Heading into Friday’s IEA RA, let us review some of the history of our Association’s leadership.
Part one: Race to the Top
In 2009, appointed by Governor Quinn to head up a committee, IEA Executive Director Audrey Soglin led it in the creation of the Illinois Race to the Top application.
Arne Duncan had demanded that in exchange for roughly $400 million dollars, the application would have to include legislative action that would link individual teacher evaluation to student performance.
The legislature bowed to Duncan’s demands and Soglin’s proposal. Every district now has teacher evaluation tied to student performance as a mandatory part of all future bargaining.
But Duncan did not deliver on the money. Illinois received no Race to the Top award.
When I was finally recognized by Ken Swanson after waiting a long time at the microphone at the 2010 IEA RA, I asked Soglin what impact the legislation would have on those contracts like ours that were much better than what the legislature now requires, but does not now include the teacher-student performance linkage?
“It will be a challenge,” she said.
As if negotiating good contracts for your members isn’t challenge enough.
Part two: The two-tier pension.
At the 2010 IEA RA, Swanson insisted on a change to the legislative platform that would allow IEA lobbyists to negotiate with legislators on changes to the pension system.
At first, the IEA student chapter and others opposed any change that would impact those who had not yet entered the teaching profession.
Swanson, and all the state leadership, argued that the pensions were under attack and that to have any impact on what they would look like, lobbyists had to be at the table.
We argued that this was a straw man. Nobody opposed being at the table. We opposed stating up front that we would give in to a two-tier pension system: one for teachers in the system and one for teachers hired at a later time. We knew this change would open the door for other changes that would not be in the interest of teachers.
Swanson got what he wanted at the RA. By the next week, Speaker Madigan has gotten his two-tier system. There was no sitting at the table. There were no negotiations. No union input. There was no need for that. We had shown our cards and Madigan had us beat, aces over.
Part three: The IEA opposes Race to the Top no confidence vote at the NEA RA.
At the NEA RA last summer in New Orleans, the headline news story that went national was the vote of no confidence in Arne Duncan’s Race to the Top.
When the Illinois caucus met to discuss the resolution, Swanson and the entire leadership argued for a position of opposition.
“We don’t want to insult Duncan,” one IEA leader told me.
After the resolution passed on the floor of the RA, delegates from other states expressed their surprise that Illinois, which once was a major player in NEA affairs, now seemed so out of touch with the rest of the organization’s sentiments.
Part four: Retiree benefits
A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from some retirees. Swanson was pushing the Board of Directors to adopt a change in the legislative platform. This was a new edition of Swanson’s vision of sitting at the table. The BOD voted in agreement with Swanson. They usually do.
The change, which has to be adopted at the RA later this week, would allow IEA lobbyists to negotiate with legislators on a bill that would for the first time tax retiree income from Social Security or retirement pensions like TRS.
Swanson, and other leaders like Bob Blade, made the same argument on this issue as they did on pension change.
The exception is that there is no bill.
That’s right. Swanson and the leadership are offering to discuss concessions on retiree benefits and nobody is asking for them.
It all makes sense if you look at the history of our state leadership.
It is a sorry history, for sure.
Fred Klonsky 