Rethinking Transparency And Accountability: Part 2

By Mark Moses
01/24/2023
As with transparency, accountability is championed in government settings. Government officials and employees must be accountable to the public for the decisions they make and the money they spend, but what is really meant by accountability, and how should we think about it in a local government context? The best description of accountability that I...

TAGS: accountability, campaign finance, municipal bankruptcy, Transparency

More unaccountability from the education establishment

By Larry Sand
11/15/2017
Too many kids in California are failing, and the powers-that-be are doing nothing effective about it.  As I wrote recently, the Big Education mandarins are forever pointing fingers at charter and private schools, claiming they’re “unaccountable.” But in reality, there is no entity in America that is less accountable than a unionized, government-run school system....

TAGS: accountability, California High School Exit Examination, credit recovery classes, graduation rate, Larry Sand, remediation, Speak Up, teachers union

School Choice, Uber and Accountability

By Larry Sand
04/04/2017
Betsy DeVos’ ridesharing analogy is spot on, but draws Randi’s wrath.  At the Brookings Institution last week, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos gave a talk in which she drew parallels between school choice and the ascendancy of ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft. “Just as the traditional taxi systems revolted against ridesharing, so too does the...

TAGS: accountability, American Federation of Teachers, Betsy DeVos, EdChoice, Jason Bedrick, Larry Sand, NAEP, Randi Weingarten, school choice, seniority, teachers union, tenure

Teachers Unions Double Down on Charter Vilification

By Larry Sand
09/06/2016
UTLA and CTA’s anti-charter school obsession has reached epidemic proportions.  Just weeks after United Teachers of Los Angeles president Alex Caputo-Pearl threw his if-we-don’t get-our-way-we’re-going-to-create-a-state-crisis tantrum, the teachers union has hit the streets with a media campaign. Empowered by a massive dues increase, UTLA is spreading its venom via billboards, bus benches and the media....

TAGS: accountability, Alex Caputo-Pearl, California Teachers Association, Cecily Myart-Cruz, charter school, CTA, Eli Broad, Kids Not Profits, Larry Sand, school choice, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles, UTLA

The Unions’ “Accountability” Libel Against Charter Schools

By Larry Sand
10/27/2015
The teacher union war on charter schools ramps up with empty billionaire and accountability accusations. Charter schools are like pesky chewing gum that the teachers unions just can’t quite get off their shoes. They have been persistent in trying to just get rid of the alternative public schools – except for the few they have...

TAGS: accountability, American Federation of Teachers, California Charter School Association, Charter schools, CREDO, Democracy Alliance, Eli Broad, Eric Owens, George Soros, In the Public Interest, John Stocks, LA School Report, Larry Sand, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, National Education Association, Nina Rees, Occupy Wall Street, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, Tom Steyer