Income Inequality Farm

By Larry Sand
06/23/2015
Labor leaders and their friends start a new “progressive” organization … as George Orwell rolls over in his grave. We live in strange times when a man can decide that he’s a woman and someone born freckled and blonde declares with great conviction that she is African-American. Following the trend, we have organized labor leaders...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, California Teacher Association, George Orwell, Larry Sand, Randi Weingarten, Richard Trumka, teachers union

Dear Randi (Redux),

By Larry Sand
06/16/2015
Given the assertions you make in your latest “Where We Stand” column, we need to talk! So it’s been a year since I last wrote to you. You sure have been busy! Defending mandatory voting laws and Hillary Clinton, railing against cheese sandwiches and Jeb Bush, it’s totally understandable that you may be getting a...

TAGS: Bain v. CTA, California Teachers Empowerment Network, collective bargaining, Fordham Institute, Friedrichs v CTA, Koch Brothers, Larry Sand, Mike Petrilli, National Council on Teacher Quality, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union

Nevada Electrifies the School Choice Movement

By Larry Sand
06/09/2015
The state known for flashy neon, quickie divorces and Wayne Newton shows is now ground zero for private school choice. On its website, the Nevada State Education Association informs us that vouchers (and other private school options) are unworthy because, among other things, they offer “no real ‘choice’ for the overwhelming majority of students.” This...

TAGS: education savings account, ESA, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, Robert Enlow, teachers union, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris

The NEA’s Koch Obsession

By Larry Sand
06/02/2015
The teachers union is determined to purge the Koch brothers from our college campuses. The National Education Association’s mission to drive Charles and David Koch, the two wealthy philanthropist brothers from Kansas, into the sea is showing no signs of slowing down. According to its latest Labor Department filing, the nation’s biggest union gifted $150,000...

TAGS: capitalism, free market, Koch Brothers, Larry Sand, National Education Association, teachers union

Doctored Education

By Larry Sand
05/26/2015
Using testing as a backdrop, NEA president promotes 1950s industrial-style education. The American Enterprise Institute’s education policy maven Rick Hess has been traveling around the country promoting his new book The Cage-Busting Teacher. So last week he left his Education Week blog in the hands of National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen García. Interesting choice,...

TAGS: American Enterprise Institute, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, No Child Left Behind, Rick Hess, seniority, Teach For America, teachers union, tenure, Terry Moe

Charter Chumps

By Larry Sand
05/12/2015
The competition-phobic teachers unions are still trying to decimate charter schools. As I wrote a couple of years ago, the teachers unions vacillate when it comes to charter schools. On odd days they try to organize them and on even ones they go all out to eviscerate them. But the organizing efforts haven’t gone too...

TAGS: AB 1172, Alex Caputo-Pearl, California Charter School Association, California Teachers Association, Center for Education Reform, Charter schools, Dean Vogel, Jay Greene, Larry Sand, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, teachers union, Tom Kane, Tony Mendoza, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Teachers Unions Appeal Vergara

By Larry Sand
05/05/2015
… and continue to block any and every meaningful reform the California state legislature has to offer. On May Day (how fitting!) the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers filed their appeal of the Vergara decision. In that 2014 ruling, Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu struck down California’s teacher tenure, layoff and...

TAGS: Bill Lucia, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Carol Liu, Dean Vogel, Democrats for Education Reform, EdVoice, Josh Pechthalt, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, Rolf Treu, Shirley Weber, Students Matter, StudentsFirst, teachers union, Vergara

Class-Size Myth Tested Yet Again

By Larry Sand
04/28/2015
Other than school choice, no issue riles the teachers unions more than class-size. A couple of weeks ago, Edunomics Lab, a university-based research center that focuses on “exploring and modeling complex education finance decisions,” released a report in which it claims to have figured out a way to pay some teachers more without taking money...

TAGS: class-size, Eric Hanushek, Larry Sand, National Education Association, teachers union

Pseudo Studies and Push Polls

By Larry Sand
04/21/2015
Teachers unions turn to “facts” as they desperately cling to their monopolistic, anti-privatization narrative. Last Thursday the “non-partisan” Center for Tax and Budget Accountability rolled out a report that slammed vouchers, claiming that there is “no statistical evidence proving that students who use vouchers perform better than their public school counterparts.” The “study,” as reported...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Bob Peterson, Cato Institute, Center for Popular Democracy, Education Next, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Jason Bedrick, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, No Child Left Behind, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

Bain Explained

By Larry Sand
04/14/2015
Bain v. CTA is the latest lawsuit to challenge teacher union hegemony. For the third time in three years, a lawsuit has been filed in California that challenges the way the teachers unions do business. In May 2012, eight California public school children filed Vergara et al v. the State of California et al in...

TAGS: agency fee payer, American Federation of Teachers, Bain v. CTA, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Center for Individual Rights, collective bargaining, EdSource, John Fensterwald, Larry Sand, Michelle Rhee, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, Students Matter, StudentsFirst, teachers union, Vergara