Education Reform | California Policy Center

Douglas County Colorado School Board Rebels Against Teachers Union

Three members of the Douglas County School Board have floated proposals to terminate dealings with teacher’s unions. Three board members proposed three separate ballot questions, each chipping away at what have been traditional district-union relationships in the affluent county south of Denver. Should the district be prohibited from using public funding for the compensation of...

By Mike Shedlock

Chutzpah on Steroids

An audacious article asserting that teachers unions are good for kids may have fooled some people fifty years ago but now should be viewed as a modern fairy tale. AlterNet, a far left website that among other things extols the virtues of Communist wretch Howard Zinn, posted an article by Kristin Rawls – are you...

By Larry Sand

Class Warfare and Two-Faced Union Bosses

Teacher union bosses’ hypocrisy plunges to new depths. After the recent congressional vote to keep the Bush-era tax cuts in place, National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel lamented on the union’s website, Today House Republican leadership gave the richest two percent another handout, while pulling the rug out from under millions of children and...

By Larry Sand

No Love for Irreplaceable Teachers

According to a recent study, many public schools do not retain their best teachers – the “irreplaceables.” Is anyone surprised? A study released a couple of weeks ago by the New Teacher Project – now known as TNTP – claims that urban schools…. …are systematically neglecting their best teachers, losing tens of thousands every year...

By Larry Sand

“While the union’s behavior is disturbing, it certainly isn’t shocking.”

American Enterprise Institute research fellow Michael McShane’s comment addresses the bullying effort by the Louisiana teachers union. (h/t Jay Greene.) Recently the Louisiana Association of Educators threatened to sue private schools if they participate in the Pelican State’s new voucher program. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Teachers unions allege that sending public dollars to...

By Larry Sand

Pollution Driven Unionism

AFT president Randi Weingarten trots out “solution driven unionism,” but her “solutions” are anything but. As if Detroit didn’t have a zillion other problems, the American Federation of Teachers decided to have its every-other-year convention there last week. In Michigan, a forced union state, I guess AFT figured they’d have a captive audience. On opening...

By Larry Sand

San Diego and Sacramento Asking Voters to Approve Over $3.0 Billion in Construction Bonds with Union Mandated Labor Agreements

Two California urban school districts notorious for requiring their construction contractors to sign Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) with construction trade unions will be asking voters to approve huge bond measures in the November 6, 2012 election. Voters have overwhelmingly approved two large bond measures during the past 15 years for both the San Diego Unified School District and the...

By Kevin Dayton

Don’t Buy NEA Snake Oil

The teachers union uses bogus numbers to con the public into believing that education needs more funding. The National Education Association is relentless in its quest to raise taxes. In its latest gambit — “Massive Budget Cuts Threaten America’s Children” — the union claims that “…America’s schools have added 5.4 million students since 2003.” The...

By Larry Sand

Damning the Children

Protecting image and turf in the face of evil is unconscionable. As if the Jerry Sandusky fourteen year long child abuse tragedy hasn’t been painful enough, former FBI director Louis Freeh released a report last week that condemned Penn State’s legendary football coach Joe Paterno as well as other school leaders for conducting a massive...

By Larry Sand

National Education Association Admits Things Will Never Be the Same

The nation’s biggest union finds itself in a big hole and keeps digging. In his excellent book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and Americas Public Schools, published a little more than a year ago, Terry Moe posited that the teachers unions would meet their end via two routes – Democrats joining Republicans, thus making education reform...

By Larry Sand

Knox vs. SEIU – A Reaffirmation

The Supreme Court reached the right decision in the Knox case, but we still to need to let all American workers choose whether or not they want to belong to a union. While last week’s Supreme Court’s Arizona immigration and Obamacare decisions have caused great controversy in some circles, its earlier judgment in the Knox...

By Larry Sand

Sacramento “Teacher of the Year” Laid Off; Who is to Blame?

I have a great deal of sympathy for Michelle Apperson, the Sacramento “Teacher of the Year” who was laid off. Assuming she deserved the award, she should not have been laid off. Sixth-grade teacher Michelle Apperson passed down a simple message to her students. “My favorite teachers growing up were the ones who challenged me...

By Mike Shedlock

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Union Rhetoric

After losing the Battle of Wisconsin, union members flee in droves and frantic union apologists resort to melodrama. Since losing the recall election in Wisconsin two weeks ago, it seems that there has been more than the usual lying, distortion and hyperbole coming from union bosses and their fellow travelers. Perhaps the most egregious example...

By Larry Sand

The Battle of Wisconsin

Governor Walker’s victory on June 5th was crucial, but the war is far from over. Just a week ago, Scott Walker survived a recall, beating back the rapacious efforts of the National Education Association and its state affiliate, the Wisconsin Education Association (WEAC) to recall the Wisconsin governor who had the moxie to work with...

By Larry Sand