The Enemies of Choice

By Larry Sand
12/29/2015
The teachers unions’ fight against parental and teacher choice is not going well for them. Teacher union membership is dwindling. In fact, it has dipped below 50 percent nationwide, down from a high of almost 70 percent in 1993. Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana, having  become “right-to-work” (RTW) states over the past several years, have given...

TAGS: Act 10, Charter schools, Education Next, educational savings accounts, Fordham Institute, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Right to Work, tax-credit scholarships, teachers union, Tom Gantert, vouchers

Preferring Failing Schools to Successful Ones

By Larry Sand
12/22/2015
Teacher union leaders want to keep poorly performing public schools open, but kill off thriving charters and voucher schools. Just last week it was announced in New York City that three failing public schools would be closing. With a total enrollment of 217 students, there really was no other choice. Indeed, it was such a...

TAGS: Charter schools, Dennis Van Roekel, Eva Moskowitz, Fordham Institute, Harlem Success Academy, Larry Sand, Michael Mulgrew, National Education Association, school choice, teachers union, United Federation of Teachers, vouchers

Myths the Union Organizer Tells Us

By Larry Sand
12/15/2015
Socialist teacher union honcho’s distortions about union political spending and “labor peace” are, well, par for the course. Shaun Richman, a former organizing director for the American Federation of Teachers, has written a bizarre piece for In These Times in which he claims that “the Friedrichs v. Calif. Teachers Association SCOTUS Case Could Actually Be...

TAGS: Abood, agency fee payer, American Federation of Teachers, Dark money, Friedrichs v CTA, labor peace, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, RiShawn Biddle, teachers union

Teachers Unions Give Middle Finger to the Middle Class

By Larry Sand
12/08/2015
New documents show, yet again, teachers unions’ disdain for American workers. If you Google NEA + middle class + Friedrichs, you will be barraged with a load of demagogic union bromides about how the Friedrichs case – which opposes mandatory dues payments to public employee unions (PEUs) as a condition of employment – will, if...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Campbell Brown, Friedrichs, Larry Sand, Michael Mulgrew, National Education Association, public employee unions, teachers union, United Federation of Teachers

Private v. Big Government-Unionized Schools

By Larry Sand
12/01/2015
If almost half the unionized workers at an auto plant could get a free Chevy as a company perk, but instead bought one made by non-union workers from a different car-maker, what would you think? A few weeks ago, Richard Stutman, head of the Boston Teachers Union, wrote a piece in which he delivered the...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Cato Institute, Fordham Institute, Greg Forster, James Tooley, Jason Bedrick, Larry Sand, teachers union, The Beautiful Tree

Collective Bargaining Disagreement

By Larry Sand
11/24/2015
Collective bargaining serves neither students, competent teachers, nor taxpayers. A new study reveals that collective bargaining for teachers has a negative effect on future earnings, occupational skill levels and hours worked. Writing in Education Next, researchers Michael Lovenheim and Alexander Willen dissect the long-term ramifications of states that mandate collective bargaining for teachers. While they...

TAGS: Alexander Willen, Caroline Hoxby, collective bargaining, Education Next, Jay Greene, Larry Sand, Michael Lovenheim, Mike Petrilli, Rebecca Friedrichs, teachers union, Terry Moe, wage compression

Hillary Clinton's Teachers Union Alliance

By RiShawn Biddle
11/17/2015
The school reform movement was shocked last week when likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton declared to talk show host (and school reformer) Roland Martin that public charter schools fail to work with “the most challenging students”, and made other points about the schools that have no substance in fact. After all, the former First...

TAGS: teachers union

Hillary Rodham Weingarten

By Larry Sand
11/17/2015
Using teacher union talking points, Mrs. Clinton badly distorts facts about charter schools. Coming on the heels of the Benghazi fabrication, the “dead broke” when she left the White House claim, and “servergate,” the latest Hillary blunder is a baseless sliming of charter schools. In a well-publicized gaffe, she told journalist Roland Martin, … the...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Cecily Myart-Cruz, Charter schools, Democrats for Education Reform, Eva Moskowitz, Hillary Clinton, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Nina Rees, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

The Non-proficient Teachers Unions

By Larry Sand
11/10/2015
California students are not learning and teacher union leaders blame tests. Every two years selected students across the nation take the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), a test known as the nation’s report card. This year our kids didn’t do well. Actually they never do well, but this year the scores were even worse...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, EdVoice, Fresno Teachers Association, Larry Sand, NAEP, National Council on Teacher Quality, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, Stull Act, teachers union

The Unions’ Assault on Truth

By Larry Sand
11/03/2015
The teachers unions continue to mislead its members and everyone else. In the latest issue of the California Federation of Teachers quarterly newsletter, CFT president Josh Pechthalt writes “The lawsuits that educators and unions must defeat,” which is referred to as a “special report” – special because it is especially filled with half-truths, omissions and...

TAGS: agency fee payers, Bain v. CTA, California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, EdVoice, Edward Ring, Friedrichs v CTA, Josh Pechthalt, Larry Sand, Randi Weingarten, seniority, Students Matter, Stull Act, teachers union, tenure, Vergara