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Contributors
K. Lloyd Billingsley - Contributor
[Courtesty of Pacific Research
Institute]
K. Lloyd
Billingsley is Editorial Director for the Pacific
Research Institute and has been widely published on topics
including on popular culture, defense policy, education reform,
and many other current policy issues. [go to Billingsley index]
 Free
California’s School Districts
Legislators pick union payback over education…
[K. Lloyd Billingsley] 7/22/04
Last
month California legislators failed to repeal a law that transformed
milk testers and billboard inspectors
into safety workers on a par with police and firefighters, a
failure that will cost the state more than $200 million over
20 years. But there are other bills equally worthy of concern,
such as SB 1419, which costs taxpayers an estimated $300 million
per year, hamstrings cash strapped school districts, and harms
the prospects of students.
Authored by Sen. Richard Alarcon and signed two years ago by
Gray Davis, SB 1419 forbids school districts from contracting
out with private firms for transportation and other services.
It is a mandate for union labor and also a kind of prevailing
wage law that, as in the building of schools, ensures that school
transportation costs remain as high as possible.
“In a more reasonable world,” noted Peter Schrag
of the Sacramento Bee, “SB 1419 would have never been proposed,
let alone passed.” But it was, and it fit with the anti-privatization
crusade during the previous administration. Gray Davis, for example,
stopped the process of contracting out to the lowest bidder for
the cleaning of government buildings. That is now done by state
employees, at approximately twice the cost.
Partisans of SB 1419 portray the repeal effort as job-protection
or a push by Republicans to help private bus companies. Those
in favor of the repeal respond by citing the influence of the
California School Employees Association, which has been running
ads against the repeal. Favored by Governor Schwarzenegger, the
repeal has been part of the current budget negotiations.
As critics have noted, SB 1419 makes it virtually impossible
for school districts to find the least expensive option and,
in some cases, the best qualified workers. These are not necessarily
union workers. The case that districts should not have flexibility
is a hard one to make. Obviously, the more money spent on non-academic
services the less remains available for the classroom. California
education is already rife with waste and fraud, and school districts
are already heavily restricted by union rules.
In 2002,
the same year SB 1419 was signed, the Pacific Research Institute
released Contract
for Failure: The Impact of Teacher Union Contracts on the Quality
of California Schools. This was based on a wide study of
bargaining agreements and found that they cover many aspects
of school practices
which should be left to the discretion of educators. For example,
seniority rules govern which teachers are assigned to classrooms.
This prevents a principal from assigning teachers based on competence
or their suitability with a particular group of students. Union
rules also interfere with parent-teacher relations, and grievance
procedures regularly take teachers out the classroom. Thus, with
their discretion and options already limited, under SB 1419 local
educators are similarly hamstrung with non-teaching employees.
The union bosses of the California Teachers Association, California
School Employees Association, and California Union of Safety
Employees, the 3,200-member group that bagged big pension increases,
are not subject to public vote. So they wield a lot of power.
The pension debacle and SB 1419 confirm that what is good for
government employee unions is not necessarily good for California
taxpayers, or schoolchildren. CRO
copyright
2004 Pacific Research Institute
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