Los Angeles Schools Kowtow to Union Demands

By Larry Sand
04/20/2021
Children in L.A. are suffering at the hands of the school district and its “labor partner.” Public schools are finally opening in Los Angeles, but education will be unlike anything the kids have ever seen. Elementary students will attend school just half the time – groups of students will have in-person instruction either in the...

TAGS: Austin Beutner, Cecily Myart-Cruz, Great Public Schools Now, Larry Sand, Los Angeles Unified School District, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Opposition Is Rising to Teacher Union-Mandated Shutdowns

By Larry Sand
03/02/2021
Refusing to accept responsibility for Covid-related lockdowns, the American Federation of Teachers tars Republicans. In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a Republican, correctly blamed the nation’s teachers unions for the overwrought Covid-related lockdowns that have strangled public education throughout much of the country. The American Federation of Teachers...

TAGS: Austin Beutner, Chris Christie, Larry Sand, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

School Reopenings Are Being Determined by Politics and Unions

By Larry Sand
10/27/2020
School lockdowns have little if anything to do with “science.” A working paper released this month by Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform reveals that local politics – not the severity of COVID-19 – is the most important factor in determining whether k-12 public school districts opened for in-person learning in the fall. Political...

TAGS: Austin Beutner, Christos Makridis, Corey DeAngelis, COVID-19, Eric Hanushek, Larry Sand, reopening, teachers union

Los Angeles School District Needs a Hard Reset

By Larry Sand
02/04/2020
LAUSD and UTLA leaders are leading us down the road to financial ruin. A few weeks ago, I wrote that tax-grabbing state bureaucrats were pushing hard-working Californians to the brink. Incompetence, mismanaged money and union greed have turned the formerly Golden State into a failing enterprise. Here, I will focus on the Los Angeles Unified...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, Austin Beutner, Dan Walters, education spending, Larry Sand, Los Angeles Unified School District, NAEP, Prop. 13, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

L.A.’s Measure EE defeat: What happened and what’s next

By Larry Sand
06/11/2019
LAUSD parcel tax measure goes down, and the district is still in charge…for now.  If you live in Los Angeles, the thud you heard last Tuesday was the Los Angeles Unified School District’s parcel tax measure crashing to earth. Its goal was to raise $500 million annually over a 12-year period. Thus, owners of large...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, Austin Beutner, Eli Broad, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Larry Sand, Los Angeles Unified School District, Measure EE, parcel tax, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Los Angeles Unified School Dysfunction

By Larry Sand
04/16/2019
More bad news from the nation’s second largest school district. According to a report released last week, less than half of the 2019 Los Angeles Unified School District graduating class will be eligible to attend one of the state’s public universities. There are 15 essential “A–G” courses, including English, math, and science that students need...

TAGS: Austin Beutner, Charter schools, credit recovery classes, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Jon Coupal, Larry Sand, Los Angeles Unified School District, Nick Melvoin, parcel tax, Taxifornia, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

As L.A. strike begins, eye-catching billboards tell teachers they don’t have to strike – they can quit the union

By Editorial Staff
01/15/2019
SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS: Billboard at 6th and Beaudry, near LA Unified HQ. LOS ANGELES—As 30,000 teachers walked out of Los Angeles classrooms, a coalition of education reform groups is offering teachers an alternative: leave the teachers union. Billboards around the Los Angeles Unified School District encourage teachers to learn their rights – including the...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, Austin Beutner, Janus decision, teachers strike, United Teachers of Los Angeles

UTLA’s crisis is here

By Larry Sand
01/01/2019
Union boss’ orchestrated state crisis is well underway in Los Angeles.  United Teachers of Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl’s long sought-after teachers’ strike is set for January 10th. He began the long march back in 2016 when he forecast a walkout and also boasted about the union’s ability to “create a state crisis” in 2018. Though...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, Arlene Inouye, Austin Beutner, California Teachers Association, David Crane, Parent Revolution, Speak Up, teacher strike, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Class size matters…not a whit

By Larry Sand
11/27/2018
Perhaps the “fake news” story of the year – actually the last 20 years – is that small class size is essential to learning. Under the leadership of its cantankerous president Alex Caputo-Pearl, the United Teachers of Los Angeles is planning to strike – very possibly in January. The union’s demands haven’t budged, even as...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, Andrew Coulson, Austin Beutner, Benjamin Scafidi, Cato Institute, class-size, EdChoice, Eric Hanushek, Larry Sand, Los Angeles Unified School District, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Will Los Angeles teachers strike out on a bad pitch?

By Larry Sand
08/07/2018
Using loads of bogus info, LA teacher union leader prepares teachers for a walkout in the fall. In my post last Tuesday, I wrote about the many problems facing the Los Angeles Unified School District. Since then, one of the issues I detailed has moved front and center: the strong possibility of a teacher strike....

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, Austin Beutner, bargaining for the common good, Charter schools, EdSource, James Agresti, John Fensterwald, Larry Sand, Lisa Snell, Los Angeles Unified School District, Mike Antonucci, Reason Foundation, socialism, teacher pay, teacher strike, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles