Business and school group urges Hub changes
Curb union rights, they counsel Boston

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | August 21, 2006

In the midst of contentious contract negotiations between the Boston Teachers Union and the school system, a coalition of Massachusetts education and business leaders is pushing for changes that they say would improve student achievement in the Boston public school system, but that will probably antagonize the union.

The group wants the superintendent to have more control over low-performing schools and advocates giving the district the ability to pay a higher salary to teachers in hard-to-fill subjects such as science and math. In addition, the group wants to remove assistant principals from the school administrators' union to give principals more control.

Leaders of the reform group, which has no formal name, say that progress in the Boston schools over the last decade under Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant has been steady, but slow. As the city searches for a new school chief, serious problems remain. Black and Hispanic students continue to lag behind their white and Asian peers in achievement. A third of Boston students drop out of high school. Half of Boston schools have been designated by the state and federal government as needing improvement, based on students' test scores. And the system has a hard time recruiting and retaining qualified teachers.

``The system is not moving fast enough to deal with the problems that need to be addressed," said Samuel Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, who along with other business and education leaders spent the last two months working on the agenda for change. ``We need to be able to achieve more through collective bargaining. We're trying to raise the bar of what should be expected out of this next teachers' contract."

The Boston Teachers Union, whose contract expires Aug. 31, began negotiating with the school system in January. Progress has been slow, and negotiations are expected to continue into the start of the school year, Tyler said. Teachers union president Richard Stutman characterized the talks as ``cordial but unproductive" in a recent bulletin e-mailed to union members.

The contract changes suggested by business and education leaders, who have no say on negotiations, are meaningless and come too late, said Stephen Crawford, spokesman for the Boston Teachers Union. The union had hoped to agree to a new contract before Payzant's departure in June, Crawford said. School officials did not return several calls for comment.

The business and educational leaders' coalition wants the union to give the superintendent control over 10 low-performing schools each year. The superintendent would determine the school's staffing, scheduling, and budgeting in an effort to speed improvement, said Andre Mayer, senior vice president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the largest business advocacy organization in the state.

Qualified teachers in low-performing schools, as well as those who teach hard-to-fill subjects should also be paid more, so Boston can attract and retain good teachers in schools that need them the most, Mayer said.

Also, the union and district should make it easier for schools to become pilots, experimental schools in which teachers get control over budgeting and schedules in exchange for some of their union rights. Schools should be deemed pilot schools if two-thirds of teachers approve, without needing the blessing of union and district leaders, coalition leaders said.

Finally, to hold school managers accountable for student performance, assistant principals should not be unionized, the business and education leaders said. They should individually negotiate one-to-three-year contracts directly with the superintendent or principals. The state's 1993 education law prohibited principals from joining unions, so superintendents could more easily make changes.

Members are: The Pioneer Institute, the Boston Foundation, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Mass Insight Education, and the Massachusetts High Technology Council.