Bain Explained

By Larry Sand
04/14/2015
Bain v. CTA is the latest lawsuit to challenge teacher union hegemony. For the third time in three years, a lawsuit has been filed in California that challenges the way the teachers unions do business. In May 2012, eight California public school children filed Vergara et al v. the State of California et al in...

TAGS: agency fee payer, American Federation of Teachers, Bain v. CTA, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Center for Individual Rights, collective bargaining, EdSource, John Fensterwald, Larry Sand, Michelle Rhee, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, Students Matter, StudentsFirst, teachers union, Vergara

NEA’s March: Out with a Sham

By Larry Sand
03/31/2015
With the sincerity of an elixir hustler, NEA boss pretends to be objective about the 2016 election. The National Education Association is serious about the 2016 presidential election. The union is serious about every election of course, but this time the union’s leader is actually asking for input from viable candidates even if they haven’t...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Chris Christie, Elizabeth Warren, Jeb Bush, Joe Biden, Koch Brothers, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, Scott Walker, teachers union

Unions Continue Their Long March into the Classroom

By Larry Sand
03/24/2015
Labor union indoctrination is seeping into our schools before our very eyes. Teacher union intrusion into the lives of children is not new. Via anti-child work rules like tenure and seniority, unions have been making their influence felt for years. Additionally, as labor expert Kevin Dayton points out, they have been angling to promote their...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Dennis Van Roekel, Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, Gray Davis, Kevin Dayton, Kevin Jennings, Labor History Month, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Parent Trigger, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, University of California Miguel Contreras Labor Program

“Scott Walker Fails the Test of Common Decency”

By Larry Sand
03/17/2015
… or at least that’s what protection racket leader Randi Weingarten wants us to believe. My goodness! From the response in certain quarters, you would think that Wisconsin governor Scott Walker breached national security – and then maybe tried to lie his way out of it! But no. All he did last week was sign...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Barack Obama, Heritage Foundation, Illinois Policy Institute, James Sherk, Larry Sand, Paul Kersey, Randi Weingarten, Right to Work, Scott Walker, teachers union

The Oasis Was a Mirage

By Larry Sand
03/10/2015
After failing miserably for almost ten years, a rare union-run charter school is mercifully shuttered. In September 2005, New York City’s United Federation of Teachers (UFT) president Randi Weingarten was frustrated and wanted to prove a point. She explained that the union was opening two charter schools so that it could “reclaim” the original charter...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Center for Popular Democracy, Eva Moskowitz, Harlem Success Academy, In the Public Interest, Joel Klein, Larry Sand, Michael Mulgrew, Randi Weingarten, RiShawn Biddle, teachers union, United Federation of Teachers

Vergara: What Comes Next?

By Larry Sand
01/20/2015
Assuming Judge Treu’s rulings survive the appeals process, what will replace the offending statutes? In last year’s Vergara case, Judge Rolf Treu ruled that the state’s archaic seniority, tenure and dismissal statutes were unconstitutional, adding that the evidence submitted “shocks the conscience.” The judge’s ruling is now being appealed by the state of California, the...

TAGS: A.J. Duffy, AB 215, American Federation of Teachers, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Larry Sand, Michael Mulgrew, permanence, Randi Weingarten, Rolf Treu, seniority, Students Matter, Teach Plus, teachers union, Vergara

End the Solidarity Mindset of Teachers and Cops

By RiShawn Biddle
12/30/2014
Chances are that you don’t think that New York City Patrolman’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch has much in common with Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers. In fact, after Lynch sparred earlier this year with Weingarten protégé Michael Mulgrew, the president of the union’s United Federation of Teachers local, over the unit’s collaboration...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, Vergara v California

Happy Sue Year!

By Larry Sand
12/30/2014
The Chinese zodiac is transitioning from “horse” to “sheep,” but in the U.S., where school choice is involved, the species in 2014-2015 is “lawyer.” School choice comes in many flavors, but the privatization kind is the most threatening to various special interests because government-run schools are money-makers and power bases for them. Teachers unions, entrenched...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Cato Institute, education savings account, Florida Education Association, Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, Jason Bedrick, Larry Sand, National Education Association, school choice, tax-credit scholarships, teachers union, vouchers, Wisconsin

Antisocial Injustice

By Larry Sand
12/16/2014
A teachers union giving an award for social justice is like Miley Cyrus handing out a medal for modesty. The term “social justice” has gone through many permutations over the centuries, but these days it refers essentially to a progressive vision of the world. Its paramount issues include income inequality, sexual discrimination, the mere existence...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Cato Institute, Dennis Van Roekel, Florida Education Association, Jason Bedrick, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, social justice, teachers union, Washington Teachers Union

Sweatshops, Walmart, TFA, Bart Simpson and Hams for Hanukkah

By Larry Sand
12/09/2014
Teachers unions are busier than ever pointing fingers, forming loopy alliances and making embarrassing gaffes. A couple of weeks ago Massie Ritsch, assistant communications and outreach point man for Education Secretary Arne Duncan, left his job to take a similar position at Teach For America. And not a moment too soon! As I wrote last...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Arne Duncan, EAG, Kyle Olson, Larry Sand, Nick Gillespie, Randi Weingarten, Rick Hess, Teach For America, teachers union