Walton, Weingarten and Orwell

By Larry Sand
04/29/2014
The Walton Foundation has donated millions to help charter schools prosper, but that’s a bad thing according to the teachers unions. It’s no secret that the Walton Family Foundation is a major donor to charter schools. In 2013, it donated over $70 million to these special public schools and charter management organizations across the country....

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Charter schools, Dennis Van Roekel, Eva Moskowitz, George Orwell, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union, United Federation of Teachers, Whitney Tilson

For Whom the Pell Doles

By Larry Sand
01/07/2014
Why are vouchers okay for college students, but not for K-12ers? Recently, the National Education Association posted an interview with Wes Moore on its website. Two boys are named Wes Moore. Both grow up in fatherless homes in Baltimore. Both struggle in school, and run into trouble with the police. But one Wes Moore wins...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Dennis Van Roekel, Friedman Foundation, G.I. Bill, Larry Sand, National Education Association, opportunity scholarships, Paul Ryan, Pell Grant, Randi Weingarten, school choice, vouchers

Anti-School Choice Goblins Haunt the Land

By Larry Sand
10/29/2013
It’s October and the voucher-bashing ghouls are doing their best to fog the issues and trick us. While there are some education traditionalists who may embrace charter schools, they frequently draw a strict line in the sand when it comes to vouchers. For the uninitiated, a voucher enables a parent to take education funding issued...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, Fordham Institute, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, Patrick Wolf, privatization, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

Red – and I Do Mean Red – Herrings of the Left

By Larry Sand
06/25/2013
June – Father’s Day, Flag Day, weddings … and loopy ideas on poverty. Last September I wrote about those who believe that poverty causes ignorance and how we must “fix” poverty before we can fix education. I suggested that maybe, just maybe, a good education is the best antidote to poverty and that school choice...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Chicago Teachers Union, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Illinois Policy Institute, Karen Lewis, Larry Sand, Randi Weingarten, school choice, socialism, teachers unions, vouchers

Mothers Against Bunk Jiving

By Larry Sand
05/14/2013
Teacher union twaddle is not fooling the nation’s moms any more. National Education Association president Dennis Van Roekel wrote a tired piece for Huffington Post last week in which he trotted out all the usual phrases and suspects that we have come to expect from a union boss who is trying to scare us into...

TAGS: American Legislative Exchange Council, Dennis Van Roekel, Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, National Education Association, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

The Good, the Ugly and the Uglier

By Larry Sand
04/02/2013
After a loss in Indiana, the teachers unions’ war on education intensifies in Chicago and California. In 2011, Indiana passed a school choice bill which currently allows 9,300 kids from low and middle income families with household income below 150 percent of school lunch eligibility to receive vouchers equal to between 50 and 90 percent...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Blaine Amendment, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Indiana State Teachers Association, Karen Lewis, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, RiShawn Biddle, school choice, seniority, Students Matter, teachers unions, Vergara, vouchers

Milwaukee: Happy Days, Schlitz, Harley-Davidson … and School Choice

By Larry Sand
03/26/2013
Schlitz may be the beer that made Milwaukee famous, but recently the spotlight has been shining on the city’s school choice efforts. Back in 1990, the Pleistocene Era of education reform, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program became the nation’s first publicly funded school choice program for low-income children. Born of an interesting political marriage –...

TAGS: Bill Ayers, Larry Sand, Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, National Education Association, Patrick Wolf, Paul Peterson, school choice, Scott Walker, teachers union, vouchers

Big Education Jive Exposed

By Larry Sand
03/04/2013
Good week for debunking teachers union hype, big government waste and mainstream media distortions. The factually challenged Valerie Strauss unleashed a doozie in her Washington Post blog last week. As Alabama was passing tax credit legislation, Strauss, as she so often does, echoed the teachers union line, railing about the program being “welfare for the...

TAGS: Andrew Rotherham, Dennis Van Roekel, Head Start, Larry Sand, Lisa Snell, Randi Weingarten, school choice, tax credit scholarship, teachers union

Letting Schools Compete: A Boon to the Economy

By Larry Sand
02/05/2013
The National Education Association continues to throw out stale bromides in an attempt to salvage a failing and very costly education enterprise. National School Choice Week has just ended and what a week it was! It spanned the country with 3,600 events in all 50 states and D.C., with proclamations and endorsements from 29 governors,...

TAGS: Ben DeGrow, Benjamin Scafidi, Indiana State Teachers Association, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, Patrick Wolf, school choice, vouchers