MNEA sets 2010 legislative priorities

Missouri NEA believes that every child has a basic right to attend a great public school. MNEA’s legislative platform contains a proactive agenda that strengthens public education and public educators for the benefit of Missouri’s children. MNEA also continues to lead the fight to defeat the many harmful proposals pushed by out-of-state extremist groups and other opponents of public education.

MNEA’s political and legislative action focuses on electing pro-public education candidates and holding them accountable for supporting students and public education once in office.

Investing in public education
MNEA believes public schools are a great investment that promotes economic prosperity for all Missourians. Schools need adequate funding to recruit and retain high-quality teachers and support personnel. Teachers need the tools and resources to get the job done.

Current state school funding is neither adequate nor equitable. Worse still, the state is facing a bleak fiscal outlook for the next few years, due to the economic slowdown, harmful tax cuts and increasing tax credits. State services, including funds for public schools, have been withheld in the 2009-2010 school year due to revenue shortages, and many valuable programs may face elimination or severe cutbacks in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Fiscal year 2011-2012 promises to be even worse because many vital programs are funded now and will be funded next year by one-time federal funds that will run out early in fiscal year 2011-2012.

MNEA supports tax reform to provide fair and adequate taxation that supports investment in public education and promotes economic prosperity for all Missourians. Progressive tax reform can provide the revenue Missouri needs to invest in public schools and other vital services.

MNEA believes that access to a great public school is a fundamental right. The school foundation formula is the state’s main tool to ensure that all schools have adequate and equitable funding and that all students have access to a great public school. However, Missouri’s school foundation formula is neither adequate nor equitable. Moreover, a 2009 Missouri Supreme Court ruling states that access to equitably funded public education is not a fundamental right for Missouri students.

MNEA maintains that the formula base-level funding and student-need weighting factors should be raised to research-based adequacy figures. Local property assessments should be accurate and uniform across the state, and local property taxes should be deducted at a level all districts can reach. MNEA also supports adequate and equitable funding for public higher education institutions and increased funding for student financial aid.

Collective bargaining
MNEA supports collective bargaining rights for all education employees. An effective bargaining process requires a unified employee voice. Implementing legislation must provide for exclusive bargaining representation and establish the duty for both employees and employers to bargain in good faith.

MNEA supports legislation that would treat all public employees fairly and that is built on broad consensus among public employee groups and public employers. In 2009, the Missouri Senate heard MNEA-backed legislation to grant teachers the same rights already granted to ESPs and most other public employees—to organization and elect an exclusive bargaining representative. Despite support from MNEA, public employer representatives and other labor unions, the bill did not pass.

MNEA opposes efforts to limit school employees’ right to bargain with their employers. Last session, the Missouri House debated MSTA-backed legislation that would have denied all Missouri teachers the opportunity to select a bargaining representative of their choosing through a free and un-coerced election. MNEA leaders, staff and members stepped up and lobbied strenuously to defeat that impractical and unworkable proposal.

Charter schools
MNEA believes charter schools legislation should hold charter schools and sponsors accountable, must make operations of schools transparent, and must protect the rights of students, parents and school employees. Charter schools are independent public schools. Charter schools, when well designed and operated, can be positive agents of change within the public school system by permitting new and creative ways of teaching and learning.

New federal grant programs, such as Race to the Top, could lead many Missouri legislators to consider action this session to remove the current law limiting charter schools to St. Louis City and Kansas City school districts.

Salaries and performance pay
MNEA supports adequate salaries to recruit and retain the high quality teachers and other school personnel Missouri students need to be successful. Missouri currently ranks 43rd in the nation in average teacher salaries.

MNEA supports adequate funding for districts and local control of salary schedules through collective bargaining. A strong salary schedule is the fairest, best understood and most widely used approach to teacher compensation, and it rewards the things that make a difference in teacher quality: knowledge and experience.

MNEA opposes mandatory performance pay and repeal of the salary schedule law. Pay-for-performance plans are costly to taxpayers and difficult to administer. They require a long-term financial commitment, and even then, they are often a zero-sum game where some teachers win and others lose.

Pay for performance plans do not support the teaching profession. Education professionals do not control students’ learning capabilities or the environment outside of school. Performance pay based on student test scores forces teachers to compete, rather than collaborate.

Other issues
The Missouri legislature will debate important proposals on many other issues affecting students and public education: vouchers, accountability, substantive due process, higher education access and retirement. Congress will consider important provisions relating to reauthorization of the ESEA, also known as NCLB, and repeal of the GPO and WEP penalties under Social Security.

Your role
Public education issues will play a significant role in the next legislative session. Decisions on key policy issues such as school funding, bargaining rights, charter schools, alternative compensation and vouchers will be debated this session in Congress and the Missouri General Assembly. You can start helping create a better future by supporting MNEA’s legislative effort.

MNEA also asks you to start a dialogue with your legislators to engage them in a discussion about public education and education issues. Together, we can make a positive difference for our students and our public schools.

by Otto Fajen, MNEA legislative director

sb, winter '09