Despite good intentions, efforts to reform teachers unions and make them partners in education reform will not work. Last week, the typically sane and sage Andrew Rotherham wrote a provocative article for Time Magazine entitled “Quiet Riot: Insurgents Take On Teachers Unions.” The main thrust of the piece is this: “But perhaps the biggest strategic...
Time for being shocked, shocked about teacher union methods and objectives is over. Last week, writer Rishawn Biddle broke a story about the American Federation of Teachers’ recent successful actions to neuter a Parent Trigger bill in Connecticut. The first Parent Trigger law, officially the Parent Empowerment Act, was passed in California early last year....
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” – William Butler Yeats “You can’t light a fire in an empty bucket” – Larry Sand The Save Our Schools March, Rally and Pity Party went off as planned in D.C. this past weekend, although on a smaller scale than the organizers had anticipated. They...
Teachers should think twice before marching in lockstep with this revolting crowd. Americans have always had a warm spot for teachers. We all have memories of those who have taught us, who were there every day for us and felt like part of our family. But over the past 40 years or so, teachers unions...
NEA and AFT ramp up attacks on non-existent teacher bashers, while vilifying those who are trying to reform a failing system. In her address last week at the American Federation of Teachers TEACH conference, AFT President Randi Weingarten came out swinging. In an emotional speech to the faithful, she said that education reform should come...
Congratulations go to the Ogden, Utah school board for their Take-It-Or-Leave It Contract Deal to the teachers’ union. Teachers employed by the Ogden School District will get letters over this holiday weekend, informing them they have 20 days or fewer to sign a new contract or they will lose their jobs. After months of contract...
The California Teachers Association and Democrats in the legislature join forces to victimize school districts, children and taxpayers. In Sacramento, on Tuesday night, June 28, school districts, children and taxpayers were essentially mugged by a gang of Democrat legislators at the behest of their bosses in the California Teachers Association. Governor Jerry Brown, also in...
Congratulations to Governor Scott Walker for sticking to his guns. The state of Wisconsin is far better off because of it. So are taxpayers. Most importantly, so are the school kids. Please consider Union curbs rescue a Wisconsin school district “This is a disaster,” said Mark Miller, the Wisconsin Senate Democratic leader, in February after...
Bill Gross has a Plan to Fix the Fractured U.S. Job Market. However, before you can fix any problem you have to understand what the problem is. Interestingly, Gross seems to have a handle on some aspects the problem. Here are two key points from the article on which I agree with Gross. If we...
Only on Planet Teacher Union can obnoxious American wrestlers and a potentially cataclysmic political situation in the Middle East be utilized to advance the teachers unions’ agenda. My never ending quest to find something good that teachers unions do for children or taxpayers has led to some pretty strange dead ends, but lately we have...
The folks who have resisted real education reform will attempt to sell their broken ideas, tax-the-rich schemes and radical socialism in D.C. next month. Sorry to be the bearer of unpleasant news, but the SOS (Save Our Schools) March on Washington — an attempt to con the public by diverting the debate away from real...
Twenty years of schooling in Los Angeles and you’re lucky if you can get any job, let alone one on the day shift. Bob Dylan penned the words in the headline (sans the union part) almost a half century ago but having been quoted by many, they live on. The latest example of the lyrics’...
Hookers plying their trade while government turns a blind eye. Consequences for sexual perverts? No, the state doesn’t seem to care. Whistle blower fired for exposing massive corruption. Rampant nepotism in government jobs. Private bureaucratic empire using public funds. The above could probably pass as blurbs for a sequel to the movie Chinatown. But while...
The very creepy sexualization of young children, a part of the teachers unions’ progressive agenda, goes on unabated. In the past few years, teachers unions in the United States have gotten into the perverse business of sexualizing children. I first wrote about this phenomenon several years ago. In 2004, the National Education Association gave its...