Russell Moore: Enact a Statewide Teachers Contract

Russell Moore: Enact a Statewide Teachers Contract

It’s no secret that the key to ending Rhode Island’s political and economic stagnation is to enact good government reforms that make the state more transparent, cost effective, and consumer oriented.

That’s why it was so encouraging to hear that Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed, at least in principle, has embraced the concept of enacting a statewide teacher contract that would save taxpayer dollars and provide some much-needed transparency into how teachers are compensated for the hard and important work they do every day.

The idea has been kicked around for years, but for some reason or another, has never really gained much traction in the state legislature. So when Paiva-Weed told a chamber of commerce meeting last week that she’s in favor of exploring the issue deeper, it was a huge step forward and gave the issue some serious momentum.

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

A logical proposal

The notion was not only one of  the best proposals to come out of Robert Healey’s rollicking campaign for Governor this year, but one of the best ideas from any political campaign from this election cycle. That a long shot bid for public office can change the dialogue in the state is the best arguments for third party campaigns.

Healey’s proposal makes sense on several levels. First and foremost, the fact that school committee’s often looked at as the first rung on the political ladder for most candidates, have practically the most power in most of Rhode Island’s municipalities (with Providence being the most significant exception), have the least experience in negotiating contracts and being aware of what taxpayers can afford to spend.

School committees should focus on education

Therefore, what tends to happen in most cases is the school committees delegate those huge responsibilities to the administration. That results in a system where unelected bureaucrats end up deciding where and how the lion’s share of a communities tax dollars will be spent. (Most local Rhode Island budgets spend at least 50 percent of their funding on education.)

Also, it seems that in many cases, those who choose to seek the school committee are former teachers, or spouses of teachers. That’s very useful in setting a sound, reasonable education policy, but it doesn't’t take a master of ethics to understand that it presents a conflict of interest.

To move negotiations to a statewide level would by no means represent a panacea to this issue, but it would bring much-needed transparency to the negotiation of teacher contracts. People love to think that they have the most control of government that’s local, and in theory that should be correct. The problem however, is that the media focuses on statewide issues (not to mention national issues) much more, and that makes the average citizen much more likely to understand the state issues than local ones. That’s why a statewide teacher contract would bring sunlight to the issue of education funding.

"Progressives” should agree

A statewide teacher contract should delight the so-called progressives in our state who claim to be for the least fortunate members of our society (though the evidence that that’s the case is lacking). It would move the funding mechanism for education away from property taxes, which let’s face it, are either the most regressive form of taxation or the second most regressive form after sales taxes.

This is a real proposal to shift the tax burden away from property taxes and onto the far more progressive income tax. If progressives are truly in favor progressive taxation, they should champion this issue.

The proposal would add costs to the state budget, but would drastically reduce costs to municipal budgets, which would mean the state could safely reduce aid to cities and towns.

The idea would also save money in the form of regionalization. Instead of employing lawyers and negotiators in 36 school districts to bargain with the teachers unions, the state would only have to bargain on one contract. In other words, the state would achieve an economy of scale that would save taxpayer’s money.

Empower teachers

This proposal also empowers teachers. It allows local school boards to focus on what most school committee’s want to focus on, setting and directing educational policy on the local level. Having covered school committee’s in diverse communities in Rhode Island, from rural ones like Chariho, to suburban communities like Bristol-Warren, to urban communities like Warwick, I can say that school committee members, without doubt, enjoy working with educators to create better policies to enhance student learning. Freed of the financial burden to bargain over wages and benefits, the teachers and school committees would have better working relationships to create a better learning and cultural experience for students. That’s a win-win situation everyone should be able to get behind.

Senate President Pavia-Weed deserves some serious credit for giving this issue the credence it deserves.

Russell Moore, a lifelong Rhode Islander, and avid politics and sports fanatic has worked on both sides of the desk in Rhode Island media, in both newspapers and on political campaigns. Follow him on twitter @russmoore713.