NASHVILLE – While Senate Republicans largely support a statewide law banning collective bargaining for teachers, some of their House counterparts are talking about leaving the decision in local government hands.
“There are members in our caucus who would be more comfortable with the bill if there were some local options there,” said House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga. He nonetheless called the bill a “legitimate idea and something that needs to be considered.”
Some school boards, McCormick said, “have had a very bad experience. In certain parts of the state, like Chattanooga, we’ve had a better experience.”
“I expect to see some kind of a compromise amendment that would allow local school boards and local governments to decide whether or not it would be in their best interests to negotiate,” he said.
In recent days, fights over ending mandatory collective bargaining have started boiling over in Tennessee and several other states. One of those is Wisconsin, where thousands of teachers have protested outside the Capitol and Democrats walked out of the Legislature to try to stall Republican action.