I wondered in October whether Robert Bobb, Detroit Public School's Emergency Financial Manager, would be able to deliver on this goals for a transformative new union contract, in which the problems with tenure and teacher seniority are addressed. Well, this was a busy weekend in Michigan--Bobb lost his bid to gain control over academics in Detroit (in addition to his financial role), while at the same time the Detroit Federation of Teachers ratified a new contract that the Wall Street Journal hailed as "innovative" and The Detroit News says is "designed to make children's learning a higher priority than it has been in decades in the city's public schools."
But, from what I can glean, its innovation lies mainly in the novel (to American education) idea that teachers might not actually be guaranteed a raise each year--this contract saves Detroit a reported $63 million over 3 years in part by deferring $10,000 per teacher in pay for 2 years, after which they will get a 1% raise and various options for recouping their $10k. (In effect, they're giving the district interest-free loans.) Certainly that's a help, given the system's huge deficits. And why would the teachers agree to that? The threat of bankruptcy, and even lower wages and benefits, surely helped Bobb's negotiating position. But The Detroit News says, "In part, the union's leaders wanted the financial deal because it was part of a trade-off to hang on to teacher seniority and stave off other needed reforms." And it adds, "Compared with other cities, Detroit's new contract is many years behind in terms of academic reforms. This situation does not bode well for the turnaround of the Detroit Public Schools. But the Detroit teachers' contract vote should be used as a springboard to start the difficult road toward dramatic academic improvement."
Let's hope it will be. I was optimistic in October about Bobb's prospects for bringing Rhee- or Klein-like reforms to Detroit. But now, with the teacher union leader described (in the Wall Street Journal) as an "advocate" for him, I'm increasingly doubtful that he's pushing hard enough.
For more pessimism, see eduwonk's brief thumbs-down review, and via his twitter links, a slideshow summary for the teachers themselves.
Update 12/22/09: The National Council on Teacher Quality weighs in here.
-Eric Osberg
