Winning a war of attrition against government unions

By Edward Ring
04/23/2021
Anyone involved in state or local politics in California soon realizes that government unions are the most powerful special interest in the state. From time to time, as the ride-share behemoths proved in spectacular fashion last November with Proposition 22, corporations will defy the unions on very specific issues. But by and large California’s corporations...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, collective bargaining, education reform, Edward Ring, public sector unions, recall, teachers union, Unions, vouchers

Teachers Unions Are Promoting School Choice

By Larry Sand
03/09/2021
As a result of their insistence on school closings, the unions are inadvertently leading the charge to educational freedom. As I wrote last week, opposition to teacher union-mandated lockdowns is growing. Parent groups are springing up all over the country, demanding that schools reopen. They see the irreparable harm being done to their kids on...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, EdChoice, Eric Hanushek, Larry Sand, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union

Child Suicide, Covid, and the Unions

By Larry Sand
02/02/2021
The teachers unions’ resistance to opening schools is killing kids…literally. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 6 percent of U.S. children aged 6 through 17 are afflicted with autism, severe anxiety, depression, trauma-related mental health conditions, and other serious emotional or behavioral difficulties. Due to forced school lockdowns, many of these...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Claudia Briggs, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, teachers union

Unity or Union Fealty?

By Larry Sand
01/26/2021
 President Biden calls for national unity, but his words ring hollow. The resignation of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos the day after the Capitol protests spurred National Education Association President Becky Pringle to spew, “Resigning 13 days before the end of this administration does nothing to erase the harm Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has done to this...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Becky Pringle, Betsy DeVos, California Teachers Association, Corey DeAngelis, Joe Biden, Larry Sand, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, Randi Weingarten

The No Education Association

By Larry Sand
01/19/2021
As the teachers unions buttress their roadblocks to reopening schools, parental choice is more important than ever. In September 2020, researchers Corey DeAngelis and Christos Makridis released the results of a study which found that school districts in places with strong teachers’ unions were much less likely to offer full-time, in-person instruction in the fall....

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Christos Makridis, Claudia Briggs, Corey DeAngelis, EdChoice, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, Randi Weingarten

The Disunited State of America

By Larry Sand
12/15/2020
“We acknowledge that we meet on stolen land.” The above quote kicks off a contemptible “White Privilege” PowerPoint presentation that the San Diego Unified School District is forcing its teachers to watch. Authored by Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi, two high-profile race hustlers, all the usual victimology blather is in full bloom – you...

TAGS: Black Lives Matter, California Teachers Association, Ibram X. Kendi, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Robin DiAngelo, teachers union, Walter Williams, White Fragility, white privilege

Pandemic Pod Pushback

By Larry Sand
11/10/2020
The education establishment is losing customers, and it isn’t happy. Teacher union honchos don’t like homeschoolers for obvious reasons. When kids learn at home, it means less control, money, and power for them. Over the years, the National Education Association has adopted resolutions at its yearly convention which stipulate that homeschooling families “cannot provide the...

TAGS: Becky Pringle, California Teachers Association, EdChoice, Heritage Foundation, homeschool, Jonathan Butcher, Larry Sand, National Education Association, pandemic pods, Randi Weingarten, teachers union

Bugging the Proselytizers

By Larry Sand
10/20/2020
If cops are expected to wear body cameras, teachers’ lessons should be recorded. In Texas, a 9th grade English teacher adorns her virtual classroom with posters professing support for Black Lives Matter and the LGBT lifestyle. In southern California, a teacher regularly tells her students how stupid President Trump is, and that conservatives are destroying...

TAGS: Black Lives Matter, California Teachers Association, Indoctrination, John Fensterwald, Larry Sand, teachers union

The Audacity of Woke

By Larry Sand
08/25/2020
While Covid-19 has a shelf life, “Woke-20” shows no sign of abating. With many schools across the country shuttered due to Covid-19, the woke zealots are in a bit of a snit. They can’t indoctrinate students with their one-sided radical views in the traditional classroom because, well, there is no classroom. Doing it online, you...

TAGS: American Federation for Children, Black Lives Matter, California Teachers Association, Dan Walters, homeschool, Jose Medina, Larry Sand, teachers union, white privilege, woke

A Pension Recommendation for the California Teachers Association

By Edward Ring
08/13/2020
This week a fascinating article on the website of the Education Intelligence Agency revealed that the California Teachers Association, one of the most powerful labor unions in the world, is itself having labor problems. Moreover, the labor problems they’re encountering are because they’re trying to be fiscally responsible. Setting aside for a moment all the grievances that education reformers...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, CalSTRS, government pensions, pension reform