Caught in the Crunch

By Ellie McGrath

Under pressure, two rival teachers' unions reconsider old policies

They made a distinctly odd couple. There was Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers and leader of the five-week New York City teachers' strike in 1968, standing beside President Reagan, whom Shanker had bitterly opposed in the 1980 election. Reagan is dedicated to granting tuition tax credits for private schooling and is determined to cut federal aid to public education. The A.F.T. is strongly opposed to both ideas. Indeed, just the day before Reagan's address last week in Los Angeles, Shanker issued a report card on the President and gave him an F+ (the plus for at least putting educational reform on the national agenda). But when Shanker invited Reagan at the assembly to meet the people "who have been fighting for excellence in education," the President applauded the teachers. And when Reagan spoke of the need to raise standards and become "partners in public school revival," the teachers--and Shanker--applauded him back.

By appearing before the A.F.T., Reagan was trying to exploit a growing national concern about the need to improve public schools. He was also indicating a willingness to collaborate with the A.F.T., which represents 580,000 school employees, perhaps furthering a split in the teachers' union movement. Said the President: "I know that there's another pretty big education organization out there. But it has been my experience that dedication, open-mindedness and initiative count for as much as size. The A.F.T., like Avis, tries harder."

As he spoke, the Hertz of teachers' unions was meeting in Philadelphia. The National Education Association, which represents 1.7 million school employees, controlled the largest bloc of delegates and alternates at the 1980 Democratic Convention. Diametrically opposed to Reagan's policies, the N.E.A. last week played host to five Democratic presidential hopefuls. The mood of the delegates at the N.E.A. meeting was defensive. Said outgoing N.E.A. President Willard McGuire: "We've often been accused of speaking to our self-interests, seeking to reduce our work loads or increase our association's membership. That's a lot of malarkey." Shanker might have been warning the N.E.A. not to dig in its heels when he told his own convention, "We are living in dangerous times. Education is under attack."

The past few years have been hard for the unions. Diminishing state revenues have left many school districts unable to meet their budgets and forced some to reduce teaching staffs. During 1982-83, there were only 87 teacher strikes, compared with 242 just three years earlier, largely because teachers have realized that they cannot shake money out of empty coffers. This spring a report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education found that teacher training programs needed substantial improvement and that too few top students are attracted to the profession. While urging that all salaries be raised, the commission proposed that superior teachers be rewarded with merit increases, a concept traditionally opposed by both unions on the ground that such bonuses might be awarded unfairly.

The two teachers' unions have long-standing ideological differences. Over the past decade, the N.E.A. has waged a campaign against standardized testing of students, claiming that the process does not accurately reflect the performance of minority students. The N.E.A. also opposes competency testing of teachers, arguing that their skills cannot be judged by a written test. The A.F.T., however, believes that standardized tests can be useful tools for measuring student progress and that competency tests are acceptable in the hiring of new teachers.

Reagan sought to exploit the differences between the unions in Los Angeles. Said he: "The A.F.T. wants to upgrade standards, including emphasis on testing both students and beginning teachers, changing curriculum to strengthen academic requirements and increasing homework assignments. So do I." He also attacked the N.E.A. for "brainwashing American schoolchildren" (see box).

At both conventions the biggest and most politically sensitive issue was merit pay, a concept that is getting increased attention from politicians, the public and some key educators, including Anthony Alvarado, the newly appointed chancellor of New York City's schools. The A.F.T. has been quietly debating the pros and cons of merit pay for several months, realizing that it could not just flatly reject the concept in today's charged atmosphere. As a result, Reagan complimented the A.F.T. for "its fair and open-minded approach to other potential means of encouraging good teaching and good teachers." Another speaker at the A.F.T. convention was Tennessee's Governor Lamar Alexander, a Republican, who has proposed a sweeping merit-pay plan for his state. It would create four career stages, ultimately allowing "master" teachers to earn 60% more than the base salary. The A.F.T. gave Alexander a standing ovation, and Shanker endorsed "the freshness of the idea that deserves a hearing by all of us."

The N.E.A., by contrast, has until recently been obdurately opposed even to considering merit pay. Outgoing Executive Director Terry Herndon vowed to fight the master-teacher concept in Tennessee and anywhere else that it is tried. Supporting this determination, some N.E.A. delegates at the convention wore badges that said: TRY MERIT PAY IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

The new leadership at the N.E.A. seems to be willing to consider ways of working out a fair merit-pay plan. Mary Hatwood Futrell, the president-elect, has declared that the union is still "tough on merit pay, but not so tough that we're not willing to open discussion." Don Cameron, who succeeds Herndon as executive director, has called on the N.E.A. "to review many longstanding policies." Cameron has also declared, "Let us state that there are some incompetent teachers in America's classrooms." At the convention, the N.E.A. delegates voted to set up a task force, headed by Futrell, to monitor and assess recommendations for educational reforms and to make proposals of its own.

The unions are clearly facing a crisis. They want to protect the jobs and salaries of their members; they also want to join the movement to improve the quality of instruction. Says Scott Thomson, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals: "The unions have to respond positively to the demand for quality schools." The A.F.T.'s Shanker puts the issue in practical terms: "If we show we're reasonable, we can have a new commitment to public education, especially from the business community. If we stonewall and show our political muscle, we're just going to end up isolated and destroyed. We have a golden Opportunity."

--By Ellie McGrath. Reported by Anne Constable/Washington and Joseph J. Kane/Los Angeles

With reporting by Anne Constable, Joseph J. Kane This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.