A Contract for Change

Reform of D.C. schools hinges on new teacher rules.

AT CENTER STAGE in D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's efforts to reform schools have been high-profile bids to shake up the bureaucracy and close some schools. As important as these efforts are, a more crucial endeavor is unfolding outside the limelight in contract negotiations with the city's teachers. Rules that put the interests of teachers ahead of the educational needs of children must be changed if Ms. Rhee is to succeed in transforming the system.

The contract with the Washington Teachers' Union, which represents some 4,400 employees, expired last fall. Neither side would discuss what's on the table or comment on the progress of the talks. It's apparent, though, that a top priority for the District must be elimination of seniority-based transfer rules. Under this archaic system, a teacher has the absolute right to any vacancy at any school on the basis of seniority. Talented teachers with fewer years in service are edged out, displaced and discouraged. Principals who are accountable for school performance have little or no say in who is on their team.

A far better system is the open-market process used in New York City, in which the teacher and principal both have to agree on the placement. Not only are principals reporting better results, but teachers -- who initially fought the idea -- find that there are advantages to working for someone who actually wants them. An analysis by a New York union official found that every category of teacher did better under the new rules.

Ms. Rhee, then heading up the New Teacher Project, had a big hand in bringing about those changes. Data she developed helped to persuade an arbitration panel to rule against seniority-based transfers. So she knows the importance of winning this change. Other aspects of the contract, such as excessive rules for the school day, need revamping. There are exciting ideas, among them teacher mentoring programs -- being tested in other parts of the country that the District would do well to emulate. Then, too, the system needs to do a better job of administering existing contract provisions, such as a 90-day timeline to get rid of bad teachers.

One hopeful sign in the negotiations is the presence of George Parker as president of the once scandal-ridden Washington Teachers' Union. Mr. Parker is a reform-minded union leader who realizes that the old ways have not worked. A revealing portrait of him in the City Paper demonstrated that it was his leadership that resulted in unprecedented contract language pledging cooperation with the system and some stabs at reforms, as well as union support for Ms. Rhee's selection as chancellor. "I think unions in general have to step up to the plate and give educating children a high priority," Mr. Parker told the City Paper.

Mr. Parker and Ms. Rhee are said to have a good working relationship. The question, though, is whether Mr. Parker will be able to bring his membership along. Given the exodus of students from the public schools, union members would do well to think about what kind of jobs they will have if new ideas are not given a chance.