Parents, where do you draw the line? The state legislature is aggressively shepherding anti-parent bills through its chambers that erode parental authority in ways that would seem unimaginable only a few years ago. Under the banner of “affirming transgender children,” legislators are pushing bills that upend parental rights in frightening ways and pose serious risks...
When it comes to public charter schools and any meaningful education reform, the teachers unions are staunch reactionaries. In the political arena, teachers unions are far to the left. However, when it comes to serious education reform and any kind of school choice, they are committed to maintaining the all-too-often failing status quo. At its...
Union boss’ orchestrated state crisis is well underway in Los Angeles. United Teachers of Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl’s long sought-after teachers’ strike is set for January 10th. He began the long march back in 2016 when he forecast a walkout and also boasted about the union’s ability to “create a state crisis” in 2018. Though...
The California Senate Legislative Counsel issued last week a sweeping opinion, concluding a controversy as to whether a school district – Los Angeles Unified, in this case – can proclaim itself exempt from California’s historic Parent Trigger law, which enables parents of kids in chronically underperforming schools to transform it if a majority of parents...
It seems as if most of the civilized world is squaring off against the teachers unions these days; California’s SB 441 is the latest battle. As a way to put some teeth in a moribund teacher evaluation system in California, State Senator Ron Calderon has written SB 441, a very modest bill, which would at...
Thoughts on my recent encounter with the president of the California Teachers Association. I was quite surprised when California Teachers Association president Dean Vogel agreed to join a panel that consisted of Gloria Romero, Terry Moe and me a couple of weeks ago at an event sponsored by The Conservative Forum of Silicon Valley. Gloria...
Latest temblor to hit the Golden State is a lawsuit that could result in a major tectonic shift in education. In September of 1975, due to New York City’s dire fiscal situation, I was laid off from my teaching position at P.S. 125 in Harlem. I lost my job not because I was a bad...
Parents send their children to school assuming that kids are its number one priority. But as recent events have shown, public schools are Ground Zero for a culture that puts children last and doesn’t hold adults accountable. In Waiting For Superman, Michelle Rhee stated that it took her a while, but she finally realized that...
Prepared by Golden Together, a Movement to Restore the California Dream Edward Ring, California Policy Center Steve Hilton, Founder of Golden Together Published March 20, 2025