School Choice for Kids? Ravitch and NEA Say No

By Larry Sand
01/22/2013
Widely discredited ex-reformer and teachers union try to deny families a fundamental right. Diane Ravitch has yet again exposed herself as an unserious spokesperson for the sclerotic anti-education reform movement. This crowd is made up of people – typically special interests – bureaucrats, teachers unions, etc. – who desperately cling to the ridiculous notion that...

TAGS: California Teachers Empowerment Network, Charter schools, Diane Ravitch, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, Patrick Wolf, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

Taking Care of Our Children

By Larry Sand
01/15/2013
To have safer schools, where the interests and protection of children aren’t afterthoughts, we must demand more from the administrative-union-legislative unholy trinity. In light of a second school shooting last week – this one in Taft, California – we have all the usual suspects pointing to their pet causes which they claim will prevent the...

TAGS: Alex Padilla, California Teachers Association, California Teachers Empowerment Network, Larry Sand, Sandy Hook, SB 1530, teachers union

Public Sector Unions vs. Local Politics

By Lewis Andrews
01/02/2013
It is no secret that the political strategy of America’s public employee unions, funding the campaigns of state legislators who uncritically pass compensation packages, work rules, and mandates favoring their members, now threatens the solvency of California, Illinois, Rhode Island, and many other states. A recent study by researchers at Boston College for the Wall...

TAGS: teachers union

Thoughts on Reactions to the Sandy Hook Tragedy

By Larry Sand
12/26/2012
Teacher union leaders offer heat but no light after the mass murder in Newtown. In the aftermath of the December 14th mass murder of 26 children and school staffers in Newtown, Connecticut, there has been the understandable finger pointing and a full range of suggestions for ensuring that such a horror doesn’t happen again. On...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Empowerment Network, Dennis Van Roekel, Diane Ravitch, Karen Lewis, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, Sandy Hook, Teach For America, teachers union

Kudos to the California Federation of Teachers

By Larry Sand
12/10/2012
Instead of the usual fake teacher union concerns about “the children,” CFT’s new straightforward video unequivocally touts class warfare and vilifies rich people. The California Teachers Association has been in the news a lot lately. In the early fall, it successfully fought to get Prop. 30 passed and to kill Prop. 32. These victories came...

TAGS: California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, California Teachers Empowerment Network, Dennis Van Roekel, Kyle Olson, Larry Sand, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, Troy Senik

Republicans and Conservatives Have Lost More Than Just an Election

By Larry Sand
11/13/2012
Restoring a school system that has been hijacked by the left should be the nation’s highest priority. There have been endless post mortems following Barack Obama’s election victory over Mitt Romney last week. It has been posited that Romney lost because he wasn’t libertarian enough, not Tea Party enough, not socially conservative enough, didn’t reach...

TAGS: California Federation of Teachers, education, Kyle Olson, Larry Sand, National Education Association, teachers union

Combating Union Misinformation

By Larry Sand
10/02/2012
Getting the facts to people who have been lied to for decades is essential for change. In my latest City Journal post, I argue in favor of an initiative that will be on the ballot in California in November. Proposition 32, which will appear on the November general-election ballot, would ban unions and most corporations...

TAGS: Act 10, agency fee payer, American Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, California Teachers Empowerment Network, Darren Miller, National Education Association, Prop. 32, teachers union

Class Warfare and Two-Faced Union Bosses

By Larry Sand
08/21/2012
Teacher union bosses’ hypocrisy plunges to new depths. After the recent congressional vote to keep the Bush-era tax cuts in place, National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel lamented on the union’s website, Today House Republican leadership gave the richest two percent another handout, while pulling the rug out from under millions of children and...

TAGS: class warfare, Dennis Van Roekel, Randi Weingarten, teachers union

No Love for Irreplaceable Teachers

By Larry Sand
08/14/2012
According to a recent study, many public schools do not retain their best teachers – the “irreplaceables.” Is anyone surprised? A study released a couple of weeks ago by the New Teacher Project – now known as TNTP – claims that urban schools…. …are systematically neglecting their best teachers, losing tens of thousands every year...

TAGS: Becky Pringle, RiShawn Biddle, teachers union, TNTP

“While the union’s behavior is disturbing, it certainly isn’t shocking.”

By Larry Sand
08/07/2012
American Enterprise Institute research fellow Michael McShane’s comment addresses the bullying effort by the Louisiana teachers union. (h/t Jay Greene.) Recently the Louisiana Association of Educators threatened to sue private schools if they participate in the Pelican State’s new voucher program. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Teachers unions allege that sending public dollars to...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Campbell Brown, Michelle Rhee, Randi Weingarten, RiShawn Biddle, teachers union