U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Working Together for Public Service
When Cincinnati voters failed to renew a tax levy in 1994, the Cincinnati Public Schools faced another round of budget cuts $31 million out of a $320 million budget. This wave of cuts came on the heels of a $53 million reduction made between 1992-94, when over 50 percent of the central office and 225 teaching positions were cut. At that time, many ineffective, outdated or low priority programs were eliminated; bureaucracy was slashed.
Thus, in 1995, it was no longer possible to spare from cuts classroom and other important services to students. Secondary librarians, guidance counselors, nearly all extracurricular activities and popular magnet programs were cut. Another 200 positions were eliminated, and 150 teachers laid-off.
Hard times are a rigorous test of the strength of labor-management cooperation. Testifying in mid-1995 about a relationship that began in 1985: "But the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers (an AFT affiliate) and the administration of the Cincinnati Public Schools have not allowed the cuts to pit us against each other," Monica Curtis, a senior representative of the Superintendent's office, told the Task Force. "Instead, we have joined forces to seek additional revenue from state, city and county government and to try to pass two tax levies in November 1995.[16] This is possible because union leadership knows the district's budget, knows there is no painless way to balance the budget; nearly all CFT suggestions for cutting waste or inefficient spending have been adopted."
The Cincinnati Public Schools have 50,000 pupils and 3,500 teachers, including substitutes. The student body is 65 percent African American, 35 percent Caucasian and 67 percent receive free or reduced cost lunches. Property taxes provide 60 percent of the budget. In Ohio, school systems have their own taxing authority, but must seek voter approval for their levies.
The partnership between the teachers and the administration did not happen overnight. Teachers and their union, CFT Local 1520, and administrators have spent a decade carefully building and solidifying their cooperative relationship. Today, that collaborative approach is integrated into every aspect of their relationship, from the collective bargaining process to joint efforts in professionalism, from shared decision-making at the district level to managing resources and balancing the budget.
The process began in 1985 with development of a Peer Assistance and Evaluation Program for beginning teachers and veterans with teaching deficiencies, testified CFT President Tom Mooney. Consulting teachers, jointly selected by CFT and CPS administration, mentor both new teachers through an internship program and also work with veteran teachers who show serious deficiencies. The joint CFT-CPS panel adopts program guidelines and hears appeals from teachers rated unsatisfactory.
Demonstrating the value and objectivity of peer evaluations, in the program's first year, 1985-86, consulting teachers rated 10.5 percent of their interns less than satisfactory compared to 4 percent of new teachers evaluated by administrators. Five percent of beginning teachers under peer review were dismissed, compared to 1.6 percent of those evaluated by principals. Results for subsequent years have been similar.
Results of the intervention program during its first five years were encouraging, Mooney said. One-third of teachers referred have been found not to require intervention, one-third have improved their performance to at least a satisfactory level as a result of intervention. One-third have been removed from the classroom during intervention through termination, resignation or retirement.
Peer Assistance and Evaluation, first proposed by CFT in 1983, was negotiated in the 1985 collective bargaining contract. It is now offered to teachers in all fields, including support service professionals. Results of both internship, begun in September 1985, and intervention, which started a year later, demonstrate that performance standards have been raised. During its first five years, 61 percent of teacher dismissals for performance reasons have resulted from peer review; 39 percent from evaluation by administrators.
This program was the first of several major reforms jointly undertaken by the CFT and CPS in teacher training, induction evaluation and career development in order to raise professional standards in teaching. Today, Mooney said, Cincinnati teachers are increasingly taking on leadership in instruction and program improvement. Other examples include: Career in Teaching Program, started in 1990, builds on peer review. Teachers can advance through four levels based on advanced education, experience and skill. Teachers acquire more rights, professional status and pay as they advance. At the top, lead teachers earn about $5,000 beyond the regular salary schedule in return for taking on more responsibility in a variety of leadership roles.
- Professional Practice Schools in which graduate student interns spend a year in paid, clinical internship supported by a team of lead and career teachers.
- High School for the Teaching Profession, which has 200 students enrolled in this magnet program for future teachers. This effort also is serving to boost recruitment of minority teachers by "growing our own" teachers, Mooney said.
- National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is in the process of developing standards and devising assessments to issues certificates of advanced proficiency in approximately 36 teaching fields. Cincinnati has served as a field test site for the NBPTS. A CFT member has served on the National Board since its inception.
- School-based staff selection was negotiated in 1994 and implemented in the spring of 1995, removing this function from the central office. It empowers teachers and principals to select candidates for teaching vacancies whether the position is filled by transfer or hiring. The principal and a panel of four teachers from the department, team or unit screen and interview applicants and make the selection.
Another area in which labor-management cooperation is firmly established is shared policy decision-making, Curtis said. She said that district-level joint committees are empowered to deal with policy, resource allocation, oversight of key programs and logistics. In addition to the following specific examples, Curtis emphasized that informal consultation on policy and direction is an equally important aspect of making shared decision-making successful.
Examples include:
- Educational Initiatives Panel, which oversees innovation and reform in instructional areas, plans future innovations, approves applications for state and federal funds. It is co-chaired by the CPS superintendent and the CFT president.
- Teacher Allocation Committee, which oversees compliance with class size provisions of the collective bargaining contract, monitors allocation of teachers to schools (the district's largest expense) and has authority to allocate additional teachers, instructor assistants or overload pay (from a limited pool) when classes exceed limits or to reduce a school's allocation and reassign teachers to other schools. This arrangement allows the district to guarantee teaching and learning conditions while managing its budget.
- Budget Commission, formed in 1994, recommends the annual budget to the superintendent and analyzes the budget to determine percentage spent on instruction and other direct services to students versus amount spent on administration, logistics and support services. This group strives to increase the percentage going to the front-line by monitoring district revenue and identifying strategies to seek additional revenue.
- Curriculum Councils, formed in 1993 in 11 major subject areas, consist of delegates from each school where the subject is taught. The Councils adopt their own by-laws, have their own steering committees and a chair, who is a lead teacher. The contract describes their role: to work with the CPS Department of Quality Improvement to develop and maintain high quality curriculum, books and other teaching materials and assessments.
- Peer Review Panel and Career in Teaching Panel. (See above)
- The Employee Benefits Committee monitors utilization of health benefits and intervenes when there are problems with insurance carriers. The Health and Safety Committee monitors hazards, can conduct inspections and recommend actions to prevent or correct problems. The teachers and administrators have also developed a code of conduct and discipline for students that has assisted the learning environment by increasing safety and order in the schools.
In testimony typical of cooperative efforts in other community, CPS and CFT representatives described how the strong labor-management partnership has been extended into the community to include top business leaders. This three-way alliance has been particularly effective in efforts to pass local school levies and to downsize administrative bureaucracy.
