Orange County Labor Federation Joins Effort to Misinform School Parents
Orange County Labor Federation Joins Effort to Misinform School Parents
Santa Ana Unified is California’s sixth-largest school district. Only 28 percent of SAUSD tested students scored at basic levels of reading proficiency – and just 19 percent in mathematics. SAUSD has more failing schools – and a higher percentage of failing schools – than any other Orange County district. Increasingly, parents are leaving SAUSD and...
By Gloria Romero
Anaheim City Elementary School District Should Stop Thwarting Parents
Anaheim City Elementary School District Should Stop Thwarting Parents
It didn’t take long for Anaheim City School District’s trustees to snub Orange County Superior Court Judge Andrew Banks’ July 16 ruling that the district had unlawfully rejected the reform effort, supported by almost 67 percent of Palm Lane Elementary School’s parents, to restart the chronically underperforming school. Not only had Judge Banks issued the...
By Gloria Romero
Glazer Victory Proves Government Union Reform Is Bipartisan
Glazer Victory Proves Government Union Reform Is Bipartisan
Steve Glazer is a symbol of change. The Democrat mayor of Orinda, Glazer, won a decisive victory over Concord Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla in last week’s special election for the vacant 7th District State Senate seat. Given California’s open primary system, it was a Democrat vs. Democrat runoff in which Glazer’s foes resorted to attacking him...
By Gloria Romero
Union Controlled Anaheim School Board Forces Parent Activists to Fight in Court
Union Controlled Anaheim School Board Forces Parent Activists to Fight in Court
Over 40 years ago, California’s Supreme Court recognized that a child’s access to an adequate education – regardless of race, ethnicity or wealth – is a fundamental right of the highest order. In Serrano v. Priest the Court affirmed “education is a major determinant of an individual’s chances for economic and social success in our...
By Gloria Romero
Union Controlled Legislature Continues Assault on Charter Schools
Union Controlled Legislature Continues Assault on Charter Schools
When it comes to dealing with California’s successful, independent charter schools, powerful, monied special interests – and the lawmakers they fund – prefer a twist on the adage “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Their version: If you can’t beat them, destroy them. This was manifested last month when four Democratic lawmakers trumpeted their introduction...
By Gloria Romero
California Democrat Goes Rogue, Incurs Government Union Wrath
California Democrat Goes Rogue, Incurs Government Union Wrath
It didn’t take long for “the brotherhood” of status quo politics to pile on. Within hours of former Assembly member Joan Buchanan having lost her election bid for Northern California’s 7th Senate District seat in last week’s special election to fill the vacancy, she endorsed labor-embraced and fellow Democratic Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord. Together, they...
By Gloria Romero
Union Monopoly on California's Public Education Remains Largely Unbroken
Union Monopoly on California's Public Education Remains Largely Unbroken
Just after Groundhog Day last week, the Brookings Institution released its annual Education Choice and Competition Index report, grading 110 school districts on the degree to which they empower parents with easily accessible, broadly available, publicly funded school choices and the degree to which the choice system results in greater access to quality schools. The...
By Gloria Romero
Parents Fight Union to Reform Failing Schools in Anaheim
Parents Fight Union to Reform Failing Schools in Anaheim
November’s electoral outcomes at both the Anaheim City Council and Anaheim City School Board provide a potentially refreshing new start for transforming chronically underperforming city schools while simultaneously opening the door to a new era of respect for parents leading these efforts. The potential arises because two long-serving ACSB members will no longer oversee responsibility...
By Gloria Romero
Los Angeles Unified School District bid to dodge Parent Trigger Law fails
Los Angeles Unified School District bid to dodge Parent Trigger Law fails
The California Senate Legislative Counsel issued last week a sweeping opinion, concluding a controversy as to whether a school district – Los Angeles Unified, in this case – can proclaim itself exempt from California’s historic Parent Trigger law, which enables parents of kids in chronically underperforming schools to transform it if a majority of parents...
By Gloria Romero
Union-dues case moves closer to Supreme Court
Union-dues case moves closer to Supreme Court
Sometimes you win by losing. That’s precisely what occurred last week, when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the motion by Rebecca Friedrichs’ attorneys to decide her case (Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association) on the basis of the pleadings, without a trial or additional oral arguments. The “loss” actually means that plaintiffs –...
By Gloria Romero
Election Lessons for Education Reformers
Election Lessons for Education Reformers
Results from the Nov. 4 yielded both hits and misses regarding prospects for advancing education reform in the Golden State, along with a few immediate lessons: Understand your fight You can’t buy elections – especially the obscure post of superintendent of Public Instruction, a constitutional office created seemingly to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary...
By Gloria Romero
Parent Trigger Law Empowers Parents to Stand Up to Teachers Union
Parent Trigger Law Empowers Parents to Stand Up to Teachers Union
The names Doreen Diaz and Bartola Del Villar appear nowhere in the text of the Parent Empowerment Act, also known as the Parent Trigger, that I wrote in 2010. The law empowers parents to bypass the political paralysis of our education bureaucracy that is responsible for perpetuating the status quo failure of our schools. Today,...
By Gloria Romero
Anaheim Teachers Union Intimidates Their Members
Anaheim Teachers Union Intimidates Their Members
Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher and president of California Teachers Empowerment Network, summarized it succinctly: “Ah, the commissar has spoken from on high!” The “commissar” is none other than the president of the Anaheim Elementary Education Association, Kristen Fisher, who dispatched an email to dues-paying union members on Oct. 6. It seems that Fisher...
By Gloria Romero
Vergara Education Reform Lawsuit Emulated in Other States
Vergara Education Reform Lawsuit Emulated in Other States
The Vergara lawsuit – in which nine children successfully challenged the constitutionality of key California teacher employment and dismissal provisions – has gone national. Amid much pomp, Students Matter, the nonprofit fundingVergara, announced support for a similar challenge, Davids v. New York. Since then, peculiar things have occurred: Both Students Matter and the high-profile law firm Gibson, Dunn...
By Gloria Romero