MONITORING THE POTENTIAL FOR HARMFUL OUTCOMES OF ED REFORMS & CREATIVE SCHOOL FUNDING INITIATIVES

WHEREAS, the intense focus on education and raising standards of achievement for students has brought significant and far-reaching changes to schools in the form of new and innovative educational programs as well as new ways of working and funding education and schools; and

WHEREAS, the establishment of these new programs and new models of work have an impact (often unforeseen) on the work of school staff who may or may not be directly involved.

For example:

• Implementing school-based management that shifts work from central office to school sites creating an increased workload for school-based secretaries without a parallel increase in staffing in school. A recent survey of school secretaries indicates that more than half of school secretaries blame increased paperwork for their increased workload; one in three blames shifting of work from other departments; and just one in four blames the continuous restructuring or changing of procedures in the workplace.
• Introduction of new educational programs, i.e., special reading programs that should include paraprofessionals and others in training but often don't. These staff are then expected to be full participants, and the teachers with whom they work are expected to train them in the intricacies of these programs.
• Using resources from parent fundraising, grants, etc. to support schools but permitting the providers of these resources to establish guidelines for their use that are not worker friendly and that may be in conflict with existing contractual provisions. An example is a parent group raising funds to hire paraprofessionals to support teachers in early grades but then dictating that schools hire more paraprofessionals for fewer hours, thus ensuring these staff fall below the requirement to receive benefits.
• Using resources from private companies, which then requires accommodations that negatively affect the work or service provided by school support staff. An example is accepting funds from a soft-drink company in exchange for installation of machines (for fundraising for sport teams, etc.) that dispense food and drink that do not meet the federal government guidelines for nutrition and that directly compete with nutritionally balanced food service programs; and

WHEREAS, these kinds of initiatives, if implemented appropriately, have the potential to help schools and education; and

WHEREAS, school staff do not want to be forced into the position of opposing them but, rather, want to be in a position to inform and influence the process:

RESOLVED, that the AFT develop guidelines to assist local and state affiliates in fully assessing the impact of all work and all workers when they participate in discussions on these types of initiatives; and

RESOLVED, that as part of this support for locals, the AFT gather and disseminate information on best practices for staff involvement or representation in school reform initiatives and specific examples of successful efforts to remedy these types of conflicts.