Back-to-school season is upon us and another school year is taking shape. Whether you're fresh out of school, you're considering schooling options for a young student, or your oldest is graduating this year, take a moment to reflect on those inspiring educators who've helped shape your life.
As a state, we are at a crossroads with respect to education. Advocates from both sides of the aisle continue to champion policies that increase accountability in schools, strengthen school choice, and provide flexibility and innovation via technology initiatives. Transforming education for the 21st Century has become a top priority in Arkansas and nationwide.
This new renaissance in education is not only shaking up our classrooms but fundamentally altering the face of the teaching profession. Arkansas is in the middle of implementing new teacher and principal evaluation policies, new testing, Common Core-aligned curricula, and even a new insurance plan for educators. Additional reforms are already being discussed for the 2015 legislative session and educators are facing monumental challenges.
The nation's largest teacher union, the National Education Association--known here at home as the Arkansas Education Association--has seen a loss of 60,000 members in 2013 alone. This mass exodus has not only gained national headlines but has left teachers questioning the value of pricey union membership--which can run as high as $700 a year in Arkansas.
It is this rapidly evolving climate that is fostering a new direction for education employees. Teachers are demanding a new voice and leadership that reflects a modern profession. No longer is a one-size-fits-all system of high dues, partisan politics, and status quo thinking working for the thousands of educators seeking a voice in Arkansas. Our devoted educators are demanding options.
Thankfully, the Arkansas State Teachers Association is leading the charge in ushering the teaching profession into a new era of professionalism, accountability, and esteem.
We work with teachers every day who are searching for an organization that meets their needs without compromising their values. We believe that teachers deserve to be treated as individual professionals with ideas and experiences that can be brought to the table. As professionals on the front lines of education, no work force is more equipped to recommend meaningful policy innovations.
Creating and implementing meaningful and common-sense education reform requires that the authentic voices of Arkansas teachers be considered over the outdated and overreaching mantras of combative union bosses seeking to preserve their monopoly on teachers in the state. Due to outdated policies that favor union chiefs over teachers, many school employees are kept from seeing the larger picture.
Due to the roadblocks and challenges associated with reaching educators within Arkansas, we have launched a statewide campaign to educate teachers and other school employees about their options in professional associations. By increasing our reach, we'll put educators back in the driver's seat.
Freedom of choice for teachers and other education professionals is at the heartbeat of why we are growing as a non-union alternative to teacher labor unions in the state. We owe it to our teachers to put them in control of their own paychecks.
Our teachers are a treasure; we must empower them to be leaders in our state. Arkansas school employees deserve an association that is solely focused on education and supporting its members, not politicians or agendas that have nothing to do with education.
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Dr. Michele Ballentine-Linch is the executive director of the Arkansas State Teachers Association.
Editorial on 08/29/2014