Cleveland mayor takes on teacher union over reform

CLEVELAND — The mayor wants to give his hand-picked superintendent the power to reassign bad teachers, reshape failing schools and stagger class times without union contract barriers.

Mayor Frank Jackson, the only Ohio mayor who controls schools through an appointed board, angered fellow Democrats and the party’s labor allies by challenging timeworn teacher union contracts.

“What we will not accept is incremental change or the belief that everything is OK and we should continue down the same path,” he said in a city hall interview. “That is not acceptable to us.”

The mayor’s proposals, the subject of lengthy negotiations that led to a compromise agreement last week, would limit the right of teachers to block reassignments based on

“What we will not accept is incremental change or the belief that everything is OK and we should continue down the same path. That is not acceptable to us.”

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jaskson

seniority, a cherished prerogative of the longest-serving teachers.

In addition, the mayor wants to give schools Chief Executive Officer Eric Gordon a freer hand to deal with a looming $65 million deficit, close poor-performing schools, expand good ones, lengthen the school day, trim holiday time off and collaborate with charter schools.

State lawmakers expect to take up the enabling legislation this week when they end their Easter break.

The initiatives by the low-key Jackson, a Democrat in his second four-year term, upset the teachers union and a labor community that had won a big referendum victory in Ohio last year by overturning a Gop-backed law limiting collective bargaining rights of public employees.

For some, it appeared that Jackson, with the help of Republican Gov. John Kasich and a Gop-controlled Legislature, was starting a new attack on public employee collective bargaining rights.

“It really looks so much like an attempt to bust the teachers union,” Harriet Applegate, head of the Cleveland AFL-CIO, said of the original proposal.

Union president David Quolke told his members that the mayor’s proposal was similar to last year’s collective bargaining law but “targets only teachers and only teachers in Cleveland.” The Columbus Education Association teachers union said the proposal “reeks of union busting.”

In announcing the agreement last week, Quolke and Jackson sounded conciliatory and emphasized their shared goal of improved education. In return for union concessions, the mayor backed off a “fresh start” pro- posal to begin contract talks from scratch, without relying on past agreements.

Jackson wouldn’t discuss the political implications, saying he’s focused on schools. “That’s politics. I’m not dealing with that. I’m talking about kids and education,” he said.

The mayor took the wrong initial approach in confronting the union, said Mary Moore, a special education teacher and union vice president.

“We’ve got a very progressive union and our union is very open to negotiating a lot of issues that are helpful and good for the kids of Cleveland,” she said.

For now, the debate centers on Cleveland, a union stronghold with a declining population, job base and school enrollment. But what happens could have broader implications.