Republican representatives in Wisconsin just voted to eliminate collective bargaining rights throughout the state, an action taken without any Democratic support. In fact, Democratic representatives tried to prevent a vote by leaving the state so as to prevent a quorum, but Wisconsin Republicans removed the collective bargaining provision from the Governor’s budget proposal, and voted on it separately, “overcoming the need for a quorum,” according to the New York Times.
Teachers will feel this legislative change strongly, and Slate poses a good question - how will this impact students?
We can predict some effects based on a study that was done by the Yale Law Journal recently. The study looked at the state of New Mexico because within the last three decades, New Mexico has mandated and prohibited collective bargaining rights for workers. The study looked at how students performed academically during periods when teachers HAD collective bargaining rights, and periods when they didn't.
Interesting study results:
- Mandatory teacher bargaining laws cause an increase of about 8.59 points in state average SAT scores
- Mandatory teacher bargaining laws cause a decrease of 2.65 percentage points in state high school graduation rates.
What is behind these number trends?
“If one can assume that lower performing students tend to drop out of high school and that higher performing students tend to take the SATs, then these results suggest that mandatory collective bargaining shifts the focus of schools away from low-performing students toward higher-performing ones," according to the study.
In addition, without collective bargaining rights teachers could not transfer to other schools based on their experience. Therefore, more experienced teachers could NOT leave low-performing schools for higher-performing schools. The study reports that this could have contributed to lower-performing schools getting a boost, and higher-performing schools dropping in achievement levels. However, because teacher unions needed to maintain good relationships with school districts, they were less aggressive. This resulted in lower morale among some New Mexico teachers, and some left the state.
Students in Wisconsin and all over the country have organized a walkout in support of their teachers' bargaining rights. The Facebook event has over 2,600 attendees so far, and is scheduled for this Friday at 2pm CST.
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On October18, 2010 an Early Vote Rally was held on the UNM campus. Students gathered around to listen to several speakers talk about the importance of voting.
Read more...Youth Radio is keeping an eye on the movements of the National Youth Listening Tour, as it travels around the western part of the United States. Alberto Retana, the U.S. Department of Education's Director of Community Outreach will be in Oakland, California on October 19.
In the meantime, the youth reporters at KUNM in New Mexico spoke with middle school, high school, and college students at the National Youth Listening Tour event at Central New Mexico Community College. Check out their report on some of the barriers that keep kids from applying to college.
Originally posted on Youth Radio's "New Mexico...Word!" Blog.
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On September16, 2010, the U.S. Department of Education held a listening session entitled the National Youth Listening Tour at Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque,NM. Members of the community -- including middle school, high school and college students -- came out to share ideals in part to encourage education reform. KUNM Youth Radio Project's Lucia Martinez and Aurea Cardiel interview three youth who attended the event, Ricardo Astorga, Colin Willis, and Julissa Hunte. The three of them explain what barriers they see that keep students from getting into college.
On September 16, 2010, the U.S. Department of Education held a listening session entitled the National Youth Listening Tour at Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque, NM.
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The following was broadcast on KUNM FM, Albuquerque as part of a series Youth Speak Out, a collaboration between Youth Radio, Youth Media Project in Santa Fe, KUNM’s Youth Radio in Albuquerque, and New Mexico's Youth Alliance, made possible by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information about Youth Speak Out go to www.youthradio.org/new-mexico.
by Dominic Medina
NEW MEXICO, Billie was my best friend. She was tall and pretty with jet-black hair. The first night we ever went to a party together she lost control of herself and we ended up on the streets.
It was dark and cold. I didn’t know what to think. The streetlights looked like a big mass of dots. We weren’t going to make it. She was drunk. And yes, I had to take her home. I tried to call for a ride, but who really cares about some guy and his drunk friend? I counted the cars as they passed by, trying not to think about what they were thinking about me, about us.
We finally hit the darkest part of our journey, and the end. Three guys came around the corner. I tried to ignore them and hoped they wouldn’t do anything, but if they did, there’d be no one around to stop them. As they approached us, I looked into their eyes. I will never forget those eyes: those red, rabid eyes. They wanted her. They wanted my best friend. After this, I don’t really remember what happened. Only hit after hit, pain after pain. I tried to fight back, but I didn’t stand a chance. That night, I lost my memory. That night, I walked home with bruises, nearly broken bones, and a broken heart. That night, I lost my mind, and my best friend, to rape.
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