Minnesota’s Toxic Twins

By Larry Sand
07/26/2016
Randi Weingarten and Hillary Clinton embrace, as parents sue to modify rigid, anti-child union work rules. The yearly American Federation of Teachers wingding was a doozie this year. The 100th anniversary of the union and the presence of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton made for an especially noxious four days in Minnesota – a forced...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Campbell Brown, Chris Stewart, Hillary Clinton, Larry Sand, Randi Weingarten, seniority, teacher shortage, teachers union, tenure

School Choice and Its Foes

By Larry Sand
07/19/2016
My brief talk Saturday at FreedomFest identified those who try to deny school choice to the children of America and the tactics they use to do it.  On a recent panel at FreedomFest, a libertarian gathering held yearly in Las Vegas, I along with National School Choice Week President Andrew Campanella, Friedman Foundation State Programs...

TAGS: ACLU, Bob Bowdon, Choice Media, Florida Education Association, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Jonathan Butcher, Larry Sand, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, school choice, tax credit scholarship, teachers union, Valerie Strauss, voucher, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris

The Teachers Unions Faux Grassroots Organizing

By Larry Sand
07/12/2016
The Hedge Clippers, a union run and organized group, laughably pretends to be grassroots. The Hedge Clippers, born last year, is an anti-capitalist, left-wing, purportedly grassroots organization whose focus is on exposing “the mechanisms hedge funds and billionaires use to influence government and politics in order to expand their wealth, influence and power.” The group received...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Citizens United, Dark money, Eva Moskowitz, Harlem Success Academy, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, Prop. 30, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, United Federation of Teachers

Teachers Union Kills Another Commonsense Reform Bill

By Larry Sand
07/05/2016
Despite the U.S. declaring its independence from Britain in 1776, Californians are still saddled with teacher union redcoats 240 years later. Teacher tenure is an atrocity. Officially called “permanence,” this union-mandated work rule allows some teachers to stay in the classroom when they should be imprisoned or at least working somewhere else, preferably far away...

TAGS: Ben Austin, California Teachers Association, CTA, Larry Sand, Michelle Rhee, permanence, seniority, Students Matter, Susan Bonilla, teachers union, tenure, Vergara

A Kinder and Gentler Teachers Union?

By Larry Sand
06/21/2016
The unions are trying to take the “we’re in it for the kids” shtick to a new level by declaring that they now collectively bargain for “the common good.” Last week, The American Prospect posted “Teacher Unions Are ‘Bargaining for the Common Good,’” which claims that unions across the country are “expanding their focus to...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, collective bargaining, corporate greed, ghost teachers, Jeb Bush, Larry Sand, pension tsunami, permanence, release time, seniority, Susan Bonilla, teachers union, tenure

The Bad, the Ugly and…the Perky

By Larry Sand
06/14/2016
Three recent stories point to the self-serving teacher union mentality. The bad. Joseph Ocol was in big trouble when he came to the U.S. in 1999. As a whistleblower, he was placed in the government’s Witness Protection Program for calling attention to an election fund-raising scam in his native Philippines. Even with a double degree in...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Chicago Teachers Union, Karen Lewis, Larry Sand, New York State United Teachers, teachers union

No Teachers Union in Clovis

By Larry Sand
06/07/2016
San Joaquin Valley’s Fresno County can boast about more than its raisins. Clovis, a city of about 100,000 located right next to Fresno in California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley, has a particular distinction: the city’s schools have never been unionized. Of course, the California Teachers Association dons pretend that Clovis doesn’t even exist because the...

TAGS: Association of American Educators, California Teachers Association, Larry Sand, teachers union

Los Angeles Teachers Union Sinks to Unmitigated Depths

By Larry Sand
05/31/2016
The union war on charter schools has become even uglier, courtesy of UTLA. On May 4th, the United Teachers of Los Angeles, in concert with the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) – a radical union front group – planned a major protest to be held outside schools where charter schools share a campus with...

TAGS: Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, California Charter School Association, Charter schools, LA School Report, Larry Sand, National Education Association, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

A Mostly Merry Month for Educational Choice

By Larry Sand
05/24/2016
Those favoring educational freedom – and their enemies – have been busy in May. Overall, May has been a good month for the school choice movement despite a few lawsuits involving the teachers unions (so what else is new?). The Washington Education Association announced it would file suit by the end of the month challenging...

TAGS: education savings account, Florida Education Association, Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, Greg Forster, Jay Greene, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Patrick Wolf, Pell Grant, tax credit scholarship, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles, Washington Education Association

Teacher Shortage Claim Is Still Short on Data

By Larry Sand
05/17/2016
No matter how many times it’s repeated, the national teacher shortage story is a canard. In the months since I last wrote about the alleged teacher shortage crisis, I had hoped the hysteria would abate. But alas, it hasn’t; if anything, it has increased, with the teachers unions at the forefront of the bogus story....

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Andrew Coulson, California Teachers Association, Cato Institute, EdSource, Education Next, John Fensterwald, Kate Walsh, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, teacher shortage, teachers union