Sen. Nicholas D. Kettle, a Republican who represents Coventry, Foster, Scituate, has introduced a “right to work” bill that would make membership and dues optional for Rhode Island’s teachers.

Kettle, who is studying education at Rhode Island College, said that making union membership optional would ultimately allow school districts to hire and retain teachers based on performance. His bill would put a non-binding referendum question on the state ballot asking whether union membership for teachers should be voluntary.

“Teachers in Rhode Island deserve a choice,” Kettle said. “The National Education Association uses questionable tactics when dealing with our legislature, and this behavior undermines the very spirit of our education system, harming the reputation of many fine teachers and placing our children at the bottom of our priority list.”

Under current state law, Kettle said, teachers are required to be members of the teachers union. Those resulting dues, he added, amount to millions of dollars which can be used during election campaigns, he said in a press release.

“The NEA has a mission to protect traditional non-performance based salaries, large unsustainable benefit packages and job security for all – even those that fail children,” Kettle said. The current union membership practices simply do not support excellence in education, Kettle said.

Kettle hopes to create a "reward-based system which supports talented, passionate teachers, rather than continuing under a system that requires membership in a union unsupportive of these fundamentals," according the press release.