The rising tension at a large St. Paul charter school mirrors the clashes nationally between school leaders and charter school teachers who try to unionize.
Teachers at Community School of Excellence say school leaders' plan to fire 20 teachers, most of them union members, was a union-busting move. School leaders disagree, but reinstated some of the fired teachers this week.
From California to New York City, similar complaints have surfaced as teachers push for voices in school decisions and sometimes face fierce opposition from the school operators.
California lawmakers are auditing Los Angeles' largest charter organization to see if anti-union acts were conducted using public funds. Earlier this year, a Chicago charter network had to hire back teachers it fired after workers voted to unionize. This week, a Cleveland charter school reached a contract after the charter network was accused of unfair labor dealings.
Minnesota's charter schools are publicly funded and exempt from some regulations and union requirements, but teachers here and elsewhere have unionized and fought for employment protections and salary increases.
Though many charters have been resistant to unions, teachers' unions lately have made inroads in cities like Cleveland, said Todd Ziebarth, senior vice president at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
While teachers desire a say in school operations, some administrators don't want to lose their flexibility in staffing, Ziebarth said.
He estimated the number of unionized charters has remained constant at anywhere from 10 percent to 15 percent. In Minnesota, two charters have unions; another three have been in talks with statewide teachers' union Education Minnesota in the past month or so, the organization said.
