The coronavirus and rigid education policy

By Larry Sand
04/07/2020
As the COVID-19 crisis continues, much of the Big-Ed/Big Union complex maintains its inflexibility.   With U.S. schools closed, educators across the land are scrambling to figure out how to provide instruction to millions of students via computers. Granted, an immediate switch to distance learning is not easy for school districts, which by and large...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, Betsy DeVos, coronavirus, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Pearls of venom

By Larry Sand
03/31/2020
Los Angeles teacher union leader is using the coronavirus crisis as an excuse to trash charter schools. Due to the coronavirus, many of us are going out of our way to be nice – helping the elderly and infirm, shopping for a family that fears leaving home, limiting ourselves to purchasing just one package of...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, California Charter Schools Association, coronavirus, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, Myrna Castrejón, National Education Association, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Teachers unions lose it over State of the Union address

By Larry Sand
02/11/2020
Union leaders are enraged at Trump and DeVos for the audacity of promoting parental choice. Last week, the President’s State of the Union address was a typically upbeat affair. President Trump outlined his many successes and Congressional Republicans were jubilant, while Democrats scowled. One of the features of Trump’s talk was a revival of Texas...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Betsy DeVos, California Teachers Association, Donald Trump, Lance Izumi, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, Neal McCluskey, Pacific Research Institute, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Power to the parents!

By Larry Sand
01/21/2020
The abusive education monopoly must go. Having retired as a teacher over ten years ago, I often look back on some of the great educators that I worked with during my 28-year career, and how lucky their students were to have them. I also think about the stinkers I encountered, and how sad it is...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Howard Zinn, Indoctrination, Larry Sand, NAEP, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, PISA, teachers union, tenure

A solution to the free rider problem

By Larry Sand
01/14/2020
Union leaders grumble when non-members get union perks; here’s a way out. As a result of the Janus decision in June 2018, workers are no longer forced to pay any money whatsoever to a public employee union as a condition of employment. While teachers and other government workers were freed from paying union dues or...

TAGS: Alexander Willen, Andrew Coulson, collective bargaining, Greg Forster, Janus decision, Larry Sand, Michael Lovenheim, Mike Petrilli, National Education Association, teachers union, Terry Moe, wage compression

Is Elitist Elizabeth’s campaign collapsing?

By Larry Sand
12/10/2019
The NEA grills POTUS candidates on the issues, and Elizabeth Warren is outed as a world-class hypocrite. In an attempt to be transparent about its endorsing process, the National Education Association is recording interviews with all the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. And Elizabeth Warren’s effort is right in line with her talk in Atlanta, in...

TAGS: Charter schools, Elizabeth Warren, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, National Education Association, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

The Great “Awokening”

By Larry Sand
10/22/2019
The U.S. is in the grips of a Godless religious revival. The “Great Awakening” refers to several periods of religious rejuvenation in American Christianity. Historians and theologians have identified three or four waves of increased religiosity occurring between the 18th and 20th centuries. However, the latest version is secular, and its zealots are focusing their...

TAGS: Larry Sand, National Education Association, teachers union, Walter Williams, White Fragility

SPLC and NEA v. Parents and Kids

By Larry Sand
10/15/2019
The disgraceful Southern Poverty Law Center is now trying to keep poor parents from getting their kids out of awful schools. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which regularly labels organizations whose politics they disagree with as “Hate Groups,” has jumped head-first into the school choice fray. Just a few weeks ago, they began Public Funds...

TAGS: Cato Institute, Education Next, Greg Forster, Kerry McDonald, Kevin Jennings, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Pell Grants, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

Romanticized fiction trumps facts

By Larry Sand
10/01/2019
A blockbuster report exposes myths about the teaching profession, but will it matter? People love stories, and the gooier and more heart-rending the better. Few are more likely to send readers running for a box of tissues than the tale of a dedicated, but woefully underpaid teacher who is forced to take a second job,...

TAGS: American Enterprise Institute, Andrew Biggs, class-size, Economic Policy Institute, Jason Richwine, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, teacher pay, teachers union

Child abuse: Education establishment style

By Larry Sand
09/24/2019
The true believers in the education world, not climate change, are a major threat to children. When I was seven years old, I had a nightmare about witches, and subsequently became convinced that I had an ugly old hag living in my closet. It wasn’t pleasant, but doing a thorough inspection of my entire bedroom,...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, climate change, global warming, Larry Sand, National Education Association, teachers union