Oh, the irony

This week marked Teacher Appreciation Week – a time when, in normal years, students may have gifted their beloved instructors with apples or homemade cards of appreciation. But with many schools still locked down thanks to union intransigence, some took their celebratory messages to Twitter. 

And boy, were they ironic. 

“We celebrate and thank you,” read a tweet by Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach. Another shared similar sentiment. Well-meaning as those messages may have been, they came only days after the Tweet writers, along with their other Democratic colleagues that make up the Committee on Public Employment and Retirement, killed a bill that would have protected a very basic right of California educators. 

In true appreciation of teachers, Asm. Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, introduced Assembly Bill 1484. But Kiley’s bill didn’t get so much as a committee hearing. That’s thanks to a bevy of new rules implemented by the supermajority party that make it easy to quash proposals brought by Republicans early in the legislative process. 

Kiley’s proposal is simple: ensure California educators have the information they need about their union membership rights. This was no mere feel-good proclamation that honors teachers. It would have brought California into compliance with the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME, which gave government workers the right to work without paying a union – and which said government employers must have proof a worker has knowingly consented to join the union before deducting dues from their paychecks. AB 1484 would have required that proof and safeguarded teachers’ paychecks as a result.

That’s why CPC authored this letter of support for the bill, and worked with Kiley’s team to ensure the language of the legislation would adequately bring California into compliance with the Janus decision. 

If you’d like to donate to efforts like these, you can do so here. 

When Michigan implemented this safeguard by regulation last year, 13 percent of the unionized civil service employees chose not to rejoin the union, though they’ve had the freedom to leave for years. In California, 22 percent of teachers and staff have chosen not to pay union dues since the Janus decision, according to public records we’ve collected from school districts representing over 160,000 school employees. 

For politicians who rely on union campaign contributions as so many in Sacramento do, it makes sense to prevent a bill like AB 1484 from seeing the light of day. Workers won’t drop union membership if they don’t know they are allowed to. 

Teachers unions have displayed particularly disgusting behavior this past year, but we all know educators who are as fed up with unions as we are. Before this Teacher Appreciation Week comes to a close, thank those educators in your life. And if you really want to do something nice for them, send them this  link to CPC’s My Pay. My Say. There, teachers (and all government employees) can get the information Sacramento politicians are trying to hide about dropping union membership.

More from CPC

• Analysis: California’s charter school Renaissance continues
• The immense education “investment” fraud
• Listen: A tale of two bills
• California’s gubernatorial candidates need to show true grit

CPC and allies in the news

• California lawmakers praise teachers, while restricting their rights
• CEO magazine: Texas, Florida best states for business; California, New York, Illinois the worst 
• Panel: The future of policing includes community partnerships
• Lyft rides increased demand for service
• Some states are finally getting serious about addressing police misconduct
• CPC board member David Bahnsen makes appearance in Hannity’s interview with Caitlyn Jenner:

Classroom headlines 

• Biden believes in science – so long as the teachers’ unions approve
• Another window on ZOOM 
• In the name of equity, California will discourage students who are gifted at math
• Stuck in quarantine: Rocklin parents say students forced to teach themselves, call for change in policy
• LAUSD teachers oppose adding 10 days to school year, union says
• Anti-critical race theory school curriculum candidates win big in Texas town with 70 percent of vote
• How the closure of in-school learning damaged U.S. children’s mental health during the pandemic

COVID and openings

• • Powerful teachers unions dictating terms of reopening to CDC, school districts

• White House: Schools should ‘probably’ open in the fall. Also: ‘maybe,” and ‘It depends.”

• New York Gov. Cuomo stuns Broadway and cultural world with lifting of pandemic capacity restrictions on May 19
• End of face masks in the classroom as Boris Johnson defies unions
• The liberals who can’t quit lockdown

Other things we’re reading

• Appellate court decision on Kiley/Gallagher lawsuit against Gov, Newsom’s ‘one man rule’
• Another big tech company closes SF offices, will have no HQ
• California #50 (again) in Chief Executive Magazine’s best and worst states for business 2021
• New income tax hike could go to 16.8%; ‘Best path forward is for the Legislature to focus on helping employers create and maintain jobs’
• The illogic of public sector unions
• Costa Mesa uses federal aid to end worker furloughs, restore missed pay

Connect with CPC

Want to keep up with CPC and our partners during the week? Follow us on Twitter, join our Facebook community, and sign up to be part of the growing Parent Union.