Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T18:59:53.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From the Schoolhouse to the Statehouse: Teacher Union Political Activism and U.S. State Education Reform Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Michael Hartney  and
Patrick Flavin
Michael Hartney*
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame, IN, USA
Patrick Flavin
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA
*
Michael Hartney, University of Notre Dame, Department of Political Science, 217 O'Shaughnessy Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556 Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Elementary and secondary education policy making in the U.S. states is heavily influenced by the political bargaining of various actors, with teacher unions one of the most important actors. Yet previous studies that assess the impact of teacher unions on education reform use problematic measures of their direct political influence, instead opting for broader measures of membership or collective bargaining power. By contrast, the authors measure teacher union political activity by calculating the percentage of campaign contributions to candidates for state office that come from teacher unions. Using this measure, the authors find that increased teacher union political activity greatly reduces the chances that states enact reform-oriented education policies such as school choice and performance pay for teachers, while previous measures of teacher union strength bear little relationship to a state's adoption of these reform policies. These findings highlight the importance of paying careful attention to how political influence is operationalized in studies that assess the role organized interests play in shaping U.S. state policies.

Keywords

education policyschool reformteacher unionspublic sector unionsinterest groups
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , September 2011 , pp. 251 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. 1977. 431 U.S. 209.Google Scholar
Berkman, Michael, and Plutzer, Eric. 2006. Ten Thousand Democracies: Politics and Public Opinion in America's School Districts. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Berry, Jeffrey. 1997. The Interest Group Society. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Berry, William D., Ringquist, Evan J., Fording, Richard C., and Hanson, Russell L.. 1998. “Measuring Citizen and Government Ideology in the American States.” American Journal of Political Science 42:145–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conley, David T. 2003. Who Governs Our Schools? Changing Roles and Responsibilities. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Education Commission of the States. 2009. “State Policies for Open Enrollment Database.” http://www.ecs.org/html/educationissues/OpenEnrollment/OEDB_intro.asp (accessed April 15, 2009).Google Scholar
Epstein, Noel, ed. 2004. Who's in Charge Here? The Tangled Web of School Governance and Policy. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Goodman, Geoffrey. 2009. School Choice Yearbook 2008–2009. Washington, DC: Alliance for School Choice.Google Scholar
Gray, Virginia, Lowery, David, Fellowes, Matthew, and McAtee, Andrea. 2004. “Public Opinion, Public Policy, and Organized Interests in the American States.” Political Research Quarterly 57:411–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirsch, Barry T., and Macpherson, David A.. 2003. “Union Membership and Coverage Database from the Current Population Survey: Note.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 56:349–54.Google Scholar
Hrebenar, Ronald J., and Thomas, Clive S.. 2004. “Interest Groups in the States.” In Politics in the American States, ed, eds. Virginia, Gray, and Russell L. Hanson. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 100–128.Google Scholar
Hunter, Kennith, Brunk, Gregory G., and Wilson, Laura A.. 2002. “Organizing for Public Policy Effect: Aggregate Affiliated Interests in the American States.” Public Organization Review 2:117–39.Google Scholar
Jacoby, William G., and Schneider, Saundra. 2001. “Variability in State Policy Priorities: An Empirical Analysis.” The Journal of Politics 63:544–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lasswell, Harold D. 1936. Politics: Who Gets What, When, How. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Lax, Jeffrey R., and Phillips, Justin H.. 2009. “Gay Rights in the States: Public Opinion and Policy Responsiveness.” American Political Science Review 103:367–86.Google Scholar
Manna, Paul. 2006. School's In: Federalism and the National Education Agenda. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Manna, Paul, and Tydgat, K. C.. 2008. “Gatekeepers to the Classroom: The Influence of State Teacher Standards Boards on State Teacher Policy.” Presented at the 2008 annual meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Mayhew, David R. 1974. Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
McGuinn, Patrick J. 2006. No Child Left Behind and the Transformation of Federal Education Policy, 1965–2005. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Mintrom, Michael. 1997. “Policy Entrepreneurs and the Diffusion of Innovation.” American Journal of Political Science 41:738–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mintrom, Michael. 2000. Policy Entrepreneurs and School Choice. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Moe, Terry M. 2006a. “Political Control and the Power of Agent.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 22:1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moe, Terry M. 2006b. “Union Power and the Education of Children.” In Collective Bargaining in Education: Negotiating Change in Today's Schools. Andrew J. Rotherham, and Jane Hannaway. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 229–255.Google Scholar
Moe, Terry M. 2009. “Collective Bargaining and the Performance of the Public Schools.” American Journal of Political Science 53:156–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. 2009. “Public Charter School Dashboard Database.” http://www.publiccharters.org/dashboard/reports (accessed June 20, 2009).Google Scholar
National Center on Education Statistics. 2006. “Common Core Data: Information on Public Schools and School Districts in the United States.” http://www.nces.ed.gov/ccd/ (accessed September 15, 2009).Google Scholar
National Council on Teacher Quality. 2009. “Teacher Rules, Roles and Rights Database.” http://www.nctq.org/tr3. (accessed September 15, 2009).Google Scholar
National Education Association. 2009. NEA handbook, 2009. http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/2009Handbook.pdf (accessed September 15, 2009).Google Scholar
National Institute on Money in State Politics. 2009. “Political Giving Database.” http://www.followthemoney.org (accessed April 1, 2009).Google Scholar
Nodine, Thad, and Jimes, Cynthia. 2009. “The Governors Speak: Summary of State-of-the-State Addresses of the Governors.” Washington, DC: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/GOVSPEAK0904.pdf (accessed September 10, 2009).Google Scholar
Orndorff, Mary. 1998. “3 PACs Have $1 Million War Chests: Doctors, Teachers, Business Owners Giving Big to Candidates.” Birmingham News, April 21, 1B.Google Scholar
Rose, Lowell C., and Gallup, George. 2001. “The 33rd Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward Public Schools.” Phi Delta Kappan 83 (1): 41–58..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shelly, Bryan. 2008. “Rebels and Their Causes: State Resistance to No Child Left Behind.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 38:444–68.Google Scholar
Shen, Francis K., and Wong, Kenneth K.. 2006. “Beyond Weak Law, Strong Law: Political Compromise and Legal Constraints on Charter School Laws.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Shober, Arnold F., Manna, Paul, and Witte, John F.. 2006. “Flexibility Meets Accountability: State Charter School Laws and Their Influence on the Formation of Charter Schools in the United States.” Policy Studies Journal 34:563–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swanson, Christopher. 2008. Diplomas Count 2008: School to College: Can State P–16 Councils Ease the Transition? Bethesda, MD: Editorial Projects in Education.Google Scholar
Valletta, Robert G., and Freeman, Richard B.. 1988. “The NBER Public Sector Collective Bargaining Law Data Set.” In When Public Employees Unionize, eds. Richard B, Freeman, and Ichniowski, Casey. Chicago: NBER and University of Chicago Press, 399–420.Google Scholar