The tables have turned on Michigan's public school boards and other school officials. As a result of changes to the state's labor law in 2023, school districts face the risk of losing some authority to determine who should be teaching in their classrooms. Teachers unions are empowered once again to demand districts treat teachers as if they are…

This article analyses the narratives and counter-narratives which characterised the struggle between the Chicago Public School Board (CPS) and the Chicago Teachers' Union (CTU) preceding the 2019 Chicago teachers' strike. This was an extraordinary event which has received little scholarly attention. The paper explores the types and uses of the…

School districts implement a variety of initiatives that too often fall short. This case study investigated how one public school district in southeastern Michigan implemented interest based-bargaining (IBB). The study also sought to understand the factors that influenced the decision-making process and what was considered when making…

School districts have two general courses of action to maintain fiscal solvency and raise student achievement in the face of drastic funding cuts. They can reduce spending on teachers, a strategy opposed by many teachers' unions because it threatens teacher job security. They can also cut expenditures in other areas such as instructional…

This paper explores the politics of various types of teacher compensation reforms, with a particular focus on pay for performance. It examines the political positions taken by the nations two teachers' unions, the extent to which these reflect the preferences of teachers, and how both influence the decisions by localities to implement reforms. New…

Offers predictive propositions concerning what happens when the school board is the initiator of change and the union is the protector of the status quo. (Author/JM)

Analyzes the operation of policies regarding the relationship between teachers and local education authorities in terms of their implementation and perceived results, and describes the structure of such relations. Six English local education authorities were the subjects. (Author/IRT)

School boards are woefully unprepared to deal with "make or buy" issues, due to massive union efforts to eliminate or restrict board freedom to contract for services. Teachers neither understand nor support a market economy. School boards' contracting out ability will not be secure until favorable legislative options are considered and…

Teacher unions have pushed beyond bargaining over teacher welfare issues to include participation in education policy and decision making. Offers suggestions for school boards to deal with curriculum and instruction issues creeping into contract negotiations. (MLF)

Members of the National School Boards Association Commission on New Communication in Public School Educational Operations met during the fall of 1987 and winter of 1988 for discussions of the communications issues facing schools and the obstacles to solving them. Out of these talks came a series of broad recommendations on how best to work toward…

Briefly reviews findings from the school effectiveness literature and suggests local strategies and policies that will stimulate school reform. Thirteen characteristics of effective schools are discussed as model guidelines for action; four general policy recommendations are made. (RH)

INTERVIEWS WERE HELD WITH SUPERINTENDENTS AND TEACHERS IN A SELECTED SAMPLE OF 16 SCHOOL DISTRICTS, DRWN FROM A NATIONWIDE LIST OF 108 DISTRICTS WITH HISTORIES OF COLLECTIVE NEGOTIATIONS, TO STUDY THE VIABILITY OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AT THE LOCAL LEVEL AS A MEANS FOR DETERMINING WAGES AND WORKING CONDITIONS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS. BECAUSE OF…

The major focus of this study is on altering the current structure of collective bargaining in public education to provide for adequate community participation. Concentrating on big city school systems where minorities and the poor have historically been apart from the educational policy-making process, the study finds that the scope of bargaining…

This workshop presenter's guide is intended for use by administrators in training one another in the Project Leadership program developed by the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). The purpose of this particular guide is to train administrators to interpret common contract provisions that affect management's decision-making…