When it comes to the need for a teachers union in Clovis, the data reveal the answer

If it ain’t broke … don’t break it! That is the message to send the California Teachers Association, which is heavily involved in the push to unionize Clovis Unified School District, hoping to pull CUSD into its fold and enrich its coffers.

The move would also eliminate the Faculty Senate, CUSD teachers’ current representative body, which has been a model of success for 45 years. This representation has provided teachers with competitive compensation packages and a sense of collaboration with the administration while keeping the students the focus.

The easiest way to gauge what to expect from a successful unionization effort is to compare Clovis and Fresno Unified School Districts. Since FUSD has a powerful union, we can see if that has improved the district in terms of quality and performance of the schools and how the district and their partners navigated the pandemic. If Fresno is better in any measurement, one would have to understand wanting to move Clovis in a direction to make it more like their neighboring district.

According to greatschools.org that rates schools across the country, 84% of the schools in Clovis Unified are above average. In CUSD only 11% of schools are average and 5% rank below average. Clearly, Clovis is doing extremely well.

Now what about that district with a powerful teacher’s union? Does FUSD produce better results according to the Great Schools ratings? Only 14% of the schools in Fresno Unified were above average, 26% were average, and 59% were below average. If there is a district in need of change, it surely is not Clovis Unified. This should be the paramount consideration.

How did the districts function during the pandemic? Both had the onerous mandates from Sacramento that severely hampered their options. Parents like me who wanted the districts to listen to the American Academy of Pediatrics — which stated the low risk of infection and transmission in the school setting and emphasized the importance of the in-person, classroom setting for students’ mental health, academic success, and overall well-being — were pleased that CUSD had a plan ready that empowered families with choices of distance learning or hybrid learning with an in-person component.

But Clovis Unified ultimately succumbed to the state’s mandates and lockdowns, complying with distance learning only for the start of the 2020-21 school year. Fresno Unified never offered their parents and students a choice for in-person instruction for the start of the year.

And CUSD continued engaging with their staff and community to expedite getting students back on campus, and by November 2020 some students were back to in-person, classroom instruction. What came out of school board meetings and administration updates was consistently about the needs of the students and ensuring a safe environment for them and their teachers.

What we heard from FUSD was about discussions between the administration and the Fresno Teachers Association (their union). As Clovis figured out how to safely get students back in classrooms, FUSD was stuck negotiating with the FTA about bonuses and other collective bargaining demands while children, who are already in lower-performing schools, languished and fell further behind.

The FTA wanted their teachers to get the same bonus that CUSD gave its teachers, seemingly more concerned with comparing themselves to Clovis financially than performance-wise. The FTA made the bonus payment a pre-requisite to anyone returning to the classroom, even though many teachers were anxious to return.

CUSD offered the bonus many months after classrooms were open, so it was not a ransom payment for education being held hostage.

A teachers’ union would fundamentally change Clovis Unified from a school district that puts its students at the forefront of the education discussion as seen this past year and a half to a district, like its neighbor FUSD, where student performance is positioned behind teachers’ financial compensation. CUSD is a measurably better district than FUSD which explains why Clovis is booming and parents are clamoring to get their kids into Clovis Unified schools.

Let’s keep it that way and appreciate the fact that we are not beholden to a union and its demands that in no way improve our students’ education or experience.

This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 5:00 AM.