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Are Teachers' Unions Really to Blame? Collective Bargaining Agreements and Their Relationships with District Resource Allocation and Student Performance in California

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  • Katharine O. Strunk

    (Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, Los Angeles)

Abstract

Increased spending and decreased student performance have been attributed in part to teachers' unions and to the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) they negotiate with school boards. However, only recently have researchers begun to examine impacts of specific aspects of CBAs on student and district outcomes. This article uses a unique measure of contract restrictiveness generated through the use of a partial independence item response model to examine the relationships between CBA strength and district spending on multiple areas and district-level student performance in California. I find that districts with more restrictive contracts have higher spending overall, but that this spending appears not to be driven by greater compensation for teachers but by greater expenditures on administrators' compensation and instruction-related spending. Although districts with stronger CBAs spend more overall and on these categories, they spend less on books and supplies and on school board–related expenditures. In addition, I find that contract restrictiveness is associated with lower average student performance, although not with decreased achievement growth. © 2011 Association for Education Finance and Policy

Suggested Citation

  • Katharine O. Strunk, 2011. "Are Teachers' Unions Really to Blame? Collective Bargaining Agreements and Their Relationships with District Resource Allocation and Student Performance in California," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 6(3), pages 354-398, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:edfpol:v:6:y:2011:i:3:p:354-398
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Michael F. Lovenheim & Alexander Willén, 2019. "The Long-Run Effects of Teacher Collective Bargaining," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 292-324, August.
    2. Marianno, Bradley D. & Strunk, Katharine O., 2018. "The bad end of the bargain?: Revisiting the relationship between collective bargaining agreements and student achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 93-106.
    3. Dan Goldhaber & Lesley Lavery & Roddy Theobald, 2014. "My End of the Bargain," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(4), pages 1274-1305, October.
    4. Lott, Johnathan & Kenny, Lawrence W., 2013. "State teacher union strength and student achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 93-103.
    5. Shi, Ying & Singleton, John D., 2019. "Expertise and Independence on Governing Boards: Evidence from School Districts," IZA Discussion Papers 12414, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Bradley D. Marianno & Paul Bruno & Kathrine O. Strunk, 2021. "The Effect of Teachers’ Union Contracts on School District Efficiency: Longitudinal Evidence From California," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440209, February.
    7. Jessica S. Merkle & Michelle Andrea Phillips, 2018. "The Wage Impact Of Teachers Unions: A Meta‐Analysis," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(1), pages 93-115, January.
    8. Corey A. DeAngelis & Christos Makridis, 2021. "Are School Reopening Decisions Related to Union Influence?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(5), pages 2266-2284, September.
    9. Bruhn, Jesse & Imberman, Scott & Winters, Marcus, 2022. "Regulatory arbitrage in teacher hiring and retention: Evidence from Massachusetts Charter Schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    10. Cowen, Joshua M. & Strunk, Katharine O., 2015. "The impact of teachers’ unions on educational outcomes: What we know and what we need to learn," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 208-223.
    11. Eunice S. Han, 2020. "The Myth of Unions’ Overprotection of Bad Teachers: Evidence from the District–Teacher Matched Data on Teacher Turnover," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 316-352, April.
    12. Lyon, Melissa Arnold, 2021. "Heroes, villains, or something in between? How “Right to Work” policies affect teachers, students, and education policymaking," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    13. Cook, Jason & Lavertu, Stéphane & Miller, Corbin, 2021. "Rent-Seeking through collective bargaining: Teachers unions and education production☆," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    teachers' unions; collective bargaining agreements; school district spending; district resource allocation; student performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid

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