In light of strikes past and future, a brief review of teacher compensation is in order. A recent headline in the Austin American-Statesman caught my eye. It read, “Texas education chief suggests paying higher-performing teachers more.” Those of you whose first reaction is “Well, duh,” are hardly outliers. But in the land of...

Sacramento What do the following two things have in common: The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing government workers to opt out of paying union dues and an effort by liberal activists to pass a rent-control initiative in November? On the surface, both issues directly involve the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees....

Sacramento The dust still is clearing from the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus decision, which declared that government employees are no longer required to pay union dues even for collective-bargaining purposes. Virtually everyone – from conservative reformers to union activists – agrees that the decision was momentous. But recent predictions about its real-world import vary widely,...

Santa Ana Unified’s Monte Vista Elementary: Everybody graduates, only 15% read at grade level. (Source: California School Acountability Report Card) On June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court abolished the 40-year practice of requiring public employees to join a union. But a day later, union leaders in California’s sixth-largest school district were hard at work – blocking...

Sacramento — California’s public-sector unions are so accustomed to getting their way in the state Capitol that it’s almost entertaining watching them respond to a coming U.S. Supreme Court decision that is likely to slash their political and economic power. They are sponsoring a variety of bills designed to mute that decision, but there’s surprisingly...

Sacramento — With the end of mandatory unionization on the horizon thanks to an expected U.S. Supreme Court decision, the nation’s public-sector unions are trying a variety of tactics – some laudable, others sleazy – to maintain their large ranks of dues-paying members and massive war chests. On the laudable side, some unions have talked...

Sacramento The rhetoric from union organizers has been expectedly overheated regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s coming review of the Janus v. AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) case that challenges mandatory dues payments to public-sector unions. Court watchers from the left and right expect the conservative-leaning majority to toss out the practice...

Sacramento The nation’s public-sector unions have all but thrown in the towel on the notion of mandatory dues, yet various legal theorists and organizations have submitted briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court defending the right of unions to arm-twist dues from those who don’t agree with the union’s agenda. After reading their arguments, it’s clear...

Sacramento Virtually everyone enjoys the prospect of watching the class bully, who has spent ages tormenting the weak and powerless, get a justified comeuppance. It’s particularly entertaining when the tough guy cries about the unfairness of it all when the tables finally are turned – and there’s nothing he can do about the well-deserved retribution....