California Pols Lose Touch with Reality over Affirmative-Action Ruling

By Will Swaim
07/14/2023
In doing so, they ignore the real scandal in the state’s education system. *     *     * Among the weirdest reactions to the Supreme Court’s June 29 decisions on affirmative action, those megaphoned by California’s political class may be the most unhinged. Here’s the reality: California voters banned race-based admissions in 1996. But in the decades...

TAGS: Affirmative Action, Gavin Newsom, politicians, Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court

SCOTUS confirms unions can be sued for property damage

By Houston Reese
06/09/2023
In an important ruling last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that unions can be sued in state court for damages if striking workers intentionally destroy their employer’s property. The decision is a victory for employers that puts unions on notice that there are consequences for their reckless actions during strikes. In Glacier Northwest v....

TAGS: construction unions, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Teamsters, U.S. Supreme Court

Kavan-awesome

By Larry Sand
09/04/2018
With the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings underway, the unions are very jumpy.  Did you know that the U.S. Supreme Court is there to protect the little guy and minorities, uphold women’s rights, and destroy school choice? That’s according to the make-it-up-as-you-go-along left, including the teachers unions. In reality, the job of a SCOTUS...

TAGS: American Federation of State, American Federation of Teachers, Betsy DeVos, County and Municipal Employees, Donald Trump, Larry Sand, Lee Saunders, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, Mark Janus, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, school choice, Supreme Court, teachers union, vouchers, Walter Williams, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris

The dust has cleared, so it’s time to analyze Janus based on reality rather than rhetoric

By Steven Greenhut
07/17/2018
Sacramento The dust still is clearing from the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus decision, which declared that government employees are no longer required to pay union dues even for collective-bargaining purposes. Virtually everyone – from conservative reformers to union activists – agrees that the decision was momentous. But recent predictions about its real-world import vary widely,...

TAGS: Janus, Supreme Court

After Janus, California teachers unions teaching us a lesson in sleight-of-hand

By Will Swaim
07/02/2018
Santa Ana Unified’s Monte Vista Elementary: Everybody graduates, only 15% read at grade level. (Source: California School Acountability Report Card) On June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court abolished the 40-year practice of requiring public employees to join a union. But a day later, union leaders in California’s sixth-largest school district were hard at work – blocking...

TAGS: Janus, Supreme Court

Don’t believe the hype: Janus ruling will help public employee union members – and unions

By Steven Greenhut
01/30/2018
Sacramento The rhetoric from union organizers has been expectedly overheated regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s coming review of the Janus v. AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) case that challenges mandatory dues payments to public-sector unions. Court watchers from the left and right expect the conservative-leaning majority to toss out the practice...

TAGS: Janus, Supreme Court, Unions

Janus case: Friends of the court offer weak defense of mandatory union dues

By Steven Greenhut
01/25/2018
Sacramento The nation’s public-sector unions have all but thrown in the towel on the notion of mandatory dues, yet various legal theorists and organizations have submitted briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court defending the right of unions to arm-twist dues from those who don’t agree with the union’s agenda. After reading their arguments, it’s clear...

TAGS: Janus, Supreme Court, Unions

Brown’s union ploy shows unions still fear end to mandatory dues

By Steven Greenhut
06/16/2017
Sacramento On first blush, the latest effort by Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislators to give public-employee unions access to public agencies to hold “orientation” seminars with new hires is an unfair special privilege not normally provided to private groups. It’s even more disturbing that the legislation authorizing such access is being rammed through the...

TAGS: Friedrichs, Janus, Supreme Court, Unions

Friedrichs v. 2.0? U.S. Supreme Court May Get a Second Chance to Free Teachers from Forced Unionism

By California Policy Center
01/19/2017
For Immediate Release January 19, 2017 California Policy Center Will Swaim, will@calpolicycenter.org (949) 274-1911 In a case that will cheer education reformers, four Pennsylvania teachers today sued their unions, school districts and district officials for making union membership a condition of their employment. The suit – and the likely appointment of a reform-friendly Supreme Court...

TAGS: Abood, Antonin Scalia, California Teachers Association, Friedrichs, Rebecca Friedrichs, Supreme Court

Friedrichs 2.0? Supremes May Get a Second Chance to Free Teachers from Forced Unionism

By Will Swaim
01/19/2017
In a case that will cheer education reformers, four Pennsylvania teachers today sued their unions, school districts and district officials for making union membership a condition of their employment. “Teaching is my calling, but I fundamentally disagree with many teachers’ union stances on personnel and political issues,” said lead plaintiff Gregory J. Hartnett, an art...

TAGS: Abood, Antonin Scalia, California Teachers Association, Friedrichs, Rebecca Friedrichs, Supreme Court

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California’s Literacy Crisis

For decades, teachers, parents, academics, scientists, and curriculum developers have been engaged in a pitched battle over the best methods to implement effective, comprehensive and practical reading instruction. This controversy, dubbed the “reading wars,” has had lifelong consequences for a generation of students who have been hostages and unwitting casualties of the war. Experts believe...

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