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

Jejune in April

By Larry Sand
04/07/2015
NEA rolls out its plan for what to do in case its worst nightmare – worker freedom – comes to pass. Last July, the California Teachers Association released “Not if, but when: Living in a world without Fair Share,” a 23-page PowerPoint presentation unearthed by Mike Antonucci. The document revealed that teacher union honchos in...

TAGS: American Legislative Exchange Council, California Teachers Association, fair share, Heritage Foundation, James Sherk, Koch Brothers, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, National Labor Relations Act, Paul Kersey, Right to Work, teachers union

NEA’s March: Out with a Sham

By Larry Sand
03/31/2015
With the sincerity of an elixir hustler, NEA boss pretends to be objective about the 2016 election. The National Education Association is serious about the 2016 presidential election. The union is serious about every election of course, but this time the union’s leader is actually asking for input from viable candidates even if they haven’t...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Chris Christie, Elizabeth Warren, Jeb Bush, Joe Biden, Koch Brothers, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, Scott Walker, teachers union

Unions Continue Their Long March into the Classroom

By Larry Sand
03/24/2015
Labor union indoctrination is seeping into our schools before our very eyes. Teacher union intrusion into the lives of children is not new. Via anti-child work rules like tenure and seniority, unions have been making their influence felt for years. Additionally, as labor expert Kevin Dayton points out, they have been angling to promote their...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Dennis Van Roekel, Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, Gray Davis, Kevin Dayton, Kevin Jennings, Labor History Month, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Parent Trigger, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, University of California Miguel Contreras Labor Program

The Shrinking Teacher Union Brand

By Larry Sand
02/24/2015
Teachers unions are losing members, but stubbornly stick with the same old product. Earlier this month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics informed us that in 2014 – for the second year in a row – that there are fewer unionized than non-unionized teachers in the U.S. The reasons for this are many: more right-to-work states,...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, Bob Peterson, Chicago Teachers Union, Karen Lewis, Kyle Olson, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, Paul Ryan, Scott Walker, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

NEA’s Sorry Spin

By Larry Sand
02/10/2015
The latest teachers union PR ploy is pure cowplop. “Persuading the People on Public Schools,” a National Education Association document posted by the The Daily Beast’s Conor Williams, details the union’s new communication strategy. Subtitled “Words to avoid … Words to Embrace,” the previously internal “research brief” gives us a look into the mindset of...

TAGS: D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, education reform, Eva Moskowitz, Harlem Success Academy, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, RiShawn Biddle, school choice, seniority, teachers union, tenure, Vergara

Scholars and Scholarship: A Case for Charter Schools

By R. Claire Friend
02/03/2015
Public and private charter schools have emerged as a striking exception to the dismal system of U.S. public education that has performed so poorly on international assessments of student performance such as PISA and TIMMS. Despite the virulent opposition to them by the powerful California Teachers Association, National Education Association and their political allies in...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, National Education Association

Empire Statement

By Larry Sand
02/03/2015
Andrew Cuomo becomes the latest governor to take on the teachers unions. Expanding vouchers to unaccountable private schools. Stripping teachers of their right to due process. Converting neighborhood public schools into privately run charter schools unanswerable to local school boards and taxpayers. Proceeding with tax cuts for the wealthy while starving public schools. Holy horrors! The above,...

TAGS: Andrew Cuomo, Chris Christie, Eva Moskowitz, Harlem Success Academy, Larry Sand, Michael Mulgrew, Mike Pence, National Education Association, New York State United Teachers, Rick Scott, Rick Snyder, RiShawn Biddle, Scott Walker, teachers union, United Federation of Teachers

Permanent Disgrace

By Larry Sand
01/27/2015
My encounters with tenure, aka permanence, aka undue process for teachers. In an article posted recently, Harvard professor and editor-in-chief of Education Next Paul Peterson asks, “Do Teachers Support the Vergara Decision?” More specifically, he discusses tenure, which is on hold in California due to Judge Rolf Treu’s ruling. The tenure statute is the part...

TAGS: A.J. Duffy, Dennis Van Roekel, Education Next, Eric Hanushek, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Paul Peterson, permanence, Rolf Treu, teacher jail, teachers union, tenure, United Teachers of Los Angeles, Vergara

Teacher Union Monopolist’s Monkey Business

By Larry Sand
01/13/2015
NEA president praises Finland, Singapore and Canada, conveniently omitting facts about school choice and competition. The “global education reform movement has failed” … or at least that’s what National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen García told a group of businessmen in Detroit last month. Spouting the usual edubabble, the union president told the Detroit Economic...

TAGS: Finland, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, privatization, school choice, teachers union, vouchers