The Kent School District provides a glimpse into the broken governance and management structure of Washington's public school system.  Led by their union leadership, teachers have voted to engage in an illegal strike, claiming that, in this time of serious economic distress and 10% unemployment, they are entitled to additional salary increases and reductions to class size. 

Teachers rightfully resent the "one-size-fits-all" approach to school management and improving teaching, pointing out that a high school chemistry teacher may be responsible for 150 students one year and 70 students the next year (see yesterday's Seattle Times article), and that countless meetings required by the district are not productive. 

Why aren't teachers demanding a change to this broken model for running our schools? One would think that teachers would demand that decisions over running schools be taken away from centralized bureaucracies and mandates from Olympia, and instead placed in the hands of the principal and his school leadership team.  Only when management is truly localized will teachers be treated as individuals and respected and rewarded for the important work that they do.  This reform has dramatically improved conditions for teachers (by reducing total student load) and raised student performance in New York City, Baltimore, San Francisco, Houston, pilot schools in Boston, Chicago and Washington D.C.

Instead, union leaders cling to outmoded and illegal practices like teachers strikes to achieve their own short-sighted goals. Union response to suggestions that teachers and students would benefit from putting the principal in charge of his school budget and staff is that principals are subjective and can't be trusted to be fair to teachers.  This argument is entirely unpersuasive, as due process and grievance procedures against those principals who abuse their position would be put in place to protect teachers.  Faceless  central school bureaucracies are far more likely to treat teachers arbitrarily and capriciously than a principal who is well acquainted with the challenges facing each teacher and knows the strengths and weaknesses of each teacher.  

Before the union leadership decided to take this irresponsible and entirely unnecessary action, they should have considered student test scores for the district on the WASL, which are dismal.  The OSPI School Report Card reveals WASL results for the Kent School District.  (Percentages reflect the percentage of students that met the standard on the WASL.)

2008-9 WASL Results

Reading  Math Writing  Science

3rd Grade    65.2%    60.3%   

4th Grade    69.3%    52.6%    54.4%

5th Grade    70.3%    58.7%   34.1%

6th Grade    69.6%    53.6%

7th Grade    51.4%    53.8%    64.3%

8th Grade    67.0%    57.6% 53.3%

10th Grade 78.5%    47.2%    85.1% 33.2%

Clearly, given these figures, teachers in the Kent School District should be increasing the hours they spend in the classroom, and not disrupting student learning by striking.