National Inventory of Schools with Teacher Autonomy

There are many arrangements which allow for teacher autonomy:

Instrumentality charter contract + MOU between school, district and union local

Since 2001, the Milwaukee Public School board has authorized instrumentality chartered schools that it knows will be run by teacher cooperatives. Much of the autonomy for the teacher cooperatives is arranged via the charter contract between the school board and the school. The teachers keep their economic life with district employment via a memorandum of understanding with the district and union local that provides waivers from aspects of the collective bargaining agreement.

Contract between chartered school board and teacher professional partnership

EdVisions Cooperative, established in 1994, enters into contracts with chartered school boards across the state of Minnesota, accepting accountability for school success in exchange for its teacher-members’ authority to make decisions about the school. With their authority the teachers determine curriculum, set the budget, choose the level of technology available to students, determine their own salaries, select their colleagues, monitor performance, and sometimes hire administrators to work for them.

The goodwill of superintendent, principal or governing board (informal)

None of the schools in this group have any formal agreement granting the teachers authority to make decisions, although teachers working in them seem comfortable that their authority is secure. Teachers’ authority rests on the goodwill of a superintendent, principal, and/or governing board.

MOU between school, district, and union local + Waiver from state statute

The Math and Science Leadership Academy (MSLA) in Denver, which opened in 2009, has an MOU with the teachers union, through the Denver Public Schools school board, to have a lead teacher instead of a principal. Denver Public Schools also, specifically for MSLA, requested and received a waiver from the state of Colorado so the lead teacher has autonomy to manage the school, deal with suspensions, and do teacher evaluations. De facto the lead teacher approves decisions made collectively by MSLA teachers.

Pilot school agreements (Boston and Los Angeles)

In 1994, Boston Public Schools designed “pilot schools” in an effort to retain teachers and students after the Massachusetts Legislature passed a state chartering law in 1993. Under the pilot agreement, the BPS Superintendent delegates authority to pilot schools’ governing boards to try new and different means of improving teaching and learning in order to better serve at-risk urban students. Sometimes governing boards delegate the authority to teachers at the school. Since 2007, the United Teachers of Los Angeles and surrounding community have launched similar arrangements.

Chartered school contract and/or chartered school bylaws

States, counties, and school districts authorized chartered school contracts knowing that the contracts were written to formally authorize teacher autonomy. For some chartered schools autonomy is not granted via the contract but is instead made formal via the schools’ governing bylaws.

Site-governance agreement between district school board and district school

In 2009, with support from Education|Evolving and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers the Minnesota Legislature passed the Site-Governed Schools law, allowing for the creation of schools inside districts that enjoy the same autonomy and exemption from state regulation as chartered schools. San Francisco Community School has similar autonomy through their Small School By Design agreement with San Francisco Unified School District. In Los Angeles, the Woodland Hills Academy has been operating under the similarly organized Expanded School-Based Management Model.

Unknown arrangements

Education|Evolving does not yet know for sure whether or how a number of schools included on our list offer decision-making authority to teachers. They are included on our list because we have heard about them from various sources, including the press. We are still in the process of connecting with teachers in these schools to learn more about their arrangements.

Teachers as Owners