When educators are bogged down with unnecessary and duplicative paperwork, it takes valuable time away from the work of educating and supporting our students. For that reason, the UFT negotiated a contractual clause in the 2014 contract that is designed to reduce and eliminate unnecessary paperwork.

After years of fighting to get the Department of Education to establish guidelines, the union has now secured for educators a voice in detailing what is reasonable and created new rules around both written and electronic forms of paperwork.

A new standard on paperwork

During the 2014–15 school year, the UFT agreed to the following general standard:

Educators and related service providers shall not be required, whether on paper or electronically, to perform redundant, duplicative, unnecessary or unreasonable amounts of record-keeping concerning the performance of, plans for, or evaluation of students, unless necessary in order to comply with federal or state statutory or other legal requirements imposed on the Department of Education.

In addition to the general standard on paperwork, agreement was reached on standards that address specific types of paperwork disputes that UFT members brought to the attention of the union.

These include standards that address concerns related to quality review, data binders, data systems, attendance procedures, computer access, parent engagement, other professional work and professional development time.

Steps to take for paperwork concerns

If you believe that you are being required to complete redundant or excessive paperwork — either on paper or electronically — speak with your chapter leader. Your chapter leader will meet with the principal to discuss your chapter’s paperwork concerns. Hopefully, they will be able to work out a resolution that addresses your concerns and the school’s reason for the paperwork.

If a school-based resolution can’t be worked out, your chapter leader may reach out to your UFT district representative, who can raise your school’s paperwork concerns before the District Paperwork Committee, which is composed of an equal number of representatives selected by the UFT and the DOE and includes both the UFT district representative and the superintendent (or designee).

If the District Paperwork Committee cannot reach resolution regarding your school’s paperwork issue, your UFT district representative may refer the matter to the Central Paperwork Committee, which will try to resolve the issue.

If the matter is still not resolved, the UFT can file a special grievance, which can be brought to arbitration quickly. During the 2014–15 school year, many paperwork-related issues were resolved at either the district or central committee level.

Standing up for educators and students

These newly gained rights around paperwork reduction are an example of how the union contract empowers educators to be able to better perform their jobs and help their students.

Knowledge is power and knowing what your rights are, how to access them and how to use them are critical tools for ensuring that New York City’s public school educators can stand up for the time they need to deliver a quality education to every student.