re: #68 Dark_Falcon

Having thought this matter through, I did have a thought for a compromise on the Wisconsin standoff. My proposal is as follows:

1. Give backs have already been agreed to, they stay.
2. The annual certification requirement is to be dropped.
3. The recension of collective bargaining except for salaries is likewise dropped.
4. The requirement for salary hikes to be approved by referendum is retained.
5. The right of a union to collect dues for a paycheck is retained, but said union must obtain opt-in consent to use any funds from that member for political campaigning and contributions.
6. Teacher tenure to be retained, but firing process to be streamlined for cases of misconduct (not to include subjects taught, i.e. you can’t be fired for teaching evolution).
7. No bid sale of state assets provision to be dropped. Replaced by provision requiring competitive bids.

What do you folks think of that?

It’s my understanding (could be wrong) that #7 is in a larger budget bill and not a part of the union related bill.

Like SFZ said, I don’t know enough about the firing process to comment on WI. In general I think that obviously you need to be able to fire a bad teacher, but I think that the right has seized on the outlier horror stories and it is no where near as large a problem as some would have you believe.

Not sure about the referendum for salary increases. It effectively caps teacher pay because voters won’t approve increases and WI will lose good teachers to other states that won’t cap their pay.