meeting, saying he didn’t think having the press in the room was the best way to go about discussions. Rather than singling out the teachers, he said hoped the Council would have similar meetings with other unions.

Smith did acknowledge that he hopes collective bargaining can be focused on student performance because, “too often it is not.” But he said developing a wish list could impair the process and that he was not interested in negotiating in public.

“[Tom Brady] and I have yet to negotiate a contract, but we have engaged in interest-based bargaining,” Smith said. “Having a wish list becomes about winning, getting six out of ten.”

Look At Contracts That Work

While the upcoming negotiations with be Smith and Brady’s first foray in contract talks together, Smith said the two sides are working together and that Providence was recently praised by Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Smith attributes the recognition to his union’s willingness to collaborate with the school district, particularly when it came to signing on to Race To The Top, the controversial federally funded education program that guaranteed Rhode Island $75 million. Smith also said his union was committed to making sure ineffective teachers are removed or given the support needed to improve.

He said both sides should pay attention to agreements taking place in other states.

“I would suggest looking at contracts that work,” Smith said. “ABC Unified and right down the road, New Haven, which has been called a ‘breakthrough contract’.”

The New Haven contract has been praised nationally because both sides were able to able to come to reform-focused agreement that gives teachers a voice in the decisions being made.

Still An Education Crisis 

While some of his fellow councilmen took time to recognize the efforts made between Smith and Brady, Zurier made it clear there is still room for improvement. He said many children are not receiving a quality education.

“We still have an education crisis in Providence,” Zurier said. [If the proposed diploma requirements had gone through] half of our students would have been eligible for a diploma.”

The next hearing takes place Tuesday evening at 7:00pm in City Hall.