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

Could California Follow Wisconsin’s Teacher Union Jail Break?

By Larry Sand
07/28/2015
If CA becomes a right-to-work state, a seismic political shift may ensue. Last week Mike Antonucci reported that the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the National Education Association’s Badger State affiliate, is down to fewer than 50,000 members (40,000 currently employed) from a high of over 100,000 in 2009. This precipitous loss is a result of...

TAGS: Act 10, Charter schools, collective bargaining, Deroy Murdock, Friedrichs, Hillary Clinton, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, Right to Work, Scott Walker, teachers union, Troy Senik, vouchers, Wisconsin Education Association Council

Pseudo Studies and Push Polls

By Larry Sand
04/21/2015
Teachers unions turn to “facts” as they desperately cling to their monopolistic, anti-privatization narrative. Last Thursday the “non-partisan” Center for Tax and Budget Accountability rolled out a report that slammed vouchers, claiming that there is “no statistical evidence proving that students who use vouchers perform better than their public school counterparts.” The “study,” as reported...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Bob Peterson, Cato Institute, Center for Popular Democracy, Education Next, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Jason Bedrick, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, No Child Left Behind, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

Teacher Union Monopolist’s Monkey Business

By Larry Sand
01/13/2015
NEA president praises Finland, Singapore and Canada, conveniently omitting facts about school choice and competition. The “global education reform movement has failed” … or at least that’s what National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen García told a group of businessmen in Detroit last month. Spouting the usual edubabble, the union president told the Detroit Economic...

TAGS: Finland, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, privatization, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

Happy Sue Year!

By Larry Sand
12/30/2014
The Chinese zodiac is transitioning from “horse” to “sheep,” but in the U.S., where school choice is involved, the species in 2014-2015 is “lawyer.” School choice comes in many flavors, but the privatization kind is the most threatening to various special interests because government-run schools are money-makers and power bases for them. Teachers unions, entrenched...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Cato Institute, education savings account, Florida Education Association, Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, Jason Bedrick, Larry Sand, National Education Association, school choice, tax-credit scholarships, teachers union, vouchers, Wisconsin

Taxpayers, School Choice and the Unions

By Larry Sand
10/07/2014
A new study reveals that vouchers save Americans a bucket load of cash. A blockbuster report released last week shows that the American taxpayer is much better off living in a locale where school vouchers have been instituted. Vouchers, which enable children to use public funding to attend private schools, are available in scattered states...

TAGS: Cato Institute, Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, Greg Forster, Jason Bedrick, Larry Sand, National Education Association, school choice, teachers union, vouchers, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris

The Teachers Unions’ "Brown" Problem

By Larry Sand
05/20/2014
When it comes to education and civil rights, NEA and AFT are part of the problem; the solution is choice. Last Saturday was the 60th anniversary of the Brown v Board of Education decision, which outlawed state-sponsored segregation in schools. Never missing an opportunity to grandstand, the teachers unions groused all last week about various...

TAGS: ALEC, American Federation of Teachers, Dennis Van Roekel, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

School Choice Wars

By Larry Sand
02/18/2014
Though National School Choice Week ended a couple of weeks ago, reactionary rhetoric and political clashes are just heating up. With National School Choice Week behind us, the battle – and it is a battle – to free our children from a monopoly by zip-code public education system is being fought on fronts all over...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Barack Obama, Bill de Blasio, Eva Moskowitz, G.I. Bill, Jason Riley, Joel Klein, Lamar Alexander, Larry Sand, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, Pell Grant, privatization, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, Tim Scott, vouchers

For Whom the Pell Doles

By Larry Sand
01/07/2014
Why are vouchers okay for college students, but not for K-12ers? Recently, the National Education Association posted an interview with Wes Moore on its website. Two boys are named Wes Moore. Both grow up in fatherless homes in Baltimore. Both struggle in school, and run into trouble with the police. But one Wes Moore wins...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Dennis Van Roekel, Friedman Foundation, G.I. Bill, Larry Sand, National Education Association, opportunity scholarships, Paul Ryan, Pell Grant, Randi Weingarten, school choice, vouchers

Anti-School Choice Goblins Haunt the Land

By Larry Sand
10/29/2013
It’s October and the voucher-bashing ghouls are doing their best to fog the issues and trick us. While there are some education traditionalists who may embrace charter schools, they frequently draw a strict line in the sand when it comes to vouchers. For the uninitiated, a voucher enables a parent to take education funding issued...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, Fordham Institute, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, Patrick Wolf, privatization, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union, vouchers