On Thursday June 17th, the Illinois Policy Institute conducted a conference call to discuss its new citizen’s guide: “Bargaining for Better Schools: An Introduction to Collective Bargaining in Illinois Public Education“.
The call was lead by three Institute Staff Members: Colin Hitt, Director of Education Policy, Kate Piercy, Director of Government Reform, and Brian Costin, Director of Outreach and head of the Liberty Leader Program. Together, they explained how little parents and school boards know about the collective bargaining process, and offered advice about how to work with the teacher’s unions to create positive contracts.
The conference speakers presented several tools to help Illinoisans better understand the process that determines how local teachers are hired, paid, placed, rewarded and disciplined. Colin Hitt, editor of “Bargaining for Better Schools”, spoke about his new guide and its contents. It provides basic steps and explanations for how the collective bargaining process is supposed to work.
Including the following chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction to Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector
Chapter 2: Bargaining Collectively Under Illinois State Law
Chapter 3: Illinois School Boards and the Bargaining Process
Chapter 4: Education Unions and the Bargaining Process
Chapter 5: Individual Teachers and the Bargaining Process
Chapter 6: Procedural Challenges in Public-Sector Collective Bargaining
Chapter 7: Employee Salaries and Benefits
Chapter 8: Substantive Challenges to School Boards
Afterword: Final Thoughts for School Board Members and Taxpayers
Kate Piercy, Director of Government Reform, discussed the importance of government transparency in the bargaining process. She applauded Huntley School District 158 and Superintendent John Burkey, when a blog was started which informed citizens what was going on in Superintendent Burkey’s school district. Press releases were also sent out for public information.
Brian Costin, Director of Outreach, offered several tools to help citizens hold their school districts accountable, among them the Local Transparency Project and the Transparency Pledge. The Local Transparency Project is a transparency audit which uses a 10-point checklist that provides a “best practices” framework for government entities. This transparency audit is a great way of identifying where a government entity is lacking transparency items.
The Transparency Pledge is a document for public officials asking them to affirm their commitment for transparency.
In regards to the education collective bargaining process, Costin urged listeners to approach their school boards and ask them to comitt to transparencyof the collective bargaining process in advance of the next contract cycle, via the Institute’s Transparency Pledge.
The Illinois Policy Institutes encourages Illinois taxpayers to become involved in the public education collective bargaining process. Using the tools provided by the Illinois Policy Institute, citizens can learn how to conduct a transparency audit of their own school district or other unit of government.
Contact Brain Costin if you are interested in holding your school district accountable or if you want to become more involved in promoting transparency in your town at bcostin@illinoispolicy.org.