The wisdom of markets

California Supreme Court Finally Rules on Case Affecting Pensions

On Thursday the California Supreme Court issued its ruling in the case Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Association vs Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association. In plain English, this was a case where attorneys representing government unions were challenging pension reforms enacted by California’s state legislature in 2013. The ruling, which had the potential to empower dramatic changes...

By Edward Ring

Michigan v. DeVos Amicus Brief

The California Policy Center (CPC) has joined as local counsel on litigation over CARES Act relief for private schools. CPC joins a coalition of around 40 state and national groups led by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) advocating for private schools. CPC signed onto an amicus brief Wednesday in Michigan v. DeVos, a legal...

By Jackson Reese

How Much Do California’s County Workers Make?

In April, with the pandemic shutdown sending California’s economy into free fall, Gavin Newsom convened a Zoom meeting with the four living California ex governors. He asked them to describe the biggest crisis they faced while in office. As reported by the New York Times, according to Pete Wilson, it was the 1994 Northridge earthquake. For Gray Davis,...

By Edward Ring

Waivers, lawsuits, pandemic pods and school choice legislation

Last week, the school wars intensified on many fronts. Since Governor Gavin Newsom’s July 17th edict closing all but a handful of schools in California, much has transpired. First, it was uncovered a few days later that schools in the Golden State could apply for a waiver to reopen, something Newsom mysteriously omitted in his...

By Larry Sand

Back to Schools: Orange County Board of Education Recommendations on School Reopenings during Covid-19

Until Gov. Gavin Newsom declared most California schools closed for the fall, he had left school re-openings to local officials. But before that declaration, Orange County Board of Education trustees had voted 4-1 to approve the reopening of schools in that county. California Policy Center helped draft an early version of those recommendations, and though the final...

By California Policy Center

How Much Do California’s City Workers Make?

With the economic shutdown devastating private sector employment in California, with small family-owned businesses the worst hit, how are California’s public employees doing? A recent report by NPR paints a grim picture, “Cities Have Never Seen A Downturn Like This, And Things Will Only Get Worse.” From the San Francisco Chronicle, “California cities warn of widespread...

By Edward Ring

School is canceled in California

Governor Newsom and teachers unions nix in-person instruction for most school kids in the fall. The writing was on the chalkboard when the California Teachers Association released a statement on July 8th asserting that, due to coronavirus concerns, schools should not open in the fall. The following day, the United Teachers of Los Angeles echoed...

By Larry Sand

L.A. Teachers Union: Give us $250 Million, Or Keep Schools Closed

Wiki Commons The second-largest public school district in the United States is in turmoil. Los Angeles Unified School District, with over 600,000 students in kindergarten through twelfth grade at over 1,000 schools, may not be open for the business of teaching on August 18. How to handle the COVID-19 pandemic is the issue, and there is...

By Edward Ring

Biden does teachers union bidding

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders team up with the teachers unions; the big losers are poor and minority families. Back in May, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tapped Senator Bernie Sanders to help assemble six task forces which would make recommendations for the party’s 2020 platform. The allegedly moderate Biden joined up with the...

By Larry Sand

POLICING IN CRISIS: IT’S ALL ABOUT UNIONS

A conservative response to police-reform protests Intense public protests and riots following George Floyd’s deadly encounter with a Minneapolis police officer in May have caught many conservatives off guard. Because of their overall support for police officers and their respect for public order, conservatives seem generally troubled by the public reaction. They have – at...

By California Policy Center

The Orange County Classical Academy is Going to Transform Education in California

***Watch a mini-documentary on the creation of OCCA HERE*** In barely one month, 360 elementary school students will begin attending a new charter school that offers a dramatic departure from the failed public education model in California. The Orange County Classical Academy (OCCA) will open its doors to kindergarten through 5th-grade students, and apart from the...

By Edward Ring

Catholic lives matter

The Supreme Court finally clears the way for students to use tax-credit scholarships to attend religious schools; the teachers unions and much of the MSM are apoplectic. The oldest daughter of single mom Kendra Espinoza was being bullied and her youngest daughter was struggling academically at their local public school in Montana. Kendra transferred them...

By Larry Sand

Firefighting in Orange County – Part Three, Placentia’s War for Independence

On July 1, 2020, the Placentia, California’s new Fire and Life Safety Department commenced operations, marking a revolution in California firefighting – and in municipal finance. As documented in the two previous installments of this report, Placentia’s new and independent department replaced the more expensive services (part one) that had been provided by the union-dominated Orange County...

By Edward Ring

We choose where we buy food. Why can’t we do the same for our kids’ education? Those invested in the primacy of traditional public schools – notably the teachers unions, bureaucrats and others who financially benefit from the current set-up – insist that the government is best suited to be in charge of educating our...

By Larry Sand