There is no dearth of teachers; in fact, we may have too many. A nationwide shortage of teachers threatens quality education, according to the education establishment and its advocates in the media. But as with the population bomb, Y2K, and the devils of Loudon, the reality of the supposed crisis is quite different from its representation. A look...

Apostate speaks plain and simple truth to the powerful unions. We are in the middle of the fifth annual National Employee Freedom Week, a nation-wide effort to inform employees about their union membership options. In 22 non-right-to-work (NRTW) states, an employee can become a full-fledged member, an agency fee payer (avoids paying for the union’s...

The yearly NEA convention was replete with the usual bogeymen, rah-rah talk, weird new business items and a bit more angst than usual.  This last year should have been a pip for the National Education Association. Antoni Scalia’s death killed Friedrichs and kept forced unionism alive and well in half the country. And the inevitable...

Teachers unions continue to bash charter schools in spite of their success and popularity. When it comes to charter schools, the teachers unions are nothing if not relentless. From Mike Antonucci we learn that the California Teachers Association is in the process of developing and promoting resolutions, which local unions can introduce at school board meetings...

A lawsuit on track to be heard by the Supreme Court could free all public employees from paying forced union dues. The Friedrichs lawsuit should have done the trick. The case, which would have made belonging to a public employee union optional as a condition of employment nationwide, was set to pass muster with the...

California school districts lay off teachers…then two legislators move to fix the “teacher shortage problem.” In a surreal political moment, California State Senators Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles) and Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) have introduced the “Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act of 2017” which offers a novel incentive for teachers to remain in the profession. Senate Bill...

Unlikely elsewhere, but in California, just fuggedaboutit. As I wrote recently, the teachers unions had a bad week in early February. Anti-forced unionism lawsuits, the emergence of yet another right-to-work state and the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary all combined to make for a miserable few days in Unionland. But unlike waking from...

“The teachers unions don’t just screw over kids, they also screw over new teachers. Millennials beware.” The above tweet from Mike Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, pretty much tells the dismal story. To followers of Pension Tsunami, UnionWatch and Transparent California, the looming pension disaster for taxpayers is not news. But what has gone...

“All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.” The above caveat about government unions – usually known by the kinder and gentler “public employee unions” – was not issued...

The disconnect between many workers and union leadership is wider than ever. For years, former Executive Director of the National Education Association John Wilson wrote a regular blog post for Education Week. Never shy about his political leanings, the far-left Wilson composed “Teachers and Teacher Unions Are the Same” in 2012, in which he accuses...