Amid fierce controversy, New York State United Teachers slowly is making headway in

unionizing charter school teachers.

The outcome will depend in considerable measure on NYSUT's ability to convince charter

school teachers that it can stand up for their interests while representing teachers in

practically all of the state's roughly 700 traditional public school districts.

More broadly, the unionization effort will go a long way toward defining wages and job

protection for charter school teachers, and ultimately determining just how charter schools

will differ from traditional public schools.

Statewide, 21 of about 140 charter schools have unionized.

In the Buffalo Niagara region, seven of 16 charter schools have teachers unions:

Westminster Community, South Buffalo, Community, Oracle and Buffalo United, all in Buffalo;

the Charter School for Applied Technologies in the Town of Tonawanda; and Niagara in

Wheatfield.

Westminster's contract is a modified version of the Buffalo Teachers Federation contract.

The other charter school locals are independent of the BTF.

NYSUT has intensified its efforts in the last three years and has ambitious plans.

"Our goal would be to represent every public school teacher in New York State," including

teachers at both traditional and charter schools, said Richard C. Iannuzzi, NYSUT president.

"It's a slow process, especially when you have a management that's anti-union."

He said NYSUT bases its organizing effort on recognizing that charter schools are "here to

stay" and the conviction that many charter school teachers "desperately need representation"

to boost pay and working conditions.

Critics of NYSUT say the union cannot fairly represent charter school teachers because of

its primary allegiance to teachers at traditional public schools and its support of state

legislation and fiscal policies that would help traditional schools at the expense of charter

schools.

"I think teachers should be extremely wary of joining a group that works very openly here

in Albany to hurt charter schools," said Peter Murphy, a spokesman for the New York Charter

Schools Association. "This organization is completely two-faced. It's taking teachers' money

and trust and then stabbing them in the back."

Despite the controversy, teachers union leaders and administrators at the Charter School

for Applied Technologies have crafted a contract that both sides describe as fair and mutually

beneficial.

The contract includes "performance pay" tied directly to student achievement, an element

being pushed nationally by the Obama administration but still rarely used in traditional

public schools.

And even after earning open-ended contracts after six years with the school, teachers at

Applied Technologies still can be disciplined or dismissed for subpar student performance on

tests devised by both the state and the school itself.

That falls far short of the tenure protections granted to teachers at traditional public

schools after three years. But union officers at Applied Technologies said their system

— which includes assistance for faltering teachers — is fair and effective.

"If you're doing your job, you're very well protected," said Neil Shanahan, an elementary

school science teacher and vice president of the school's teachers association. "If you're

falling asleep at the wheel, you can be disciplined or dismissed."

That encourages professional growth, teamwork among teachers and a sharp focus on student

achievement, said J. Efrain Martinez, superintendent of Applied Technologies, the region's

largest charter school.

"It's like the real world," he said. "It allows for job security that is fair but avoids

the pitfalls of traditional tenure. I think we have a win-win situation in which the rights of

the teachers are protected and so are the rights of the students."

Union contracts at other charter schools generally include job protection provisions that

also fall short of traditional tenure.

Unlike traditional public schools, most charter schools do not have defined pay scales

based on experience, education and years of service. Instead, they offer individual teachers

contracts that can vary considerably on salary terms.

Teacher pay at Applied Technologies ranges from about $36,000 to slightly more than $60,000

a year for more experienced teachers, Martinez said. The contract also calls for 4 percent

yearly pay hikes, Martinez said.

Individual teachers also can earn additional pay increases of up to 3 percent based on

student performance.

Union leaders concede that working with NYSUT — which represents practically all of

the state's 700 traditional school districts — can be tricky.

"NYSUT is a huge, huge entity," said Ann Morgante, a high school math teacher and president

of the Charter School of Applied Technologies Teachers Association. "They represent a large

number of teachers. Sometimes they have to make difficult decisions. Are we always happy with

these decision? No. Are we vocal about our feelings? Yes."

Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, a Buffalo Democrat, said NYSUT faces the dilemma of representing a

growing number of charter school teachers after backing actions or proposals on funding,

licensing and growth that were harmful to charter schools.

"They're in an awkward position," he said. "Do they throw a growing number of their members

under the bus, or do they morph into a position that's more tolerant and more moderate, and be

willing to work with charter schools?"

Iannuzzi said NYSUT will continue to push measures that would give the state more oversight

over charter schools, require charters to better serve special-education students and English

language learners; establish separate funding streams for charter and traditional public

schools; and limit the growth of charter schools in districts — including Buffalo

— where a "saturation point" has been reached.

Those measures, he said, would benefit charter school teachers. He also claimed that "anti-

union diatribes" from NYSUT critics show that "they're nervous" about the organizing effort.

"Drawing a line and saying you can't have flexibility at a school with a union is just

false," Iannuzzi said. "When I hear that argument, I know I'm talking to a person with an

anti-union animus."

But the BTF, the second-largest NYSUT affiliate in the state, chose not to take part in the

charter school organizing effort.

Philip Rumore, BTF president and a longtime critic of the state's charter school law, said

the BTF wants the latitude to fully pursue efforts to — among other things —

prevent charter schools from expelling students and giving the state comptroller the power to

audit charter schools.

Lobbying for those provisions while seeking to organize local charter schools would be "a

conflict of interest," Rumore said.

Murphy, of the State Charter Schools Association, said NYSUT's high-powered organizing

effort is illustrated by a Public Employment Relations Board ruling it obtained directing that

Niagara Charter School allow NYSUT to represent its teachers. That order was based on a state

law mandating union representation at charter schools with initial student enrollments of more

than 250 students.

"You have a union that's forcing itself on a faculty that doesn't want it or need it,"

Murphy charged.

He said he objects to NYSUT's organizing efforts because "they're peddling pure fiction"

to teachers. But he insists he's not opposed to unionization in general.

"That is purely up to the teachers," Murphy said. "It's a right of teachers to decide to do

it or not to do it. It's been a very gradual process. Where it ends up is anybody's guess."