70 percent of the cost of running a school district in
Pennsylvania, while the Heartland Institute estimates that more than 80 percent
of the city of Chicago's budget is related to personnel costs.[5]

Even more troubling, however, is the impact of work
rules. The work of government employees is the work of government itself, and
contractual clauses that affect the duties of government employees cannot help
but influence the way in which laws are enforced and public policies are
implemented. The federal and state constitutions are both predicated on
principles of democratic self-government, meaning that all aspects of
government are under the effective control of the people, who make policy
either directly through referenda or indirectly through elected officials.

Collective bargaining can and often does take
important aspects of government policy out of the hands of local elected officials
and insteadstandards it established in 1968.

The contract also has very specific requirements
for American and World History courses that could be used to block revisions of
the history curriculum. These provisions give the union considerable influence
in deciding what students are taught, a subject that properly belongs to the
discretion of the elected officials representing the people of Detroit.

The contract commits the District to "aggressively"
seek funds for integration and desegregation. Given Detroit's history, it is
understandable that these would be important issues for the school board, but
the board should be free to determine its own priorities in terms of lobbying
for state or federal funds.

The contract
states that schedules for adult education facilities will be made through a
"District-Union Committee" made up of an equal number of union and district
representatives and subject to approval by both union