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Mr. Corrente,

Thanks for your response. If I have it right, you now endorse the elimination of pensions for teachers and replacing them with defined contribution plans. Certainly a step in the right direction. Where we part company is whether teachers "absolutely deserve a new contract". They absolutely do Not, and I mean "they" in the literal sense. There should not be a contract for "them" because bargaining (or negotiating) should not be "collective". The entire notion of public sector unions has seen it's best days, and they were 35 years ago. Rick, would you support (or lobby for) enabling legislation to allow for teachers to vote on whether or not they wished to remain in a union, with the understanding that a 51% "No" vote would dissolve the union? Would you give teachers this right of self-determination? Most American workers do not work with contracts. We ae not a "collective". It's time to take a very fundamental look at the legitimacy of this and other public sector unions.

Finally, your statement that "The teachers are willing to discuss anything" is simply not true. Teachers are unwilling to discuss transitioning away from the archaic pension system, something you now endorse. They are unwilling to discuss school choice despite overwhelming evidence that it helps kids. They are unwilling to discuss merit pay. And they are unwilling to render the existing "step" system, another archaic entity, to the scrap heap. Essentially, they wish to 'negotiate' arrangement of the deck chairs as the SS WPS continues to sink, and it's passengers flee when given the opportunity.