Chopra on the Chopping Block
Teachers' union punishes success
by Tom Patterson
The Goldwater Institute
February 12, 2007
Dr. Raj Chopra has made a career of turning around failing schools. In 2001, the Phoenix Union High School District graduation rate was a dismal 55 percent. Seven of the 10 high schools were rated "underperforming". By 2006, the graduation rate had climbed to 72 percent and all 10 high schools were ranked "performing plus."
Superintendent Chopra says the key was "changing the culture of this district from an adult- centered district to a child-centered district." To achieve this turnaround, he demanded that union officials teach if they expected to draw a teaching salary, and unilaterally renegotiated the 137-page labor agreement, paring it down to 60 pages. The teachers' union, in last November's election, successfully replaced the majority of school board members who supported Chopra with members who have vowed to rein him in.
Chopra's detractors focus on his confrontational personality. The union wants more collaboration, saying the "highest degree of academic success is achieved and sustained through collaboration." But for years, collaboration with the union was the administrative style in the Phoenix Union district, and during that time the schools were abject failures.
The Phoenix Union school board faces a decision. Should they curtail Dr. Chopra's efforts or even fire him? Or do they permit him to continue his work in spite of the powerful vested interests arrayed against him? The future prospects of thousands of students hang on their decision.
Tom Patterson is chairman of the Goldwater Institute, a retired emergency room physician and former state senator. A longer version of this article appeared in the East Valley Tribune.
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