Unions Target Charter Schools

Chicago International Charter schools are highlighted in a NY Times story yesterday, illustrating the sneaky deal pushed through in Illinois which lifts the cap on charter schools here but allows card-check style union organizing--no secret ballot:

But the unionization effort raises questions about whether unions will strengthen the charter movement by stabilizing its young, often transient teaching force, or weaken it by preventing administrators from firing ineffective teachers and imposing changes they say help raise achievement, like an extended school year.

“A charter school is a more fragile host than a school district,” said Paul T. Hill, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington. “Labor unrest in a charter school can wipe it out fast. It won’t go well for unions if the schools they organize decline in quality or go bust.”

As it turns out, one of the key teachers who invited in the unions voted against unionizing after thinking it through.

What will unionization do for innovation and choice for kids, not to mention academic excellence? I think we know the answer.