Charter Caps…and Gowns

By Larry Sand
04/09/2019
As charter schools continue to prove themselves, the threatened education monopolists try to kill them off.  Just a month ago, I wrote about the problems that charter schools were having in California. No, there is not a problem with parental dissatisfaction or with inducing students to attend and thrive in a safe environment. Rather, there...

TAGS: Bill de Blasio, Charter schools, Eva Moskowitz, Larry Sand, teachers union, Tony Thurmond, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Race to the Left

By Larry Sand
04/02/2019
Kamala Harris has concocted a brazen plan to get the teacher union endorsement in 2020.  In July, 2015, a full year before the last Democratic National Convention, the American Federation of Teachers endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. This infuriated many teachers, who preferred Bernie Sanders, rightfully feeling they had no role in the decision. AFT...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Andrew Biggs, Bernie Sanders, Center for American Progress, Eric Hanushek, James Agresti, Jason Richwine, Kamala Harris, Larry Sand, Randi Weingarten, teacher pay, teachers union

Classroom forecast: Miseducated with a high chance of indoctrination

By Larry Sand
03/19/2019
Instead of American history, students now learn about the evils of capitalism, airplanes and cow farts.  “‘Education is Political’: Neutrality in the Classroom Shortchanges Students” read a recent headline on the National Education Association website. What the teachers union is essentially saying is that an objective approach to controversial subjects does a disservice to the...

TAGS: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Howard Zinn, Larry Sand, Massachusetts Teachers Association, National Education Association, Saul Alinsky, teachers union

Chartercide in California

By Larry Sand
03/05/2019
California’s teachers unions, a compliant legislature and an anti-choice governor do not bode well for the state’s charter schools. Yet another group of angry teachers has made charter schools the focus of their wrath. The seven-day teacher strike, which ended in Oakland last week, was replete with typical teacher union demands like higher pay and...

TAGS: California Charter School Association, California Teachers Association, Charter schools, David Crane, John Fensterwald, Larry Sand, LAUSD, Myrna Castrejón, teacher strike, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Worst Virginia

By Larry Sand
02/26/2019
Legislators in the Mountain State buckle to the teachers union.  In aggregate, West Virginia’s public schools are not very good. According to the state scorecard, 88 percent of the state’s 116 high schools “do not meet standards” in math. Furthermore, the state’s eighth graders rank 45th nationwide in reading as per the 2017 National Assessment...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Education Savings Accounts, Larry Sand, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

Casting Pearls Before Caputo

By Larry Sand
02/19/2019
Conflating regulation with accountability, teacher union leaders continue their deceptive talking points. While it’s up for grabs who originated the saying, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it,” Alex Caputo-Pearl is certainly one of its modern-day avatars. In a recent Washington Post op-ed, the...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, American Federation for Children, Andrew Gillum, Corey DeAngelis, EdChoice, Education Savings Accounts, James Shuls, Larry Sand, Pell Grants, Ron DeSantis, school choice, tax credit scholarship, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles, vouchers

The state of the teachers union

By Larry Sand
02/12/2019
American Federation of Teachers demands justice in Saudi Arabia and compassion for the vulnerable in Syria, but in the U.S., it’s a very different story. As a way to show that they are “PEOPLE WHO REALLY CARE,” Randi Weingarten and her cronies at the American Federation of Teachers have been making forays into foreign policy....

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, charter school, Larry Sand, Los Angeles Unified School District, Randi Weingarten, Richard Vladovic, seniority, teachers union, tenure, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Collective bargaining hurts teachers and students

By Larry Sand
01/15/2019
Using a model from the Industrial Era, teachers in Los Angeles are striking. I have written about the subject many times, but it is worth revisiting as Los Angeles teachers are striking over a one-size-fits-all collective bargaining contract that is harmful to all concerned. Collective bargaining, a term first introduced into the lexicon by socialist...

TAGS: Alexander Willen, Andrew Coulson, Caroline Hoxby, collective bargaining, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, Michael Lovenheim, Mike Petrilli, teacher strike, teachers union, Terry Moe, wage compression

Universal pre-k is not okay

By Larry Sand
01/08/2019
New governor of the People’s Republic of California wants to expand a dubious universal preschool plan. California’s new Governor Gavin Newsom envisions a future where the state will be involved in your children’s lives from conception to adulthood. Newsom told EdSource in September, “Our role begins when babies are still in the womb and it...

TAGS: Gavin Newsom, Head Start, Kerry McDonald, Kevin McCarty, Lance Izumi, Larry Sand, Rahm Emanuel, Taxifornia, Transitional Kindergarten