Perceptions of Trade Unionism Among Unionized School Teachers and Staff: Charter and Public Districts
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Date
2024-12
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
The charter school movement historically received support from some Black communities frustrated with segregation and poor educational quality in public schools, as well as conservative groups concerned that public schools were failing due to the Reagan administration’s report “A Nation at Risk” (Goodridge 2019). These concerns prompted calls for a school system that received public funding but operated independently of public school systems. It is clear that charter schools have not addressed segregation in schools, as they are now more segregated than public schools are (Frankenberg et al. 2012). Thus, charter schools have not achieved what their Black supporters had hoped they would. Concern has also been raised about a lack of academic accountability and of stability among charter schools due to their high rate of closure (Network for Public Education 2024).
Charter schools are generally not unionized since they are not bound by the regulations that require union representation for staff in public school districts (Barrett et al. 2022). However, in recent years staff from more charter districts have unionized (American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts 2024; Fink 2024; McGowan 2024; Walters 2024). As suggested by the current study, similar research has found that staff desire for a greater amount of voice appears to be a major cause of this trend (Jochim and Lavery 2019). This raises the question of whether unionizing in charter schools can address the school type’s shortcomings as described by its critics.
The goal of the current study is to learn about what motivated staff at a charter district to unionize, their experiences with unionization, and how the issues that led to the formation of the union are addressed in a public school district. The results suggest that unionization can address the lack of voice that charter district staff feel to an extent, but not completely. In addition, other issues may be more difficult to address, such as distrust between staff and administrators. Further, the present study’s sample size is small, and thus results are not generalizable and may be skewed.
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Keywords
union, education, charter schools