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,...

Despite bellyaching from the union crowd, the California education code’s last in/first out (LIFO) statute must be tossed. California’s fiscal problems have taken a toll on the teaching profession in California. And the Golden State’s arbitrary seniority system, whereby staffing decisions are made by time spent on the job, has made things much worse. A...

Latest teacher union stunt to discredit charter schools rings hollow. As I have written before – as recently as last Tuesday – the teachers unions have a schizoid relationship with charter schools. Depending on the tides, they either want to kill charters off or unionize them. Last week – in kill mode – Randi Weingarten’s...

A recent memo accuses educators of racial discrimination while failing, with a few exceptions, to address the real problems. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a series of guidelines regarding the suspension of students from school. In short, though partially correct, the DOJ report is misguided, misleading, and missing key elements relevant...

CTA ends 2013 spewing meaningless bromides in an effort to convince us that the union is the victim and the Students Matter lawsuit is the work of a vast corporate conspiracy. On January 27th, the Students Matter (Vergara v. California) case starts in Los Angeles. John Fensterwald explains that the lawsuit … asserts that five...

American Federation of Teachers led “National Day of Action” is a clear indicator that teachers unions are losing clout. On December 9th, we will be treated to the “National Day of Action,” a day cooked up by the American Federation of Teachers and supported by the National Education Association and various fellow travelers. After reading...

A new American Federation of Teachers financial report shows that the union has not modified its anti-child and anti-conservative stance. Courtesy of education writer RiShawn Biddle, we get to peek at the latest edition of the American Federation of Teachers LM-2, a yearly financial report detailing union income and spending. No surprises. Just the same...

California’s AB375 would do precious little to protect school children from pedophiles. The impulse to take action to remove pedophiles from California’s classrooms came about as a result of Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt having slid through the cracks after committing lewd acts against untold numbers of young children. After Berndt’s arrest in Los...

An ill wind blows hot air in the Windy City. Like Detroit, Chicago is a city in dire fiscal straits – it is depopulating and its debt is in the stratosphere. The school system alone, hardly a crown jewel, is dealing with a $1 billion deficit. For a variety of reasons, the city’s student population...

Joining a racially charged situation, largely inflamed by the media, the nation’s teachers unions hypocritically play the civil rights card. To acknowledge the obvious, the February 26, 2012 events in Sanford, FL were tragic. Trayvon Martin is dead and George Zimmerman will be haunted – and very possibly hunted – for the rest of his...