Trades, Joint Apprenticeship Programs Inform
California School Board Members on Ways to Stretch
Their School Construction Dollars
Superintendent O'Connell Praises Apprenticeships
The State Building Trades Council and more than a dozen joint apprenticeship programs operated by its affiliates and signatory contractors informed hundreds of California school board members of the advantages of Project Stabilization Agreements and high school pre-apprenticeship classes Thursday, December 2.
The day began with a 7 a.m. breakfast for school board members that was co-sponsored by the SBCTC and the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) with special guest, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. O'Connell praised the joint apprenticeship programs operated by the various crafts of the building trades. He told school board members who had gathered for their annual conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco that they should consider making apprenticeship programs "part of your school construction agreement."
"ROP and construction students should be working with the building trades...," O'Connell said. "We have ignored career and technical education during the last few decades." He noted that careers in the construction trades offer "good jobs, pensions and health benefits."
O'Connell took special notice of the new construction technology academy at Yerba Buena High School in the East Side Union High School District in San Jose, and other high schools across the state that prepare students for work in the field of construction.
"Our obligation is to help prepare these students for the future," O'Connell said. He noted that since he took office as State Superintendent, "we have doubled the number of career technical education courses. Today, California's public high schools offer 6,000 career and technical education classes with an enrollment of 100,000 students," he said.
O'Connell told school board members that "my number one goal is to improve student achievement," and that students who graduate from high school should be prepared to be "an effective citizen" regardless of whether they enter the workforce immediately or go on to college. He wholeheartedly endorsed high school pre-apprenticeship courses followed by apprenticeship programs after graduation as a first-rate career path.
Workshop Gives School Board Members Overview of PSAs
Immediately following the breakfast, more than 75 school board members from districts across California packed Room 270 at the Moscone Center for a lively and informative workshop on the advantages of Project Stabilization Agreements for school construction projects.
SBCTC President Bob Balgenorth opened the discussion by noting that Project Stabilization Agreements are the key to cooperative working relationships between school districts, local building trades unions, and construction contractors. PSAs, he said, have many advantages:
They ensure that the district's school construction projects are completed on-time and on-budget and are built by the world's best craftsmen and craftswomen.
They improve student achievement by completing construction projects without disrupting academic schedules and by providing new and remodeled classrooms and other facilities that contribute to learning.
They offer opportunities to establish partnerships between the building trades and school districts that provide pre-apprenticeship training while students are in school and direct entry into certified apprenticeship programs after they graduate.
The next panelist was Patricia Gates, an experienced labor attorney with the law firm of Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld. Ms. Gates gave school board members a thorough point-by-point summary of PSAs that included:
How they are legal for public works projects in all 50 states.
How they assure that local tax and bond dollars benefit the local economy through local hire and local apprenticeship opportunities.
How they help school districts monitor compliance with public works laws.
Ms. Gates was followed by Larry Frank, Director of the UCLA Center for Research and Education. Frank said that there have been only a few academic studies of PSAs and their effects on construction projects, and noted that he is seeking better data in order to complete a definitive study. Listing the advantages of PSAs, Frank said they:
Guarantee a supply of highly skilled labor: sufficient labor supply (reducing overtime) and higher quality work.
Ensure better coordination of complex work schedules
Reduce risks of costly delays in construction projects by insuring labor peace.
A study critical of PSAs, known as the Beacon Hill study, had problems with data accuracy, small sample size, control variables, and other factors that make its findings less reliable, Frank said. When proper control variables are used, Frank said, there is no evidence that PSAs increase the cost of school construction.
Amy Dennison, a Ph.D candidate who is working with Frank, then presented a summary of construction apprenticeship programs, including their history, how they work, and their economic value.
The last panelist to speak was Charles Ramsey, an Oakland attorney and a longtime member of the West Contra Costa Unified School District Board. Ramsey was instrumental in the negotiation of a PSA covering all of the district's school construction and renovation projects. The West Contra Costa district has approved more than $550 million in school construction bonds during the last six years.
Ramsey, a strong advocate of PSAs, urged school board members to return to their districts and begin discussions to establish working partnerships with their local Building Trades Councils and joint apprenticeship programs. He noted that there are many advantages to a Project Stabilization Agreement that go beyond bringing a construction project in on-time and on-budget.
Those advantages include creating new career paths for the 70 percent of high school graduates who don't go on to college and the creation of jobs in communities with school construction projects.
The workshop concluded with a question and answer session.
In a trade show display area of the Moscone Center, at least a dozen building trades apprenticeship programs staffed booths that advertise their craft's training programs. Literally hundreds of school board members at the conference had paused to collect literature and information by the end of the day Thursday. Those booths will be staffed all three days of the conference.
To request a copy of a short video titled "PSAs: Education's Best Kept Secret,"
e-mail us at sbctc@sbctc.org