Los Angeles Unified School District, the state’s largest district and largest recipient of the Proposition 30 tax increases, figures to be writing a big check soon. Unfortunately, this check won’t be going to support math, reading or arts programs. Rather, the money, $30 million, would go to settle 58 legal claims filed against LAUSD related...
Thoughts on my recent encounter with the president of the California Teachers Association. I was quite surprised when California Teachers Association president Dean Vogel agreed to join a panel that consisted of Gloria Romero, Terry Moe and me a couple of weeks ago at an event sponsored by The Conservative Forum of Silicon Valley. Gloria...
A mental disorder has come to California, but for the afflicted — mostly teacher union types — it manifests itself in a partisan way. Voters were not swayed by outsiders and their millions…The public wants Board members who will listen to the community—not be beholden to their billionaire benefactors. So harrumphed an indignant and self-righteous...
Summary: In Louisiana, a tough and savvy governor has succeeded in enacting an impressive package of school reforms. The teachers’ unions are horrified and using every legal trick to stop changes. But citizens—and legislators from both parties—are pleased. Could this portend similar reforms in other states? The battle for education reform in Louisiana has major...
Good week for debunking teachers union hype, big government waste and mainstream media distortions. The factually challenged Valerie Strauss unleashed a doozie in her Washington Post blog last week. As Alabama was passing tax credit legislation, Strauss, as she so often does, echoed the teachers union line, railing about the program being “welfare for the...
Los Angeles teachers union continues its tradition of accommodating and supporting political extremists. As a teacher and longtime member of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, I got sick and tired of the union taking my dues money and using it to support candidates and causes that I found offensive and resigned from the union...
Unmistakable signs of trouble existed in Santa Ana Unified School District’s food-service program long before they were cited. According to the state Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes, district officials had been warned – in writing and in person. The warnings were simply ignored, and had been for years. Now, SAUSD has been ordered to...
The Michigan Education Association had its apple cart turned upside down when the Wolverine State went “right-to-work” in December. This means that, unlike California and 25 other states, a worker doesn’t have to pay union dues as a condition of employment. My introduction to union coercion came in 2005, when, as a middle school teacher...
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg donates $1 million to reform candidates in Los Angeles school board race. School boards are powerful entities. Within the confines of state law, they typically adopt budgets, collectively bargain with the local teachers union, monitor student achievement and pick the local school superintendent. In California, there are more than...
The National Education Association is relentless in pushing for “reforms,” all the while engaging in world class duplicity. (While the themes I explore here have been covered before, they must be repeated because the National Education Association is dogged in its attempt to acquire even more power than it now has. It is incumbent that...
The National Education Association continues to throw out stale bromides in an attempt to salvage a failing and very costly education enterprise. National School Choice Week has just ended and what a week it was! It spanned the country with 3,600 events in all 50 states and D.C., with proclamations and endorsements from 29 governors,...
Restoring civic attachment and mainstreaming revolution. Back in 2010, the American Enterprise Institute launched “The Program on American Citizenship,” a worthy project that is dedicated to strengthening the foundations of American freedom and self-government by renewing our understanding of American citizenship. The ultimate goal of the Program is to deepen Americans’ appreciation for and attachment...
Widely discredited ex-reformer and teachers union try to deny families a fundamental right. Diane Ravitch has yet again exposed herself as an unserious spokesperson for the sclerotic anti-education reform movement. This crowd is made up of people – typically special interests – bureaucrats, teachers unions, etc. – who desperately cling to the ridiculous notion that...
To have safer schools, where the interests and protection of children aren’t afterthoughts, we must demand more from the administrative-union-legislative unholy trinity. In light of a second school shooting last week – this one in Taft, California – we have all the usual suspects pointing to their pet causes which they claim will prevent the...