Loss of LIFO

By Larry Sand
10/13/2015
If Eli Broad’s charter school plan goes forward, there will be a major shake-up in the ranks of LAUSD teachers. Philanthropist Eli Broad’s ambitious plan to create 260 new charter schools over an eight year period in Los Angeles, enrolling at least 130,000 students, will have major ramifications for many of the city’s 25,600 teachers....

TAGS: A.J. Duffy, Alex Caputo-Pearl, California Charter School Association, California Federation of Teachers, charter school, Eli Broad, Larry Sand, last in first out, LIFO, Rolf Treu, seniority, StudentsFirst, Teach For America, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles, UTLA, Vergara case

Teachers Unions Appeal Vergara

By Larry Sand
05/05/2015
… and continue to block any and every meaningful reform the California state legislature has to offer. On May Day (how fitting!) the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers filed their appeal of the Vergara decision. In that 2014 ruling, Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu struck down California’s teacher tenure, layoff and...

TAGS: Bill Lucia, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Carol Liu, Dean Vogel, Democrats for Education Reform, EdVoice, Josh Pechthalt, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, Rolf Treu, Shirley Weber, Students Matter, StudentsFirst, teachers union, Vergara

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

gRANDIosity

By Larry Sand
03/18/2014
Ms. Weingarten gives her enemies a breather as she jets off to Kiev to “promote democratic values.” American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten has been on a tear lately, working diligently to build up her long and growing enemies list. As reported by The Wall Street Journal’s Allysia Finley, The American Federation of Teachers...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Bill de Blasio, Eva Moskowitz, Larry Sand, Manhattan Institute, Michelle Rhee, Randi Weingarten, StudentsFirst, teachers union, United Federation of Teachers

Tenure, Temerity and the Truth

By Larry Sand
02/11/2014
Los Angeles Times op-ed and teachers union defense of educational status quo are packed with malarkey. Now in its third week, the Students Matter trial still has a ways to go. Initially scheduled to last four weeks, the proceedings are set to run longer. On Friday, Prosecutor Marcellus McRae told Judge Rolf Treu that the...

TAGS: American Enterprise Institute, Andrew Biggs, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, David Welch, Dean Vogel, Democrats for Education Reform, Gloria Romero, Heritage Foundation, Jason Richwine, Joe Williams, Kevin Chavous, LA School Report, Larry Sand, Michelle Rhee, National Council on Teacher Quality, permanence, seniority, Students Matter, StudentsFirst, Teach For America, tenure

Justice Belied

By Larry Sand
09/24/2013
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...

TAGS: Alex Padilla, Bill Lucia, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Carol Liu, Dan Walters, Dean Vogel, EdVoice, Gloria Romero, Larry Sand, Mark Berndt, RiShawn Biddle, StudentsFirst, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles, Warren Fletcher

Teachers Unions and School Boards Must Disconnect

By Larry Sand
08/20/2013
Teachers unions’ goals are in direct conflict with those of school boards. Two powerful entities in public education have very different agendas. The teachers unions’ goal is to derive every benefit possible and to protect every last one of its dues paying members no matter how incompetent they are. School boards are governing bodies that...

TAGS: Ben DeGrow, collective bargaining, EAG, Larry Sand, Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee, Rod Paige, school board, StudentsFirst, teachers union, Terry Moe

Parents, Students, Businessmen, Mayors, Reformers, Civil Rights Groups, Conservatives, Liberals et al vs. Teachers Unions

By Larry Sand
04/30/2013
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...

TAGS: California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Carol Liu, EdVoice, Larry Sand, Los Angeles Unified School District, Michelle Rhee, Parent Revolution, StudentsFirst, teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles

California Teachers Association Fights to Maintain Political Orthodoxy

By Larry Sand
04/23/2013
CTA sponsors a resolution demonizing what it perceives to be faux Democrats. At last week’s California Democratic Party convention in Sacramento, the California Teachers Association went into attack mode, sponsoring a resolution suggesting that two organizations run by prominent Democrats are backed by dastardly corporate Republican types. WHEREAS, the so-called “reform” initiatives of Students First,...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Dean Vogel, Democrats for Education Reform, Gloria Romero, Larry Sand, Michelle Rhee, Parent Trigger, StudentsFirst, teachers union