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

If Everyone Is Behind, Then No One Is Behind

By Larry Sand
09/29/2020
COVID-19 has further exposed the teachers unions’ disregard for children. In early September, researchers Corey DeAngelis and Christos Makridis released the results of a study they spearheaded, which found that “school districts in places with stronger teachers’ unions are much less likely to offer full-time, in-person instruction this fall.” The authors stress that the results...

TAGS: American Academy of Pediatrics, American Federation for Children, Christos Makridis, Corey DeAngelis, COVID-19, Eric Hanushek, Larry Sand, teachers union, Washington Education Association

BART’s ‘Superpower’ is the Ability of Its Board to Ignore Financial Reality

By Will Swaim
09/24/2020
COVID-19 has throat-punched the American transportation industry. United, Delta and American airlines are cutting staff through furloughs, layoffs and buyouts. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing is pursuing voluntary layoffs so aggressively that business reporters are starting to put quotes around the word “voluntary.” The company that provides school bus service to the San Francisco Unified School District furloughed its 260 drivers until classrooms...

TAGS: BART, COVID-19

Private School Primacy?

By Larry Sand
09/08/2020
It’s back-to-school decision time for many parents. With schools set to reopen, it’s time for parents to choose how best to proceed with their children’s education in our Covid-obsessed country. If there is no in-school option, how many will stick with online education from their local public school? And how many will opt to home...

TAGS: Al Sharpton, American Federation for Children, COVID-19, homeschool, Howard Blume, Larry Sand, Randi Weingarten, Rick Hess, school choice, teachers union

School choice ascending

By Larry Sand
05/19/2020
As traditional public schools grapple with the effects of Covid-19, many parents are awakening to school choice.  The left-right debate about how to improve education in the U.S. often comes down to money v. school choice. Many on the left bemoan the fact that we don’t “invest” more in education. It doesn’t help to point...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Betsy DeVos, COVID-19, Diane Ravitch, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union

The coming upheaval in education

By Larry Sand
05/12/2020
Due to Covid-19 related economic realities, the unions demand the Feds pour billions more into education. There is no way to sugarcoat it. The economic impact of Covid-19 will take its toll on education funding. The National Education Association is in full freak-out mode, “calling for an additional $175 billion to stabilize education funding—the $30.7...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, Benjamin Scafidi, California Teachers Association, COVID-19, Larry Sand, LIFO, National Education Association, seniority, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Freedom for me, but not for thee

By Larry Sand
04/14/2020
Temporary Los Angeles teacher union contract, inspired by COVID-19, liberates teachers, but parents and kids are still held captive, of course. On Thursday, April 9th the Los Angeles Unified School District struck a distance-learning pact with the United Teachers of Los Angeles. The seat-of-the-pants labor agreement was necessitated by the closing of all district schools...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, coronavirus, COVID-19, education savings account, Larry Sand, school choice, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles