Behind any popular mass movement there are often good ideas and noble objectives. Public sector unions—including teachers’ unions—are no exception.  Organized labor, ideally, offers collective power to ordinary workers and provides a counterweight whenever business interests become exploitative. How to regulate that balance is a topic that deserves vigorous and ongoing debate, but most of...

We need to get back to educational basics.   Little did I know that when I was teaching in the 1990s and “multicultural education” became all the rage, that it was just the beginning of an onslaught of radical endeavors that shows no sign of abating. As 2022 winds down, let’s take a glimpse at...

Earlier this year the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) released a report entitled “Burned Out, Priced Out – Solutions to the Educator Shortage Crisis.” Given the universally acknowledged challenges facing public K-12 education in California, this report merits serious attention. The UTLA represents teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District, which with over 500,000 enrolled K-12 students is...

“Many teachers have left the profession and gone into other work of various kinds because they could make more money. Frequently the best teachers are the ones who have left the profession because they have been able to command exceptional salaries elsewhere.” (H/T Tom Gantert.) The above quote is taken from the front page of the...

School violence rises, mental health days proliferate, and thousands of kids are leaving government schools nationwide. Recently, a report compiled by Mike Antonucci for the Defense of Freedom Institute confirmed that the teachers unions had a heavy-handed role in the Covid-related shutdowns that consumed much of the country starting in March 2020. And the “never...

Randi Weingarten is once again trying to gaslight the American public. First, she ludicrously claimed teachers unions had actually been fighting to reopen schools – not keep them closed – since April 2020. Now, she’s trying to fool parents into thinking assignments titled “Why I’m a racist” and “White savior complex” aren’t critical race theory....

Majority think public schools are failing minority students, want more choice June 2, 2021 – TUSTIN, Calif. – After more than a year of school closures, new polling suggests California voters – and importantly, parents – are ready for more choices in public education. Statewide polling commissioned by the California Policy Center (CPC) found that,...

Kids in Desert Sands Unified School District will remain locked out of the classroom for most of the week, because members of the union calling the shots are too “exhausted” to return to work. Earlier this week, the district rejected a proposal that would have allowed students on campus four days a week after the...

Anyone involved in state or local politics in California soon realizes that government unions are the most powerful special interest in the state. From time to time, as the ride-share behemoths proved in spectacular fashion last November with Proposition 22, corporations will defy the unions on very specific issues. But by and large California’s corporations...