Union tally: At a Jan. 28 union rally in Portland, U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley (in the background holding the “Support PPS Custodians & Food Service Workers” sign) listens to SEIU president Andy Stern (foreground). IMAGE: chrisryanphoto.com

Unionized teachers in Portland have questions for Jeff Merkley, a candidate in the May Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, after WWire reported on Monday the powerful state lawmaker considered sending his son to a charter school in 2004.

While such an event in a candidate’s role as a parent from four years ago may not seem significant, it deals with one of the most contentious issues facing the statewide teachers union, the Oregon Education Association. Backers of charter schools—independently run, but publicly funded schools that are required to have only 50 percent of their teachers licensed by the state—say the schools don’t traditionally have huge support from the OEA or Oregon Democrats.

What’s more, the news comes just before the 48,000-member union meets March 7 to decide whom it’s endorsing in the May 20 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. So far Merkley, the House Speaker, has thoroughly trounced activist Steve Novick in winning union endorsements, key assets in a Democratic primary.

And the OEA nod is big because the union represents 2.5 percent of registered voters and can bring large donations to any race.

OEA lobbyist Laurie Wimmer Whelan minimized news about Merkley’s charter school interest, saying teachers can separate Merkley’s public record from his private actions.

But here’s why Merkley’s union dues could become union blues: Some voters, including teachers, consider charter schools to be union-busting endeavors, because charter schools aren’t required to participate in collective bargaining. In 1999, Merkley opposed Senate Bill 100, the state’s charter school law, which included that provision.

Yet in 2004, Merkley and his wife, Mary Sorteberg, submitted paperwork to the Arthur Academy charter school in Southeast Portland on behalf of their then-8-year-old son, according to leading charter-school advocate Rob Kremer who saw the form.

“I was pleasantly surprised…[he] was interested in enrolling his kid in a charter school, given that he had voted against charter schools at every opportunity,” says Kremer.

The Arthur Academy is not unionized.

“It’s not a point in favor in my eyes,” says Doug Winn, an English teacher at Grant High School in Northeast Portland, about Merkley’s interest. “It’s not great.”

Teacher Deborah Krum at Roosevelt High School in North Portland agreed. “It sounds like enough to raise a question,” Krum says.

Merkley campaign spokesman Matt Canter did not deny Merkley and his wife inquired into the charter school for their son. But he said questions about a candidate’s child represent “the worst kind of politics.”

“At some point, Jeff’s wife had heard about the school and, like any parent, they decided to just check it out,” Canter says. “But they never seriously considered sending their son there.”

The OEA says it doesn’t oppose the concept of charter schools. But its actions suggest a different story.

In 1999, the union fought against SB 100, and wanted stricter rules in place to govern charter schools.

The OEA has continued to express reservations about Oregon’s public charter schools. As recently as 2007, the OEA tried with Senate Bill 621 to force charter schools to employ only licensed teachers, a move charter-school advocates watered down, then killed.

Canter defends Merkley and points to his candidate’s education record in Salem.

“Jeff has received a 100 percent rating for the last session from the OEA,” Canter says. “He has met face to face with many members across the state to talk about what he has done to raise funding for public schools, to expand Head Start and what his plans will be to completely overhaul No Child Left Behind and put control in the hands of teachers.”

“And from what we’ve heard from teachers—and we speak to them every single day on this campaign,” Canter says, “those issues will matter a great deal more.”

Teacher Sandra Childs from Franklin High School in Southeast Portland agreed. She says a private decision on behalf of one’s child should be looked at differently than a public record. She didn’t, however, discount Merkley’s decision entirely.

“I might want to ask him why he made that decision,” Childs says. “I might want to first ask him about other things.”

Wimmer Whelan, the OEA lobbyist, says she’s not sure how the OEA’s entire membership will view Merkley’s action in 2004. But she adds, “I think they would look at his entire record, and he’s been a passionate advocate for public education.”

On Feb. 25, School Board members with Portland Public Schools renewed the charter for another Arthur Academy in Portland. But board member Ruth Adkins acknowledged the controversy still swirling in Oregon around charter schools, which have the advantage of paying their non-unionized teachers less money.

“I do continue to question the charter school system, which I consider to be in direct competition with neighborhood schools,” Adkins told the other board members.