The current teachers’ contract, which expires June 30^th, 2012, calls for no salary increases of any kind for this year school (2011-12).

However, the contract also includes this wording on page 76 under SECTION 32. SALARY, EXTRACURRICULAR COMPENSATION, AND OTHER COMPENSATION, item 2C:

Effective upon ratification of this Agreement there will be an index freeze (steps and education), with teachers to resume their normal step adjustment in 2012-2013 (i.e. teacher on MA at step 10 in 2010-2011 will remain on MA step 10 in 2011-2012 but will move to the appropriate education column and step 12 in 2012-2013). The resumption of the normal step adjustment in 2012-2013 shall occur regardless of a rollover.

This means that all continuing education and longevity step increases not received during the ‘freeze’ will get paid out in 2012-2013 in addition to the currently eligible step increases.  Under this scenario, the freeze would really represent a deferral as those eligible would receive double step increases come 2012-2013.

For example, if a teacher qualified for a 5% longevity step and a 3% continuing education step in both years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, they would receive the following increases:

0% increase in 2011-2012 because of the ‘freeze’

16% increase in 2012-2013 (5% + 5% + 3% + 3%)

To avoid this scenario, the next school board needs to negotiate this out of the next contract and have that contract signed before June 30^th, 2012.  If the next contract is not completely ratified by June 30^th, 2012, the previous contract rolls over and the deferred step increases get awarded.

To learn more:

What are 'step' increases?

Is our district required to pay 'step' increases?

What does the phrase 'absolute salary freeze' mean?

How has teacher compensation changed from 2001 until now?

How does our average teacher salary compare to the rest of the districts in the state?

Teachers' Contract For 7/1/2010 thru 6/30/2012

Based on the recently passed State budget, our district will lose $1.9M in State funding for FY12:

$911K  Less from Tangible Personal Property Reimbursement

$600K  Elimination of Public Utility Reimbursement

$414K  Elimination of State Fiscal Stabilization Fund

Most of the staff in our district belong to one of two labor unions:

BEA (Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association)

• Teachers

Recent contracts:

BEA Agreement 7/1/2010 thru 6/30/2012

BEA Agreement 8/1/2008 thru 6/30/2010

BEA Agreement 8/1/2004 thru 6/30/2008

BOSS (Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff)

• Administrative Assistants/EMIS Coordinator/Secretary/SIS Secretary/BOE Secretary/Receptionist
• Education Assistants/Media Assistants
• Special Education Assistants
• Health Aides / Bus Aides
• Cooks / Food Service Workers
• Custodians
• Maintenance/Mechanics
• Bus Drivers/Instructor/Courier
• Print Shop Operator
• Computer Technician

Recent contracts:

BOSS Agreement 7/1/2010 thru 6/30/2012

BOSS Agreement 7/1/2008 thru 6/30/2010

BOSS Agreement 7/1/2004 thru 12/31/2007

All school districts in Ohio are required to file annual financial data with the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) which then posts Finance Related Data on their website.  The numbers listed below come from the ODE.

 Below are the 20 districts with the highest average teacher salary for FY2010. 

The Five-Year Forecast is filed with the Ohio Department of Education annually. The forecast reflects the district's general operating fund and shows three years of actual information for revenue and expenditures as well as projections for the current fiscal year and four subsequent fiscal years.  It is posted on the district's website and the latest copy can be found here:

Five-Year Financial Forecast

The Brecksville-Broadview Heights School District and its teachers union reached a settlement in the nick of time. With the start of school only days away, the school board announced at its Aug. 27 meeting that it had approved new contracts with the unions representing teachers and the support staff, avoiding a strike.

In a 4-1 vote, the board approved three-year contracts with both unions; each contract has an optional fourth year. The district says the new agreements will save more than $6 million over four years.

The union members agreed to maintain their current salary schedules through the 2014-15 school year, with steps frozen and not restored in the future. Teachers who continue their education will receive pay raises based on the current salary schedule.

The health care plan was also reworked, and the district projects savings of more than $3.8 million over four years. Under the new contracts, union members will contribute 15 percent of premium costs for health and dental insurance, and prescription drugs.

In addition, coverage will not be offered to union members’ spouses who are eligible to participate in group plans offered by their own employers (there are some exceptions). The contracts provide for spousal premium reimbursement, which will be capped at $125 per month during the life of the contract.

Another major part of the new agreement, an eight-hour teacher workday, which includes planning time, will be the standard.

The dissenting vote came from board member Mark Dosen. ”These new agreements do contain meaningful and significant concessions that will have a positive effect on district finances for years to come,”said Dosen. ”However, there were a few areas where this agreement fell short for me.”

Dosen cited the lack of a second-tier salary schedule, claiming it means the school district did not address the long-term problem of accelerated salary increases for educators elevated to the top pay level in 15 years.

He also felt that the cost structure needed work. ”Until we correct this fundamental problem with our cost structure, sustainability will be elusive,”said Dosen.  “For me, that unfortunately, was a deal-breaker as I was committed to addressing both our short-term and our long-term economic  challenges.”

Throughout the course of contract negotiations, the school district had received plenty of attention, both locally and nationally. ”We appreciate the support of the community in terms of their comments and actions,”said board member David Tryon. ”We thank our teachers and support staff for the savings we will realize now and in the future.”

Superintendent Scot Prebles echoed Tryon, offering up his own praise for the agreements. ”I am pleased with this outcome,” he said. ”Students, families and our community did not have to endure a

work stoppage.”

Prebles also said he was glad sports and extracurricular activities went off without a hitch and that he is looking forward to the new school year getting off to a great start.

For Dosen, he remained optimistic - and cautious - about the future. ”While these agreements do provide significant cost savings through lower benefit levels and step freezes, they also leave a heavy tax burden for the community,”he said.  “While time will tell if the community is willing to shoulder this burden, I was hopeful that the burden would be lighter.”

For now, the teachers and students are back to school, ready for a fresh start.

In the end all it took was a federal mediator, plenty of hours of negotia­tions and one nervous community for the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District's Board of Education to bang out a three-year contract with its unions.

A tentative agreement was an­nounced on Aug. 22 and within a week all parties, including the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Asso­ciation and the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff had approved the contract that contained language for an optional fourth year. The board of education approved the contract by a 4-1 vote, with Mark Dosen voting against the deal.

Overall the district is claiming more than $6 million in savings, while the unions appear happy with their results.

"My thoughts on the process was ev­eryone on the board was sincere in their efforts to reach a fair deal and worked well together to accomplish this com­promise," said Brecksville-Broadview Heights Board of Education President David Tryon. "I would say just collec­tively being able to save over $6 million over the life* of the contract is a very sig­nificant step in the right direction to re­storing the district to financial health. The whole idea was having a package deal and how we got there was less important ~ u actually getting the savings."

Added Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association (BEA) spokesperson and Middle School teacher Joe Zenir. "We're excited it's over and happy to be back in the classroom to start anew and put everything behind us. I think both sides showed good faith in negotiating to come up with a fair and equitable agreement."

A press release of the deal revealed the give and take between the board of education and its unions. This includes: roughly $2.4 million in savings from salaries, the existing step salary schedule doesn't change for the next three years, an optional fourth year of the contract (for school year 2015-16) would freeze salaries and teachers can receive raises due to education advancement.

There's also language requiring an eight-hour teacher workday and expect­ed savings from insurance changes to be nearly $4 million. Regarding the latter, both unions' employees will contrib­ute 15 percent of premium costs, while spouses who work outside the district will take their employers' insurance.

As for the negotiating process, it was a bumpy road filled with unexpected twists and turns that at times took both sides off guard. This past spring, the BOE's contingency plan against a teach­ers' strike included advertising for hun­dreds of substitute teachers. This was followed months later by the unions vot­ing to authorize a strike if needed.

"If you look at the initial proposals, you'll see there was a significant divide and both parties had to make some sig­nificant compromises over their initial proposals before we could reach that compromise," Tryon said. "I was pleas­antly surprised that we were able to get a deal before school started."

Tryon said this was due to the fact that the previous district-union negotia­tions lasted into the next school year.

He said, "It's pretty early but limited feedback I've gotten so far is that people are pleased that we have a deal."

Still, not everyone in the community is content with the new deal.

"Once again, the board approved a contract our district cannot afford un­less the voters approve a new levy in the future." schoolboardwatchdog.com pub­lisher Renee Engelhart said. "The board should have stuck to its guns - in spite of the teachers' threat to strike. The board $hould not have approved any contract that requires the taxpayers to pay more than we already pay."

As the lone vote against the contract. Board Member Mark Dosen explained his decision.

"My bar was probably set higher than my colleagues, which is probably why I was the lone dissenter." Dosen said. "I ran for the board with great hopes to reform our system and set us on a path to long-term sustainability and success. These new agreements definitely make an impact on our short-term problem, and improve it. Unfortunately it does not address the long-term, and by that I mean the board was pursuing a second-tier salary schedule that would have had 25 steps. The current salary schedule has 15. A step is equated to a year."

Dosen stressed he's not against teachers receiving raises but said the cur­rent step schedule creates financial pres­sures on the district. He added the pro­posed new schedule would have affected only new teachers entering the district.

Elected to the school board last year as part of a reform slate with Mike Ziegler that included a campaign slogan of "Change You Can Afford," Dosen at times during the negotiations process had been called "anti-teacher" by mem­bers of the community. It's a tag that he rejects.

"One of the most disappointing el­ements of this entire process has been people not focusing on the solutions and debating our different options but tak­ing it to a personal level," Dosen said. "I don't think that benefits the community, I also don't think that benefits the open and honest debate that needs to occur on how we fix our system. Before run­ning for the board, I counted a number of teachers as my friends. Unfortunately, things have changed a bit.

"I understand that these are difficult economic times and we have hard choic­es to make. If we decided that we want to continue to keep our teacher pay at the levels we're at, that's OK but the voters need to fund it. So \ve failed three new levies in a row and the community to change the board. I think we need to be mindful of what message the commu­nity is sending. If they're unable to or un­willing to pass new tax dollars and they vote in change on the board, what can we glean from that?"

For Mark Dosen, the decision to vote no on the new agreements with the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District’s unions was not an easy one.

Dosen, however, said he made it because he truly believes that more concessions could have been made that would have lessened the burden on the taxpayers.

“Every board member struggled with, ‘Is this enough?’ ” Dosen said after the vote.

He acknowledged that the agreements are a step in the right direction but, “For myself, it didn’t measure up to what I wanted to accomplish.”

Dosen was elected to the board last November on a campaign platform that stressed changing the system to decrease the burden on taxpayers without losing the quality of education. He says there are two ways to address the district’s budget woes.

One is approving a new levy, which is a short-term fix. The other is by adjusting the pay structure in the district. It’s the latter where Dosen said more could have been done.

Echoing what he said during his 2012 campaign, Dosen says the problem is not that a teacher makes $90,000; the problem is that, under the current system, it only takes 15 years to make it to that point.

That is why Dosen says the board wanted to pursue a two-tier pay scale in which current employees would be frozen and new hires would be placed on a 25-step scale. Those steps would be unfrozen so new hires could continue to advance, but at a slower rate.

“If you don’t fix the long-term problem, we could be in the same situation,” he said, referring to the end of the newly agreed-upon contract.

He added that, looking at a broader scale, most other industries with organized labor have brought on two-tier systems.

“I hope by my dissenting vote, I shine some light on it,” Dosen said. “The system we have now is becoming too expensive to support.”

Though negotiations take place behind closed doors, Dosen said he had hoped that the process would have included more public dialogue about solutions to the district’s long-term financial issues.

“There was a whole segment of dialogue going on that was of a more personal nature,” Dosen said. “What I have a hard time and struggle with is that these attacks made it seem like we’re against teachers. I reject that. This isn’t about feelings, it’s about economics.”

With the agreements signed, Dosen says that only time will tell if what the board and unions agreed to were enough to sway voters who have vigorously rejected new money levies in the district.

“The concessions that were achieved are real and significant,” Dosen said. “There are real cost savings, there are real changes. Is it enough? The voters will decide.”

Though there were personal attacks made and many found the negotiation process polarizing, if one good thing came out of it, Dosen says it’s that more people in Brecksville and Broadview Heights have “plugged in and reached out.”

That is one of the reasons, he says, that the board is trying to become more transparent. By doing so, Dosen feels that the public has become more educated making for a stronger democracy and better decision-making in the voting booth.

“It sparked a whole series dialogues and conversations,” Dosen said.

For Mark Dosen, the decision to vote no on the new agreements with the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District’s unions was not an easy one.

Dosen, however, said he made it because he truly believes that more concessions could have been made that would have lessened the burden on the taxpayers.

“Every board member struggled with, ‘Is this enough?’ ” Dosen said after the vote.

He acknowledged that the agreements are a step in the right direction but, “For myself, it didn’t measure up to what I wanted to accomplish.”

Dosen was elected to the board last November on a campaign platform that stressed changing the system to decrease the burden on taxpayers without losing the quality of education. He says there are two ways to address the district’s budget woes.

One is approving a new levy, which is a short-term fix. The other is by adjusting the pay structure in the district. It’s the latter where Dosen said more could have been done.

Echoing what he said during his 2012 campaign, Dosen says the problem is not that a teacher makes $90,000; the problem is that, under the current system, it only takes 15 years to make it to that point.

That is why Dosen says the board wanted to pursue a two-tier pay scale in which current employees would be frozen and new hires would be placed on a 25-step scale. Those steps would be unfrozen so new hires could continue to advance, but at a slower rate.

“If you don’t fix the long-term problem, we could be in the same situation,” he said, referring to the end of the newly agreed-upon contract.

He added that, looking at a broader scale, most other industries with organized labor have brought on two-tier systems.

“I hope by my dissenting vote, I shine some light on it,” Dosen said. “The system we have now is becoming too expensive to support.”

Though negotiations take place behind closed doors, Dosen said he had hoped that the process would have included more public dialogue about solutions to the district’s long-term financial issues.

“There was a whole segment of dialogue going on that was of a more personal nature,” Dosen said. “What I have a hard time and struggle with is that these attacks made it seem like we’re against teachers. I reject that. This isn’t about feelings, it’s about economics.”

With the agreements signed, Dosen says that only time will tell if what the board and unions agreed to were enough to sway voters who have vigorously rejected new money levies in the district.

“The concessions that were achieved are real and significant,” Dosen said. “There are real cost savings, there are real changes. Is it enough? The voters will decide.”

Though there were personal attacks made and many found the negotiation process polarizing, if one good thing came out of it, Dosen says it’s that more people in Brecksville and Broadview Heights have “plugged in and reached out.”

That is one of the reasons, he says, that the board is trying to become more transparent. By doing so, Dosen feels that the public has become more educated making for a stronger democracy and better decision-making in the voting booth.

“It sparked a whole series dialogues and conversations,” Dosen said.

Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District Superintendent Scot Prebles was pleased that the agreements between the school board and the district's unions were approved and a work stoppage was averted.

“The new school year should get off to a great start,” he said at the Aug, 27 board meeting.

That new school year began today and not much has changed at the six school buildings. The bulk of the change came in the form of five new teachers at the high school.

The new teachers are Kiersten Franklin, science; Kevin Malone, business; Ashley Rowland, art; Meghan Slattery, math; and Kayla Woods, math.

According to Rich Evans, district director of personnel, other personnel changes came in the form of fill-ins for employees taking leave of absences or doing job shares.

In the week leading up the start of school, Prebles said he is looking forward to having the students back in the buildings.

“We’re up and we’re moving,” Prebles said.

Improvements from the summer include new bleachers at the football field, new lighting and roofs as part of an energy conservation project and an updated math and science curriculum. Prebles added that the Parent School Organization is also geared up for all that they do for the schools.

“It’s a fun time of the year,” he said, enthusiastically, adding that even superintendents go out to get new clothes for the school year.

With two days to go before school started, the Brecksville-Broadview Heights school board and the employees in two unions ratified the new three-year contracts.

At its Aug. 27 meeting the board voted 4-1 to accept the new agreements. The lone dissenting vote came from Mark Dosen.

At the meeting, Dosen said his two main problems with the agreements were the lack of a second-tier salary schedule for teachers and the fact that the tax burden on the community was not lessened enough.

“These agreements are a giant step in the right direction, but for me personally, they do not rise to the level of reform I believe we need,” Dosen said.

Like the board meetings since April, about 200 teachers, support staff and those supporting the district employees packed the meeting. They also applauded after the board approved the agreements.

“We’re pleased to be going back to school with an agreement in place,” said David Tryon, board president, after the meeting.

After the meeting, Joe Zenir, spokesman for the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association and a Middle School teacher, said that he, like his counterparts are busy planning for the Aug. 29 start of classes.

“We’re excited to start the school year,” Zenir said. “We’re just excited to put this behind us.”

“Both sides made concessions that were in the best interest of the students,” he added.

When asked about those concessions, Zenir nor Tryon went into great detail.

“There were concessions on both sides,” Tryon said, acknowledging that the process was aided by the help of the federal mediator.

“I think it would have taken much longer to reach an agreement without the federal mediator’s involvement.”

According to Tryon, he and the school board put in more than 100 hours in negotiations and getting the contracts approved.

“It was challenging, that’s for sure,” Tryon said. “But it was worth it in the end. All parties found an acceptable compromise.”

In a press release following the meeting, Tryon highlighted some of what was in the new agreements, which have an optional fourth year.

• Potential savings forecast will amount to more than $2.4 million from employee salaries over four years. The unions agreed to maintain the current salary schedule for 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 with steps frozen and not restored in the future.

An optional fourth year (2015-16) also calls for freezing the current salary schedule with steps frozen and not restored. The board will not trigger this option unless the school district budget can accommodate it.

Teachers who advance their education will still be able to receive a raise in pay based upon the current salary schedule

• An eight-hour teacher workday replaces the current teacher day. This item will provide flexibility to serve student needs now and in the future.

• Projected insurance savings over four years will exceed $3.8 million. Both unions’ employees will contribute 15 percent of premium costs for health and dental insurance and prescription drugs.

The agreement requires employees whose spouses work outside the district to take their employers’ insurance.

During the life of the contract a spousal premium reimbursement will be in effect, capped at $125 per month.

The new agreements, which are estimated to save the district more than $6 million, can be found at the district’s website bbhcsd.org.

Sun Star-Courier correspondent Chuck Poliafico contributed to this story.

BRECKSVILLE -- The Brecksville-Broadview Heights  school board will meet at 5:30 p.m. today (August 27) in the middle school auditorium, 6376 Mill Road, Broadview Heights.

The meeting will begin with an executive session to review the negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees and the board will reconvene in public session at 7.

The largest item of note on the public meeting portion of the agenda is the vote on both the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association and Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff contracts.

According to Joe Zenir, spokesman for the unions, both unions ratified their contracts. With the approval of the board, the contracts can be released to the public.

Also on the agenda is an update about the opening of the new school year, discussion about August's renewal levy and discussion on school district facilities.

In the ongoing saga that is the labor negotiations between the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District board and its unions it appears that some serious headway was made Aug. 21.

Following what board president David Tryon referred to as a "productive" negotiation session Aug. 16, representatives from the unions and the board met with a federal mediator Aug. 21.

In that session, which started at 5 p.m., the board and the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff reached a tentative three-year agreement according to Todd Jaeck, a labor relations consultant for the Ohio Education Association.

As for the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association, according to Jaeck, the two side met until 3:30 a.m. and also came out with a tentative agreement.

At this time, Jaeck was unaware of the details of the contracts but said that members of both unions still needed to ratify the agreements.

Tryon confirmed that all parties had reached the new tentative three-year agreements and more information would follow.

BRECKSVILLE -- Hot on the heels of the announcement that Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff, the non-teaching members of the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District had taken a strike authorization vote, both unions that represent employees in the district called for a truce between the organizations and the school board.

At an Aug. 13 press conference the unions asked the board to sign a memorandum of understanding. The press conference was originally set to take place before the Aug. 13 special school board meeting, which was cancelled. 

Many district employees and their supporters were on-hand and surrounded Joe Zenir, a teacher and spokesperson for the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association, made the unprecedented announcement.

In that memorandum, referred to as "The Pledge" the unions would relinquish the right to strike and the board would relinquish its right to impose a contract. By doing so, both sides would agree to negotiate for as long as it takes to reach a fair and equitable contract.

The unions did so as an olive branch to help quell some of the "fear" they perceive is taking over the Brecksville and Broadview Heights communities that a new collective bargaining agreement will not be reached and the unions would strike if the board forces a contract.

Though the board has maintained it wants to avoid a strike and does not want to force a contract, the unions believe that is not the case given some of the board’s actions during the negotiation process.

According to Zenir, despite nearly $2.5 million in concessions from the BEA the district is "on the brink of a destructive and unnecessary labor conflict."

That conflict would result in a work stoppage, one that would tear the communities apart.

"At all times the goal of the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association and the Organization of Support Staff has been to secure a fair and equitable contract that would show shared sacrifice by employees, while also preserving the education that our students deserve," Zenir told the crowd.

By signing "The Pledge" the fear would subside and the parties would be able to continue negotiating on a new contract while the employees operate under terms of the 2010-2012 collective bargaining agreements.

Since "The Pledge" would be a legally binding contract the board is required to vote on it and the earliest it could do so is the Aug. 27 regular board meeting.

However, the board could vote on it during a special meeting. The unions would like "The Pledge" signed immediately to do what is "is right for the kids," Zenir said after the press conference.

"It doesn't solve the problem, but it commits to solving the problem in a more private setting," Zenir added.

Not only does "The Pledge" call on the board to relinquish its right to impose a contract and the unions to strike, it also supports both sides’ contention that they want to bargain in good faith on a fair and equitable contract.

"The board has said that they are committed to negotiating in good faith. They said they do not want to force a strike," Zenir said. "To the board we say this. Prove it, sign ‘The Pledge’."

School board President David Tryon and his fellow board members were not at the press conference. The Aug. 13 meeting was cancelled due to a lack of information pertaining to the scheduled Executive Session, which was the only item on the agenda.

Because the board did not meet, BEA President Bonnie Monteleone taped the pledge to the Education Center door and organized volunteers to hand-deliver copies of "The Pledge" to each board member's doorstep.

BRECKSVILLE -- The Brecksville-Broadview Heights school board announced that it is canceling its special board meeting set to take place at 6 p.m. August 13 at the Education Center.

The agenda included only a closed-door Executive Session to update the board on the negotiation process. The email announcing the cancellation of the meeting said it was cancelled due to a lack of necessary information.

A call to Joe Zenir, Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association spokesperson, confirmed that the BEA and Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff press conference set for 5:45 p.m. would still take place at the Education Center, 6638 Mill Road, Brecksville.

At that press conference officials from the unions will discuss plans for the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year. School is scheduled to begin Aug. 29.

Like the BEA did in July, BOSS announced Aug, 10 that it had taken a strike authorization vote. The vote would allow the union to strike if the board attempts to impose a contract.

In an Aug. 13 press release, school board President David Tryon announced upcoming dates for negotiation talks with a federal mediator between the the board and the two unions.

BEA meetings are planned for Aug. 16, 21 and 24 and meetings with BOSS are planned for Aug. 23 and 27. 

BRECKSVILLE -- The Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff, the union that represents the classified workers employed by the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District approved a strike authorization vote Aug. 10.

According to a press release from BOSS, members approved the vote by a 91 percent margin. Like the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association, which represents teachers in the district, by approving the vote BOSS can issue a strike notice if needed.

The release went on to say that the members felt it necessary to take the vote because "they received inside information that the board plans on eventually unilaterally implementing a contract."

What that means is that the board would force a contract on the union as opposed to continuing negotiations. The union members believe that it was the school board's intention to do that since the beginning of the negotiation process.

As for the teachers, a 5:45 p.m. press conference is planned for Aug. 13 outside the Education Center, 6638 Mill Road, Brecksville in regards to that union's plans for the school year. The school board is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. the same night.

The agenda for that special meeting consists of an executive session to 1) Reviewing negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their  compensation or other terms and conditions of employment and 2) to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, or compensation of a public employee.

The Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District Board of Education will meet at 6:15 p.m. July 17 at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School, 6376 Mill Road, Broadview Heights.

The meeting will begin with an executive session and will reconvene at 7 p.m.

Judging by the meetings in April, May and June, this meeting will be packed with supporters of both the school board and the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association as well as those who want to encourage the board and the unions to work together to get the contract issues resolved.

Stories about the contract negotiations have garnered a lot of comments online and this is just a sampling of what our readers are saying.

The comments were not edited and appear as the Cleveland.com user posted them. Some of the comments are part of a larger back-and-forth conversation.

The bulk of the comments are attached to the story about the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association taking its strike authorization vote. 

Jl4: Teaching is an HONORABLE profession. I am hurt and saddened at the way I am being talked about. You do not know me. I love what I do, and I would never disparage another's profession because that is morally wrong.i am more than a teacher- I am a confidant, a counselor, a mentor, a shoulder to cry on,and most importantly an educator. I am good at what I do and worth every penny of what I make. I am sorry if you did not have a good experience with teachers or your children have poor teachers,but DO NOT generalize me into a group of lazy, video playing, greedy people when you do not know who I am.

You want me to give back? What about the administrators that just received a raise? And the new treasurer that is costing the same as the previous one? Oh don't forget the superfluous law firm that has already spent more than the previous one and is not even close to finishing.

TaxpayerReform: Jl4 – I am sure you are a great teacher. That is not the issue. Many great people work in the private sector for companies that are losing money. So cuts in salaries were required. Why should the teachers be any different?

Your union leadership fails to acknowledge that the district will be out of money in 2014. The union could really turn the tables on the board by thinking outside the box and proposing a contract that solves the financial problems. Instead they just attack the board and demand that the board go back to the taxpayers for more money in a very tight economy.

The union proposal did not acknowledge the financial cliff we are headed toward. The union should seriously try to solve the problem rather than stick with the same old story of going after more tax dollars.

speedbump50: I encourage everyone interested to spend some time sifting through the proposals from the two sides - they're both posted on the Board's website. I find it interesting that for the most part, the issue isn't really about salaries - they both have the same base starting point for a new teacher, who begins at $37,786.

Where I find a problem is in the minutiae of the proposals. I mean, the Board has the audacity to include in their proposal that the teachers work an eight-hour workday. The union's proposal: a seven and a half-hour workday, plus a 40 minute lunch period.

It may seem like a little thing, but it's really not. You always hear about teachers complaining how they spend SOOO much of their time away from work doing work-related activities (grading, preparing, etc. - funny how so many other jobs require this as well, but you never hear those people complaining), yet they balk at being required to be in the building for another half-hour??

And again, let's compare this to a private-sector job. My workday is a nine-hour workday with an hour taken out for lunch (office is open 8 to 5) - teachers are wanting 7.5 hours, and even taking 40 minutes out of that - so their actual "work day" is only 6 hours and 50 minutes (and we're not going to get into the garbage that is "prep periods."

Once more, let's look at the comparisons with a private-sector position. The average person in the private sector works 241 days a year (365 days - 104 (weekends) - 10 (vacation days) - 10 (holidays). The teacher work year is 186 days. Now, let's factor in the salary. A private-sector worker making that same $37,786 as a first-year teacher is making $19.60 per hour. That teacher making the same amount? Yeah, they're at $27.09 per hour (even the board's audacious proposal to extend the workday to eight hours would still have them at $25.39 per hour). I know, I know, the usual refrain from teachers is that "You couldn't do my job! You couldn't last a week in my job!" - would they care to try doing MY job? I'd give them four hours before they go running back to their cushy gig in the classroom.

Don't tell me the taxpayer isn't getting fleeced here.

sparky69: It's not a problem with the number of minutes in the building, it's a problem that the Board has no idea how that time is going to be structured. Is it going to change the start and end time of the school day for the kids? How is that time going to be spent? The teachers agreed to an extra half hour in the last contract. They are not opposed to working an eight hour day - the DO already work way beyond that. And if people would get all the information before bashing the teachers they might not spit out so much

 

smitty1008: I have lived in Brecksville all my life with the exception of college, grad school and my first job on the east coast. I did not attend the schools. My children began in private schools, but then enrolled in the district. It is ok. The classes are simply too large and we don't have the programming of other fine districts..the International Baccalaureate program comes to mind. There has been one teacher in my children's careers at BBHCSD that I feel is an outstanding teacher. She is dedicated, intelligent, caring, and innovative in her approach. She teaches in a specialized program for which very few students qualify. My child was lucky to have had her. We are returning to independent private schooling in the Fall and I couldn't be happier. Of course, this is a significant investment and sacrifice on our parts. When I was growing up, I remember my friends from the neighborhood talking about their small classes at Chippewa...15-18 a class...making my parents second guess their decision to invest in independent schooling. Not so today as the classes are upwards of 26-30. My son's class this year was literally a free for all....virtually no classroom management, and very little learning going on..a substitute teacher virtually every other week. My daughter's class was even worse. I was very disappointed in this "excellent district" and was very disheartened to see the red union shirts on the teachers at the end of year. I also did not appreciate the letters coming home from my children's teachers concerning the board and the negotations. I vote for every levy that is put on the ballot. We support the schools, but can't imagine a teacher's strike in this community. It is a shame what is going on, and if it really were for the children it would not be at this point. I have a very close friend who once crossed a picket line at a local hospital when she was an R.N. Her comments to me concerning that time are very telling. To her, nursing was a calling, not just a job. She crossed the line to care for her patients. To me, education should be a calling as well. Unfortunately, it really doesn't appear that way. I think the ones who have been "called" can be found at the independent schools making next to nothing, holding PhDs in their subject areas, and not reaping the benefits of the STRS. Certainly there are some excellent teachers in the district, who do not want to strike. It is very sad that the union would make the future work conditions of these teachers unbearable if they crossed the line. As people in the private sector are being downsized, paying more and more each year for mediocre health benefits, the teachers continue to receive raises and what seems like more and more time off. Something has to give. It is a different world and economy. I am saddened for this community's children....should the strike occur, they are the only losers in this game.

poetrywriter: I agree with some of your comments but let's be real. Teachers are human and anyone who thinks that everything is about their students is fooling themselves. Teachers have to earn a living, pay bills and take care of their families just like everyone else. As far as working in an independent school and earning next to nothing making someone called to the profession is not true.Teachers are either dedicated because they care or they are not. Working for next to nothing may be a preference or may be due to the lack of education jobs in Ohio. While I don't live in a city that is as nearly well off as Brecksville, I know that most of the public school teachers in Euclid are very dedicated to their students.

I know that my children were in an independent school, (private) and I thought that they were getting a good education. Finances forced me to enroll my children in the public system,and I found out how far behind that my children were academically. I know that it wasn't easy, but the teachers worked with my children and they are doing well.

I think that some of your comments were unfair to the teachers and to the board. We now live in a time where politicians are making decisions that educators should be making. We live in a state that wants to cut funding for education but increase funding in tourisim. We also live in a state where both democract and republican governors have refused to acknowledge the Ohio Supreme Court's ruling on school funding.

I don't think that it is wise for the teachers in your district to go on strike because of the econonmy. I do think that they should be happy to have a job and that they should recognize that former Cleveland, Lorain and other district teachers have the qualifications and experience to replace them. However, things are not always the way they are presented in the media. I have a difficult time believing that working conditions don't have something to do with their desire to strike.

nowreallynow: I looked it up, your communities have some of the lowest property taxes in Cuyahoga County! And you are complaining about a possible levy? You haven't had a new levy for schools since 2004!!! They average salary is high because you have lost programs and newer teachers. Any average joe could figure out that if there were new teachers the avg. would be lower.

averagejoe: nowreallynow: Okay, let's talk about property taxes. In Cuyahoga County, 14 tax districts have lower property tax than Brecksville which pays 2.14%. 13 years ago, more than 80% of the Cuyahoga Residents paid less than 2% in property taxes. These days, very few people are lucky enough to pay less than 2% in property taxes. We are currently paying what Shaker Heights was paying 15 years ago. If we don't stand up and fight the teachers union now, 15 years from now, are likely to have to pay more than 3% in property taxes. I am doing well financially, and we live in a cheap house. Our property tax is less than 3% of our gross income. However, all my neighbors are retired and on fixed income.

Sad4Kids: I can't believe what I'm reading! What happened to respecting teachers and valuing their experience and expertise? I don't know of any teacher that went into the profession for the money, yet based on the posts, you'd swear that the educators were stealing money from all of your pockets. Why should a teacher be ashamed of earning a decent living? Why don't people criticize baseball players for their incomes and the cost of the tickets and food at the ballpark? If it's for entertainment purposes, throwing out money is OK with everyone. When it comes to educating our youngsters, it's a different story. We need a teacher to sit down and figure out the amount of money they earn per hour once they figure out all the time spent outside of school doing work. I don't think anyone will say they're overpaid then.

cask23: If you are so confident in the value of your skills, the why don't you become a free agent (like multi-millon dollar sport stars) and see the value the private sector assigns to undergrad and masters of education.

Your going to quickly find out that a masters of education has about the same value as a degree in underwater basket weaving and that the only reason you are getting paid what you are is due to salary wage floors established by the teachers union. The same union which which sells you a line of propaganda that says just because you got a degree, you entitled to X number of dollars. The same union that tells you to get a masters degree, even though it offers no value in teaching K-12, just so you can jack up your tax payer funded salary even higher.

The public is on to the public union game and we are not falling for it anymore. The facts are out on what teacher's salaries and benefits actually are anyhow they are bankrupting our schools and communities. 

In response to the July 11 announcement that the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association had taken a strike authorization vote, the Brecksville-Broadview Heights school board said it will continue to negotiate with the unions on a fair and equitable contract.

The vote does not mean that the union is on strike or will strike. It means that if the board forces a contract on the union, the union could give a 10-day notice and then strike. As of now, the board has not forced a contract on the union.

"In the last negotiation cycle, discussions continued well into the new school year before a new contract was signed," said David Tryon, school board president, in a statement issued by the board.

He added that the association's timing is premature and that the board will continue its efforts to negotiate the contract in good faith.

"Continued discussions are scheduled to resume on July 30 with the participation of a federal mediator," Tryon said. "Our goal continues to be a contract which is fair, good for our students and responsible to budgetary realities. We ask the union to continue these good faith efforts as well."

The board president also reiterated that the board does not want a strike, but that it will continue contingency planning to make sure the fall semester starts in August.

Tryon also indicated in the statement that the board was encouraged by recent comments made by union members that the union does not want a strike and that the union wants to reach a fair and equitable contract.
 
Below is a look back at what caused the unions and the board to get to this point.

In an effort to be more transparent, at the onset of negotiations, the board launched its Negotiation News link on the district's website. This caught the union off guard because never before had a board publicly posted both contract proposals.

In response, the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association and the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff launched a similar website Beestaff.org to tell its side of the story.

At its May 21 meeting, the school board was confronted by a sea of red-shirted supporters. At that meeting, residents got up and spoke in favor of the teachers and the good work that they do for the children. 

At the June 25 school board meeting, with contracts expiring June 30, the red-shirted supporters filled the Board of Education office and forced the meeting to move to the Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School auditorium. The supporters urged the board to negotiate with the unions to reach a fair and equitable agreement. 

With three days to go before the contracts expired, the board surprised the unions when it announced that it was declaring an impasse and bringing in a federal mediator. The board was also go on to announce that it would advertise for substitute teachers to staff the schools in the events of a strike.

Feeling blindsided by these actions, the unions saw this as the first step towards the board declaring an ultimate impasse meaning that it could force a contract on the unions. This would leave the union with two choices accept the contract as is or strike.  The unions also issued a July 3 press release in regards to the district advertising for substitute teachers.

BRECKSVILLE -- With talks between the Brecksville-Broadview Heights school board and the unions deteriorating, the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association took a strike authorization vote.

The vote, approved by 99.5 percent majority, allows the union to strike if and when it feels it is necessary.

"Today's vote is a call to action to the Board of Education that teachers of the district are highly invested in providing top-quality education to the children of our communities," said Association spokesperson Joe Zenir in a press release emailed to the media.

Zenir, a teacher, coach and parent in the district, went on to say that the majority of the board appears to care about the money but that negotiations should be more than that.

"The draconian language changes the board proposed will have an enormous negative impact on our students and we won't allow that to happen," Zenir added. "Our working conditions are our students' learning conditions."

In the release, the associations says it took the vote because the board's tactics indicate that it plans to impose its contract on the association, forcing the teachers to strike as the only way to avoid the imposed contract. 

The Association took the vote because the Board plans to ultimately unilaterally implement a contract. An implemented contract would ignore the collective bargaining process altogether, and would force the teachers to exercise their right to strike as their only means to avoid accepting imposed working conditions against their consent.

In a previous story as well as the release sent out today, Zenir said that contrary to the message the board is sending, the teachers do not want to strike. Today's release adds, "Unfortunately the radical anti-education board has privately wanted a strike from day one, and is doing everything in their power to force one to happen."

“We have always said that our only goal is to achieve a fair and equitable contract that perpetuates the heritage of our fine educational programs that people in our communities expect and deserve,” Zenir said. “As a parent, community member, teacher and coach, today is a sad day for our schools.”

The vote follows a jam-packed June board meeting filled with teachers, staff and their supporters voicing their concerns about the negotiation process.

A week later by the board declared an impasse and said it would seek the help of a federal mediator. That was followed shortly by the board announcing and advertising for substitutes in the event that the teachers strike.

BRECKSVILLE -- The Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association is once again feeling blindsided by the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District Board of Education.

This time the union, which represents the teachers in the district, was "shocked" when it found out the board had declared an impasse, per the current contract with the union, and brought in a federal mediator to handle negotiations. The current contract expires June 30.

 “BEA is extremely disappointed that the Board has already taken the first step towards unilaterally implementing a contract,” said BEA crisis chair Ben Lesh in a media release. “By prematurely forcing mediation, the Board has revealed to the public and to the Association that they are more committed to forcing a strike than they are to bargaining in good faith."

The union sees this as the first step by the board to get to an ultimate impasse, meaning the board can invoke its best last offer to the union.

In an earlier story, David Tryon, board president, said that the board is not anticipating having to get to that point.

"We anticipate a resolution through mediation," he said.

However, should matters get to that point, the union would have only two options: Vote on the contract being forced upon it or go on strike. This is referred to as a strike authorization vote and, according to state law, must be done 10 days before the union can begin the strike.

BRECKSVILLE -- In an emailed press release sent at 7 p.m. June 27, the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District school board announced that it was turning over contract negotiations with the unions to a federal mediator.

“We have given the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association (BEA), the union that represents area teachers, written notice declaring impasse and requested the services of the federal mediator pursuant to Section 9 (H.) of the current agreement,” said David Tryon, board president. “Since the mediator will now have jurisdiction for the negotiations process, we cancelled all July negotiation meetings so we can be sure to accommodate the mediator’s schedule.”

In an interview June 28, Tryon said that the board took this measure, instead of exploring other options because it was the most prudent decision available to them

"Time is running out and we felt this was the fastest way to move things forward," he said.

In the release, Tryon also said that as an example of the board's efforts to negotiate in good faith with the union it unanimously decided to honor the current agreement as it pertains to pay increases for the 2012-13 school year.

Tryon indicated, in the June 28 interview, that the board agreed to this in hopes that the union would continue to negotiate and not go on strike. With this provision in place, Tryon says that 43 percent of the teachers will get a "double bump" in pay, a 10 percent increase. And another 10 percent will receive a $750 increase for longevity.

“We are disappointed that we had to take this action,” Tryon said in the release. “But on June 30, 2012 the current contract expires. It is time to make progress toward a resolution that will be good for education, reflects our current budget situation and is as fair to every employee as we can be under these circumstances.”

The board president wanted to make it clear that the mediator is there to assist both parties in reaching a resolution and that the mediator has no authority to impose a contract on either side.

If for some reason the two sides cannot come to terms on a contract, the board can deem the negotiations at an ultimate impasses and impose its last best offer to the unions for a vote.

At this point, Tryon said that the board has not attempted to impose its last best offer nor has it made its last best offer. The proposals from the unions as well as the board remain the same as what appears at the Negotiation News tab on the board's website.

"We are not anticipating an ultimate impasses," Tryon said June 28. "We anticipate a resolution through mediation."

Tryon also reminded the residents that the board is continuing to seek input on the negotiations at the Negotiation News

section on the school district website.

As for the Beesstaff.org website created by the unions, a message now appears on the home page that says that due to negotiations, the website is closed for public viewing. However, there is a contact box for residents to fill out if they would like periodic updates.

June 30 is the last day of the current contract for nearly 450 teachers and support staff in the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District. And that is a concern for both the unions and their supporters.

Those concerns were voiced June 25 when the employees and supporters crammed into the Board of Education building for the regular monthly school board meeting.

According to a release from the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association and the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff, nearly 400 people gathered at the meeting, forcing a change of venue to Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School.

Joe Zenir, spokesperson for the unions, said that many of the community that spoke expressed that they were not pleased with how the board was handling the negotiation process.

“They were in support of figuring this out,” Zenir said June 26. “They urged the board to figure this out and negotiate in a fair and equitable manor.”

Since the school district launched a negotiation news tab on the district website, the unions have said that the site, in its quest for transparency, only tells the board’s side of the story.

With the contracts expiring, the unions will have the ability to strike, though Zenir says a vote to do that has not been taken.

“I know that no teacher ever wants to go on strike,” Zenir said.

In order for the unions to strike, they must give the board a 10-day strike notice. School board President David Tryon concurred that the board has not received such a notice.

Tryon also addressed talk of the possibility that the district might lock the unions out of the buildings.

“A lockout is illegal,” he said. “We cannot do that and we will not do that. They are welcome to come and teach and we hope they do.”

A statement from the unions also noted concern that the board had contracted Huffmaster Strike Services, a firm that would provide the district with substitute teachers and other staff should there be a strike.

Tryon replied that the board, in an effort to be proactive should the unions strike, had contacted Huffmaster, but has not entered into any agreements.

“The schools will open promptly in the fall,” Tryon said. “If the unions choose to strike, we will utilize Huffmaster.”

The unions, and their supporters, are mostly concerned with what they perceive as a lack of urgency by the board in reaching a fair and equitable contract.

“All the Association wants is a fair and equitable contract that the Board can afford, but refuses to settle in good faith,” Zenir said in the release. “Unfortunately, the Board is only interested in a union busting agenda no matter what the cost is to children.”

Tryon rejected that charge.

“We are continuing to negotiate in good faith,” Tryon said June 26. “We hope that the union will do the same and choose not to strike.”

When asked to address the board’s concerns with the unions’ offer, Tryon said at the heart of the issue is the fact the district will run out of money in a year and a half unless something is done.

“The unions’ proposal does not solve that problem — ours’ does,” he said. “We hope through the negotiation process to reach a solution that solves that problem.”

However Wisconsin's recall election turns out on Tuesday, teachers unions already appear to be losing a larger political fight—in public opinion. In our latest annual national survey, we found that the share of the public with a positive view of union impact on local schools has dropped by seven percentage points in the past year. Among teachers, the decline was an even more remarkable 16 points.

On behalf of Harvard's Program on Education Policy and Governance and the journal Education Next, we have asked the following question since 2009: "Some people say that teacher unions are a stumbling block to school reform. Others say that unions fight for better schools and better teachers. What do you think? Do you think teacher unions have a generally positive effect on schools, or do you think they have a generally negative effect?"

Respondents can choose among five options: very positive, somewhat positive, neither positive nor negative, somewhat negative, and very negative.

In our polls from 2009 to 2011, we saw little change in public opinion. Around 40% of respondents were neutral, saying that unions had neither a positive nor negative impact. The remainder divided almost evenly, with the negative share being barely greater than the positive.

But this year unions lost ground. While 41% of the public still takes the neutral position, those with a positive view of unions dropped to 22% in 2012 from 29% in 2011.

Political campaigns may already have noticed this shift. In a recent address on education, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney called teachers unions "the clearest example of a group that has lost its way."

The survey's most striking finding comes from its nationally representative sample of teachers. Whereas 58% of teachers took a positive view of unions in 2011, only 43% do in 2012. The number of teachers holding negative views of unions nearly doubled to 32% from 17% last year. Perhaps this helps explain why, according to education journalist and union watchdog Mike Antonucci, top officials of the National Education Association are reporting a decline of 150,000 members over the past two years and project that they will lose 200,000 more members by 2014, as several states have recently passed laws ending the automatic deduction of union dues from teachers' paychecks.

Teachers' increasingly critical stance toward their unions could have multiple causes. With unions on the defensive in state legislatures—on pension and medical benefits, evaluation systems and collective bargaining itself—some teachers may be concerned that unions aren't fighting hard enough for their interests. Others may be coming to the conclusion that unions are standing in the way of education reform.

But it's important not to overstate matters. Those taking the neutral position on our survey may be more sympathetic to the unions than it appears. To investigate this possibility, this year we gave half of those surveyed just two choices on their assessment of union impact, positive or negative (as opposed to the five nuanced options for other respondents). Among those asked the either-or question, 71% of teachers said unions had a positive impact. When push comes to shove, a clear majority of teachers still support their unions.

When the public was asked to choose between a simple positive and negative assessment, however, it split down the middle: 51% said unions had a negative impact, while 49% said their effect was positive. Whether this indicates a public-opinion tipping point is anyone's guess. But as outsize, underfunded teacher pension and medical benefits wreak havoc on school budgets, unions in Wisconsin and elsewhere are standing on increasingly shaky ground.

Mr. Peterson is a professor of government at Harvard and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Mr. Howell is a professor of government at the University of Chicago. Mr. West is a professor at Harvard's Graduate School of Education.

Wisconsin's recall election is on, pitting Gov. Scott Walker against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. If Mr. Walker is voted out of office on June 5, what other politician will be willing to step forward to address America's entitlement challenges?

Mr. Walker's record is well known: He limited collective bargaining for government labor unions and trimmed health-insurance and pension benefits, bringing them more in line with private business. Organized labor thinks Mr. Walker's reforms should be the end of his career.

They argue, first, that public workers just wanted to "have a voice" in their employment. But public-school teachers are more than welcome to participate in school-board meetings or sit down with principals to discuss how to achieve better results. What unions really want is legal standing to sue employers and prevent any changes—in wages, hours or other conditions of employment—unwanted by their members. Their call to continue combative litigation hardly promotes the kind of statewide unity that they, and Mr. Barrett, have called for.

Public employers deal with thousands of grievances that result in discussion, negotiation, mediation and arbitration. In 2010, the last full year before the reforms, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission issued 129 decisions in cases that went to a full hearing. That is a lot of litigation.

Unions frequently abuse their standing to sue. In 2009, during the height of the recession, many government agencies furloughed employees to save taxpayer money. In Milwaukee County, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees successfully sued to prevent this—and won $6 million in back pay and interest, at a time when every local government was drowning in red ink.

In 2006, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) sued the Cedarburg School District for terminating a teacher who had viewed pornography on his school computer. An arbitrator initially reinstated the teacher and awarded back pay. Only after much time and expense did the Wisconsin Court of Appeal uphold the termination.

In the past year, WEAC again fought the termination of a teacher who had viewed and shared pornography on his school computer in the Middleton-Cross Plains School District. An arbitrator recently reinstated and awarded back pay of over $200,000 to that teacher. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, the district spent over $300,000 in legal fees in its failed attempt to fire him.

In the Antigo School District, a principal has been criminally charged with selling drugs from his house to fellow teachers, among others. The district could drug-test these employees to ensure that students aren't exposed to teachers under the influence of illegal drugs, right? Sorry, drug testing is prohibited by collective bargaining and the union contract.

Why did Wisconsinites have to incur considerable costs in lost staff time and legal fees as unions sued local governments? Because, argue Democrats, the people we elect to serve on school boards and city councils can't be trusted to treat employees fairly. It matters little that these local officials can be voted out of office if they act inappropriately.

Public workers without collective-bargaining rights will hardly be subject to the whims of tyrannical bosses. There are ample protections for all employees—the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Civil Rights Act and many more.

Employees have considerably more legal protection now than when Wisconsin first gave collective-bargaining rights to public unions in 1959. All employees have standing to sue in state and federal court if their rights are violated. If government agencies go too far, voters can vote out board members. Noticeably absent from the debate thus far are examples of a school district running roughshod over teachers.

Education is easily the most important social equalizer in our society, yet there is no evidence that Wisconsin's previous levels of retirement and health-care funding for teachers improved student performance. Many factors harm student performance—including that we don't fire our worst teachers and don't reward our best, thanks to union contracts that forbid merit-based compensation and block the dismissal of teachers except in rare circumstances.

Recalling Gov. Walker and reinstating collective-bargaining rights would guarantee a tax hike to pay astronomical, pre-Walker-level health and retirement benefits to union members. Local governments would have to continue fighting in front of arbitrators to exert any semblance of control over their workforce. And big labor would be able to exert more control over politicians and dictate reform on its terms—which is virtually no reform at all.

If politicians nationwide see Mr. Walker as a cautionary tale, what will happen on the inevitable day when we have to tell seniors that they must contribute more toward Medicare or wait until age 68 to receive Social Security? Will the AARP run those people out of office too?

This cycle of attempted reform followed by all-out warfare could continue until we are bankrupt. Had Wisconsin Democrats and unions been willing to support more modest reforms years ago, Mr. Walker's changes wouldn't have been needed. But most politicians are unwilling to confront their friends and constituents. That habit will continue—or get worse—if Wisconsin's expensive and divisive recall campaign boots the reform governor from office.

Mr. Toner is an attorney in Wausau, Wis.