NY Teacher Union Official Sue over Charters

New York teacher union officials are suing over a new innovation that would allow charter schools to certify their own teachers. New York state law forces every teacher in every district to either join a teacher union or pay an agency shop fee.  Charter schools are allowed some flexibility in some cases, as their teachers are not automatically forced to join or support a labor union in order to get or keep their jobs.  This allows charter schools and their teachers to innovate in order to provide an excellent education for students, not bound by restrictive monopoly bargaining agreements and forced representation.  Melanie Grayce West has the story in the Wall Street Journal.

The complaint, filed by the United Federation of Teachers and the New York State United Teachers in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, charges that the SUNY Board of Trustees Charter Schools Committee, a state oversight body, has put in place a “watered-down system” for certifying teachers in certain charter schools which is “distinct from and contrary to” the system used for certifying teachers who work in public schools.