Janus reality check

By Larry Sand
05/15/2018
With a SCOTUS decision just weeks away, a little perspective is in order.  As one who has closely followed the Janus v AFSCME case, I am amazed at the hyperbolic ranting about it from certain quarters that bombards us on a daily basis. If successful, the suit would allow government workers in 22 states the...

TAGS: AB 119, American Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Janus v. AFSCME, Larry Sand, Michigan Education Association, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, Rob Weil, teachers union

CTA’s ongoing charter school whoppers

By Larry Sand
05/08/2018
Washington Post writer Jay Mathews is “woke” to the fact that the California Teachers Association lies. Jay Mathews has been around the block a few times. He has been with the Washington Post since 1971, and for many of those years he has written about education issues, often arguing for sensible reforms. Which is why...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Charter schools, Jay Mathews, Kids Not Profits, Larry Sand, Marshall Tuck, Patrick Wolf, Steven Greenhut, teachers union, Tony Thurmond

Home invasion

By Larry Sand
04/10/2018
Using the Turpins as an excuse, California legislative busybodies are looking to punish homeschooling families. It was shocking to learn in January that Californians David and Louise Turpin had imprisoned their thirteen children for years in the most disgusting and degrading ways. Fortunately, one of the girls escaped from the home in Perris, and contacted...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, homeschool, Jose Medina, National Education Association, NRA, Parkland, United Teachers of Los Angeles

From zero tolerance to peace circles

By Larry Sand
04/03/2018
  The latest progressive education fad is doing serious damage to kids and teachers. Fads aren’t always harmful things. Hula hoops, goldfish swallowing and pet rocks have really not had a detrimental effect on the nation. But when the education establishment pushes its collective whims on millions of school kids and their teachers, the...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Larry Sand, Max Eden, National Education Association, teachers union, Walter Williams, zero tolerance

“We actually make communities safer and…the right-wing is threatened by that.”

By Larry Sand
03/06/2018
Union rhetoric about the Janus case has gone from hyperbolic to just plain crazy. If successful in the Supreme Court, the Janus v AFSCME case will free public employees from paying a union as a condition of employment in 22 states. Government workers in the other 28 states already have been spared the unions’ forced...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Bob Bowdon, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Choice Media, Friedrichs v CTA, Janus v. AFSCME, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, Right to Work, teachers union, Trey Kovacs

Mr. Chips needs to pack heat

By Larry Sand
02/20/2018
While finger-pointing continues over the Florida school shooting, it’s time to arm our teachers. Understandably, much has been written about the awful school shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 young people were slaughtered at the hands of a sick and evil human being. The tragedy was particularly vexing as there were so many warning signs...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, Parkland, Sandy Hook, teachers union

Union, Inc.

By Larry Sand
01/30/2018
Teacher union leaders palavering about evil corporations and the rich is a modern-day version of The Emperor’s New Clothes. The teachers unions really need to get some new talking points. Granted, straw men and hyperbole are common in political discourse, but union verbiage needs a serious makeover – the old model is giving hypocrisy a...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, American Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, corporate greed, Eric Heins, John Stocks, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, Prop. 13, Randi Weingarten, Taxifornia, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

It’s Janus in February

By Larry Sand
12/26/2017
Public employee freedom case is set to be heard by SCOTUS on Feb. 26. Two months from today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the Janus v AFSCME case, with a decision scheduled to be announced in June. If successful, it would free public employees in 22 states from having to pay any money to a union as a condition of employment.

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Eric Heins, Forced Unionism, Janus v. AFSCME, Larry Sand, Lee Saunders, Mark Janus, stare decisis, teachers union, worker freedom

Overturning the Teacher Turnover Fables

By Larry Sand
12/21/2017
The “nationwide teacher shortage” claim is a myth that has been perpetuated on and off for about a hundred years now. Of late, its inaccurate cousin the “teachers are leaving the profession in droves” fable has been giving it some serious competition however. And California, never a place to avoid a good fad, has hatched a plan to address the mythical problem. In an attempt to lure and keep teachers, there is talk of a “The Teachers Fair Pay” referendum which would align teachers’ pay to the wages of state lawmakers, about $104,000 a year.

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Eric Heins, Mike Antonucci

The rise of uncivil education

By Larry Sand
10/24/2017
This year has not been kind to the land of the free. Due to advancing ignorance and arrogance – a deadly combination – the basic tenets of our republic are in trouble, and public education is at the center of much of what is wrong. While we went through a similar socio-political upheaval in the...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Chester Finn, John Stocks, Kevin Dayton, Lance Izumi, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles