Nearly four in 10 school board members are current or former teachers, according to a survey by the NYS School Boards Association, reflecting the rising influence of the state’s largest teachers’ union in electing its members to public office. Michael Gormley reports in NEWSDAY that the Pipeline Project of the New York State United Teachers union has helped elect more than 400 of its members to the more than 700 school boards since 2015, according to the union, which has nearly 700,000 members.

Supporters say union members can provide school boards with direct insight from classrooms on curriculum, education policy, student needs and funding priorities. The project is also helping members win seats in the State Legislature and in Congress, according to the union.

But the Pipeline Project has also drawn criticism that the already politically powerful teachers’ union now has a conflicting interest in school boards, which determine spending, including teacher compensation, and set instruction policy in a state with some of the highest property taxes in the nation. State law doesn’t allow teachers and other employees of a school district to serve on that district’s school board as a guard against conflicts of interest, but teachers can serve on their local school boards if they work in other school districts.

In addition, Ken Girardin, director of research at the Empire Center for Public Policy think tank, concluded in his 2023 study that current teachers who work in other districts still pose a conflict by potentially promoting policies to benefit teachers as a group over fiscal prudence. He also said retired teachers and family members of teachers also pose potential conflicts on school boards.

The teachers union, however, said Pipeline and the expertise and funding it provides works for the whole community, and will continue to put more members in elected roles.

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Members of National Grid’s unionized workforce overwhelmingly rejected the company’s "best and final" contract offer in a vote tallied yesterday afternoon, giving both sides about three weeks to reach a new pact before a potential strike. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1049 voted 617 to 252 to reject the London-based company’s contract offer in a mail-in ballot. The union represents nearly 1,200 workers who operate the National Grid’s natural gas network and LIPA-contracted power plants.

Their contract expired last month but both sides agreed to a contract extension to March 28. The existing four-year contract, which includes no strike and no lockout language, remains in place.

National Grid, in a statement last night said they are “disappointed the tentative agreement we signed with Local 1049 leadership was not ratified by the members, and will continue to negotiate in good faith for a deal that is fair for our hard working employees and affordable for customers.”

"The membership is unhappy and angry at the offer that was given to us after two months of negotiating," said Pat Guidice, business manager for the local, after the vote. "We intend to go back to the table as soon as possible to get an agreement that meets the needs of both sides so we can go on doing our jobs for our Long Island neighbors."

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PSEG Long Island expected to begin work today to remove another section of giant steel high-voltage poles in Eastport, this time on a stretch of roadway that has seen at least two pole-related fatalities. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that the utility plans to remove five steel poles around a section of County Road 51 that intersects with County Road 111, and replace them with underground lines, according to the company. Two other steel poles will be replaced with shorter "riser" poles that transition the line from overhead to underground. The work includes...