The Non-proficient Teachers Unions

By Larry Sand
11/10/2015
California students are not learning and teacher union leaders blame tests. Every two years selected students across the nation take the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), a test known as the nation’s report card. This year our kids didn’t do well. Actually they never do well, but this year the scores were even worse...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, EdVoice, Fresno Teachers Association, Larry Sand, NAEP, National Council on Teacher Quality, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, Stull Act, teachers union

The Unions’ Assault on Truth

By Larry Sand
11/03/2015
The teachers unions continue to mislead its members and everyone else. In the latest issue of the California Federation of Teachers quarterly newsletter, CFT president Josh Pechthalt writes “The lawsuits that educators and unions must defeat,” which is referred to as a “special report” – special because it is especially filled with half-truths, omissions and...

TAGS: agency fee payers, Bain v. CTA, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, EdVoice, Edward Ring, Friedrichs v CTA, Josh Pechthalt, Larry Sand, Randi Weingarten, seniority, Students Matter, Stull Act, teachers union, tenure, Vergara

The Unions’ “Accountability” Libel Against Charter Schools

By Larry Sand
10/27/2015
The teacher union war on charter schools ramps up with empty billionaire and accountability accusations. Charter schools are like pesky chewing gum that the teachers unions just can’t quite get off their shoes. They have been persistent in trying to just get rid of the alternative public schools – except for the few they have...

TAGS: accountability, American Federation of Teachers, California Charter School Association, Charter schools, CREDO, Democracy Alliance, Eli Broad, Eric Owens, George Soros, In the Public Interest, John Stocks, LA School Report, Larry Sand, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, National Education Association, Nina Rees, Occupy Wall Street, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, Tom Steyer

The Taxpayer as Bagman

By Larry Sand
10/20/2015
In California, the citizenry pays for the collection of dues for public employee unions. As just about every teacher in California will tell you, union dues are deducted by the local school district from their monthly paycheck just as federal and state withholding taxes are. Then the school district turns the money over to the...

TAGS: A.J. Duffy, AFL-CIO, California Teachers Association, Friedrichs, Larry Sand, Prop. 32, Prop. 75, teachers union, union dues, UTLA

Loss of LIFO

By Larry Sand
10/13/2015
If Eli Broad’s charter school plan goes forward, there will be a major shake-up in the ranks of LAUSD teachers. Philanthropist Eli Broad’s ambitious plan to create 260 new charter schools over an eight year period in Los Angeles, enrolling at least 130,000 students, will have major ramifications for many of the city’s 25,600 teachers....

TAGS: A.J. Duffy, Alex Caputo-Pearl, California Charter School Association, California Federation of Teachers, charter school, Eli Broad, Larry Sand, last in first out, LIFO, Rolf Treu, seniority, StudentsFirst, Teach For America, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles, UTLA, Vergara case

Dear California Teacher

By Larry Sand
10/06/2015
An email sent to educators just 10 years ago opened a lot of eyes – including mine – about the true nature of the teachers unions. In 2005, after having taught for 24 years, I was becoming quite agitated. All along I had been subsidizing the teachers unions’ political agenda and thought I had no...

TAGS: Bain v. CTA, California Teachers Association, California Teachers Empowerment Network, Deroy Murdock, Friedrichs v CTA, Larry Sand, National Right to Work Foundation, paycheck protection, Prop. 75, seiu, teachers union

Teachers Union Won’t Play Broad Way

By Larry Sand
09/29/2015
Los Angeles teachers union and its friends are livid over plan to charterize 260 schools. According to a memo unearthed by Los Angeles Times writer Howard Blume, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and other charter advocates want to create 260 new charter schools in Los Angeles, enrolling at least 130,000 students. The document includes...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, California Charter School Association, Charter schools, Eli Broad, Elon Musk, Heartland Institute, Howard Blume, Larry Sand, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

When Union Bosses Become Employers

By Larry Sand
09/22/2015
Sanctimonious labor leaders treat their employees very differently than their members. While tales of union hypocrisy are as common as instances of Donald Trump sticking his Ferragamos in his mouth, there is one facet of union two-facedness that is under-reported – the role of union as employer. As mentioned in my post a couple of...

TAGS: 401K, defined benefit pension, Evan Grossman, Jerry Jordan, Larry Sand, National Education Association, pension tsunami, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, seniority, teachers union, tenure

Reactionary Teachers Union Parties like It’s 1909

By Larry Sand
09/15/2015
Self-serving Washington Education Association dusts off a 100 year old law to shut down charter schools. As I have frequently written, the teachers unions have a schizoid relationship with charter schools. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays they want to kill them off; on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays they want to unionize them. Earlier this month,...

TAGS: American Enterprise Institute, Charter schools, Eric Owens, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, Rick Hess, teachers union, Washington Education Association

Labor Union Day

By Larry Sand
09/08/2015
Labor Day has become little more than an opportunity for union leaders to puff out their chests and make grandiose statements about the glories of organized labor. As a way to build their brand, union leaders typically pit management against labor, portraying the worker as David fighting greedy entrepreneurs and corporate Goliaths. This is especially...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Deroy Murdock, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Koch Brothers, Larry Sand, Manhattan Institute, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, Teamsters, Unions, United Auto Workers, United Federation of Teachers