Monopoly Games

By Larry Sand
12/08/2020
With a Biden presidency looming, charter schools are once again under attack. “I remember seeing a bumper sticker when the telephone company was all one…and it said ‘We don’t care. We don’t have to.’ And that’s what a monopoly is. That’s what IBM was in their day. And that’s certainly what the public school system...

TAGS: Charter schools, Corey DeAngelis, Joe Biden, Larry Sand, Marcus Winters, monopoly, National Education Association, Patrick Wolf, school choice, teachers union

Orange County Classical Academy Excels Despite COVID

By Edward Ring
12/02/2020
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck hard back in April 2020, California’s teachers’ unions went into overdrive. The United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) released a lengthy document outlining what they believed to be “Safe and Equitable Conditions for Starting LAUSD in 2020-21.” In a report published by the California Policy Center that same month, Larry Sand explained the deal...

TAGS: Charter schools, CTA, LAUSD, orange county classical academy, teachers unions

Pocket Man

By Larry Sand
11/24/2020
If Joe Biden becomes president, will he go along with the teachers union wish list? As I wrote last week, charter school students, kids who are in other school choice programs, and taxpayers could be getting the short end of the stick if Joe Biden becomes president on January 20th. To assist Biden with policy...

TAGS: Charter schools, Chris Stewart, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, Joe Biden, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, Lindsey Burke, NAEP, National Education Association, teachers union

Biden does teachers union bidding

By Larry Sand
07/14/2020
Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders team up with the teachers unions; the big losers are poor and minority families. Back in May, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tapped Senator Bernie Sanders to help assemble six task forces which would make recommendations for the party’s 2020 platform. The allegedly moderate Biden joined up with the...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Bernie Sanders, Charter schools, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, Joe Biden, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, Pell Grants, privatization, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

The Orange County Classical Academy is Going to Transform Education in California

By Edward Ring
07/08/2020
***Watch a mini-documentary on the creation of OCCA HERE*** In barely one month, 360 elementary school students will begin attending a new charter school that offers a dramatic departure from the failed public education model in California. The Orange County Classical Academy (OCCA) will open its doors to kindergarten through 5th-grade students, and apart from the...

TAGS: Charter schools, Common Core, orange county, orange county classical academy, school choice, teachers unions

Manhattan Beach firefighter pay averages over $300,000 per year

By Edward Ring
01/21/2020
There is now a $300,000 club for California’s firefighters. In the City of Manhattan Beach during 2018, the average pay and benefits for a full time firefighter were $300,242. While the Manhattan Beach firefighters, at least through 2018, belong to an exclusive club, twelve California cities pay their firefighters over $250,000 per year, and 69...

TAGS: CalFire, Charter schools, firefighters, Social Security, UTLA

Gompers must choose what kind of future it wants

By Koppany Jordan
01/08/2020
In 2004, following decades of poor student performance and gang crime, parents at San Diego’s Gompers Middle School and the school’s principal used a little-known state law to convert their campus into a public charter school. The new school, called Gompers Preparatory Academy, thrived. Campus safety improved, test scores rose, and students and teachers lined...

TAGS: Charter schools, education, public unions, San Diego, Unions

Is Elitist Elizabeth’s campaign collapsing?

By Larry Sand
12/10/2019
The NEA grills POTUS candidates on the issues, and Elizabeth Warren is outed as a world-class hypocrite. In an attempt to be transparent about its endorsing process, the National Education Association is recording interviews with all the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. And Elizabeth Warren’s effort is right in line with her talk in Atlanta, in...

TAGS: Charter schools, Elizabeth Warren, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, National Education Association, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

Democratic POTUS candidates must choose between parents and unions

By Larry Sand
12/03/2019
Sanders stands firm on the issues; Warren and Booker are chameleon-like; Biden is meh. As I wrote in May, several of the Democratic presidential hopefuls were tripping over each other in an effort to secure the endorsement of the teachers unions. These candidates were most pointed in criticizing any form of school choice. Bernie Sanders...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Andrew Gillum, Bernie Sanders, Charter schools, Corey DeAngelis, Cory Booker, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Next, Elizabeth Warren, Howard Fuller, Joe Biden, Larry Sand, Randi Weingarten, Ron DeSantis, school choice, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles, vouchers