The Union Label on the Ballot Box: How School Employees Help Choose Their Bosses

Autor/in	Moe, Terry M.
Titel	The Union Label on the Ballot Box: How School Employees Help Choose Their Bosses
Quelle	In: Education Next, 6 (2006) 3, S.58-66 (9 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1539-9664
Schlagwörter	Politics of Education; Teacher Behavior; Interests; Employees; Boards of Education; Public Education; Elections; Discipline; Unions; Teacher Associations; Voting; Collective Bargaining; Governance; Participation + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Educational policy; Bildungspolitik; Teacher behaviour; Lehrerverhalten; Bildungsinteresse; Employee; Arbeitnehmer; Beschäftigter; Ausschuss; Öffentliche Erziehung; Election; Wahl; Disziplin; Lehrerorganisation; Lehrerverband; Lehrervereinigung; Abstimmung; Tarifverhandlung; Education; Financing; Steuerung; Bildung; Erziehung; Finanzierung; Teilnahme
Abstract	School boards, who have been regarded as the keystone that links public education to ordinary citizens, are normally elected. However, these elections are usually low-turnout, low-interest affairs in which the vast majority of ordinary citizens play no role at all. In school board elections, the incentives of the teacher unions are strong and clear. Teacher unions can determine who sits on local school boards--and in so doing, they can literally choose the very "management" they will be bargaining with. These same elected board members will make decisions on a gamut of policy issues, from budgets to curriculum to student discipline, that teachers have a stake in and can benefit from enormously. As a result, there is good reason to be concerned that the local governance of schools tends to be more responsive to the interests of teachers (and other school employees) than a focused concern for quality education--and the interests of children--would warrant. Although union power in school-board elections would seem to have vast consequences for public education, it is a subject that is rarely studied. In this article, the author presents the findings of one of the several studies that examine what unions actually do in school-board politics, how successful they are, and what strengths--as well as weaknesses--are most important for an accurate, balanced understanding of their roles in education and its politics. This particular study focuses on a particularly interesting way that the teacher unions can attempt to influence election outcomes. More specifically, this study of teacher turnout brings evidence to bear on three central questions. These questions include: (1) Do teachers and other district employees vote at higher rates than other citizens? (2) Are they turning out for reasons that are essentially public spirited, or are they turning out to promote their own occupational self-interest? and (3) Are the turnout differentials (if any) great enough to be of any consequence in boosting the unions' chances of victory? (Contains 2 figures.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Hoover Institution. Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6010. Tel: 800-935-2882; Fax: 650-723-8626; e-mail: educationnext@hoover.stanford.edu; Web site: http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10