The transformational District 11 School Board wants better outcomes for children. Period. That is and should be the board’s primary focus, given the district’s historically low proficiency scores on state testing of students.

This should also be the highest concern of the Colorado Springs Education Association. Leaders of the union siphon public money from teacher’s wages to fund their private entity and political agendas.

If union bosses genuinely represent the interests of teachers, they will obsess over student outcomes. Don’t count on it.

The outdated union-based education system, in which contracts rule supreme, does no favors for teachers of students. Maybe that’s why Colorado teachers earn 37.4% less than other similarly educated professionals – the largest disparity in the country – as documented by a 2023 report by the Economic Policy Institute.

Stay up to speed: Sign up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

Most of Colorado’s college-educated professionals earning nearly 40% more than teachers are not governed by union contracts. Instead, they are paid and promoted on a basis of talent, skill, devotion and positive outcomes. They are monitored daily, weekly, monthly and annually for decisions affecting their status and remuneration.

The nonunion, organic system generally results in high wages for those who excel, average wages for average performers, and the lowest wages for those achieving the least. Often, those stuck in the lower rungs of pay and prestige move on to something that suits them better.

None of these forces are at work in most public schools, where long-term contracts treat all teachers the same – with no reward for exceptional performance or a proven commitment to constantly improve.

In general, this enables performance stagnation. It also manifests in low wages, as no one has managerial incentives to increase standards of performance for colleagues to see and emulate.

One need not trust us to understand the union leadership’s uninterest in outcomes for children or higher pay for teachers. Joe Schott, president of the local union, said the contract – the “master agreement” in D-11 – is more important than anything.

Schott is negotiating agreements with the school board and hopes to replace the four-year contract that’s nearing an end.

“I’d say the big goal is term of agreement,” Schott said, as quoted in a blog post. “Our current contract expires in the summer of 2025.”

The “big goal” is getting a long-term contract they can present to union members as “security,” all the while tapping their pay. Not a word about pursuing better results and associated rewards for those who achieve them. The long-term contract would bind the board and administration from making those routine decisions that boost wages in similar professions while ensuring better results for consumers.

“… there’s no purpose for a contract except to force a future board to do what the past board wanted that future board to do,” said Ted Mische, the Woodland Park School District’s director of Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Education Services, as quoted in the blog.

“The voters voted for you because they want you to make the decisions, not the past board to make the decisions, or the union to make the decisions.”

Exactly. Locals elected to serve should run our schools, not contracts that ensconce low wages for teachers and poor outcomes for consumers – in this case, children and their families.

During these negotiations, D-11 board members should maintain focus and avoid distractions that have nothing to do with better outcomes for teachers, students, their parents and taxpayers. They, not a long-term agreement, should govern our schools.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board