Indoctrination: A Must Read For Parents, Taxpayers and Everyone Else

December 6, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, California, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Los Angeles, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

To a large extent, the progressives have taken over American education, are transforming it and are doing it in plain sight

Indoctrination: How ‘Useful Idiots’ Are Using Our Schools to Subvert American Exceptionalism is an invaluable book written by Kyle Olson, founder and CEO of the Education Action Group, an organization that is on the frontline of education reform and a champion of school choice.

In this brief and very readable book, Olson describes the ways that the progressives in our society have taken over K-12 education. They have been running most of our elite colleges and schools of education for years now and this step is in keeping with their plan to transform America.

As a public school teacher whose career spanned four decades, I have seen the long march first hand. Perverting the traditional purpose of American education (which has been to make better and more educated citizens), progressives have been inspired by the theories of Paolo Freire, a Brazilian socialist who saw everything through a Marxist class warfare lens.
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California’s Looming Fiscal Disaster: Sunlight and an Informed Public are the Best Disinfectants

November 29, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, California, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

With the state and various cities on the brink of insolvency, it’s imperative that the electorate become more informed and demand that school districts and teachers unions do their negotiating in public.

This past Sunday’s Los Angeles Times above-the-fold headline screamed “Voters back tax hikes for schools.” It was déja-vu all over again. As I wrote in September,

“… a poll which is biased and does not take into account the knowledge of the people being polled is misleading and dangerous. The public is led to believe that the responders are perceptive and knowledgeable, when in reality so many are not.”

(And I could have added that a poll that misleads or misinforms its respondents is the most dangerous of all; I’ll address that shortly.)

The Times article reported that a USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences/Los Angeles Times Frequency Questionnaire released last week showed that 61 percent of those surveyed said they would pay higher taxes to boost school funding.

As I read those words, I wondered,
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Teachers are Overpaid and Underpaid

November 21, 2011 | Filed Under California, Education, Larry Sand, Los Angeles, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

A new study claims that public school teachers are overpaid. Are they? Depends.

An ongoing whine from teachers unions and their fellow travelers is that public school teachers don’t earn enough money. But according to Andrew Biggs, a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute scholar and Jason Richwine, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, it is just not true. In fact, in a recently released study, they find that teachers are overpaid. Typically teachers have many perks like excellent healthcare and pension packages which aren’t counted as “income.” Armed with facts, charts and a bevy of footnotes, the authors make a very good case for their thesis. For example, they claim,

“Workers who switch from non-teaching jobs to teaching jobs receive a wage increase of roughly 9 percent, while teachers who change to non-teaching jobs see their wages decrease by approximately 3 percent.
“When retiree health coverage for teachers is included, it is worth roughly an additional 10 percent of wages, whereas private sector employees often do not receive this benefit at all.
“Teachers benefit strongly from job security benefits, which are worth about an extra 1 percent of wages, rising to 8.6 percent when considering that extra job security protects a premium paid in terms of salaries and benefits.
“Taking all of this into account, teachers actually receive salary and benefits that are 52 percent greater than fair market levels.”

Needless to say, the usual suspects are none too pleased with the report. A teacher-blogger going by New York City Educator calls his piece, “‘That’s Just Mean’: Bullies at the Heritage Foundation.” Okay, whatever.
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Fake Teacher Evaluation Racket is Busted in Los Angeles

November 14, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, California, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Los Angeles, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

Parents sue the LA school board and teachers union, forcing them to obey a law that they have ignored for 40 years.

There is nothing new about unions bullying weak-kneed school districts, but this may be the mother of all abuses– for forty years, school districts and unions have collaborated to break the law in California. According to the Stull Act (Section 44660 of the state’s education code), part of a teacher’s evaluation is required to include a student achievement component, but this has not happened anywhere in the state. Last week, after consulting with EdVoice, a reform advocacy group in Sacramento, parents of some students in Los Angeles Unified School District sued the school district and teachers union for what amounts to a dereliction of duty. While the lawsuit is aimed at LA, it will have state-wide ramifications.

Originally enacted in 1971, the Stull Act, named after State Senator John Stull, was amended in 1999 to include,

“The governing board of each school district shall evaluate and assess certificated employee performance as it reasonably relates to:

The progress of pupils toward the standards established pursuant to subdivision (a) and, if applicable, the state adopted academic content standards as measured by state adopted criterion referenced assessments….”

In other words, a part of a teacher’s evaluation is supposed to be contingent on how well his students do on state mandated tests. This is hardly a radical notion, as half the states in the rest of the country now evaluate teachers in part by student performance on these tests.
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Defeat of OH Issue 2 Means $1,468 More Per Taxpayer By 2015

November 8, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Ohio, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, Republicans, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Matt Mayer of the Buckeye Institute has done the math on what a defeat of Issue 2 will cost Ohio’s taxpayers. Turns out it will cost taxpayers $1,468 more a year by 2015.

Mayer made a simple calculation by taking the $8 billion tax hike that a defeat of Issue 2 will usher in by 2015 and dividing that by the 5,448, 500 state tax returns filed in Ohio. He also took the initial $1.4 billion tax hike that will result if the unions win on Tuesday and found that each taxpayer will be stuck with an immediate $257 more in taxes next year.

The annual savings we calculated from SB5 once all contracts are negotiated would be nearly $1.4 billion per year (for details, see www.buckeyeinstitute.org/getthefacts).

In 2007, Ohio had 5,448,500 [tax] returns filed, so that would equate to a “tax” of $257 per return… That is [merely] the savings from SB5 enactment.

An additional wrinkle is that Big Labor/Democrats have essentially gone all in on higher taxes; meaning, if SB5 is repealed, that removes one option to reducing local government costs, which leaves two options–program/staff cuts and/or raising taxes… For example, Ohio’s 613 school districts currently project a collective deficit by 2015 of [approximately $8 billion]…

[Thus, without] SB5, taxes will have to go up … [at least] $8 billion just for [Ohio's] 613 school districts by 2015, which is $1,468 per return.

So, Ohio, you have a choice. Vote Issue 2 down and stick yourself with needlessly higher taxes and give unions the ability to stick it to you further, or give your legislature — not union bosses — the power to control your state’s budget like they should.
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Unions Continue to Swindle the Public

November 8, 2011 | Filed Under Illinois, Larry Sand, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

Unions are still treacherous, but with a generous helping of legislative malfeasance, their tactics are more subtle.

“On the Waterfront” portrayed union power at its rawest. In the 1950s, the unions typically got their way with nothing less than brute force. But today the tactics are different. In “Pretty Boy Floyd,” Woody Guthrie sang, “Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen.” The unions are well entrenched in the “fountain pen” camp and recently, Illinois has been in their crosshairs.

In September, the Chicago Tribune broke a story about Dennis Gannon, a former sanitation worker who became a president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. He went back to work for the city for one day, then took a leave of absence and was legally allowed to collect a $158,000 pension, about five times the average sanitation worker.
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Ohio, Vote YES on Issue 2

November 2, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Ohio, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, Scott Walker, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few days ago the Cincinnati Enquirer came out in support of Issue 2, which will enact Senate Bill 5 — a reformation of how the Buckeye State deals with government unions.

For decades, Ohio has been on an unsustainable path of rapidly increasing public-sector benefits. SB 5 would give the people we choose to manage our money, our safety and our schools greater flexibility in benefits and work rules for public employees, bringing them closer in line with what comparable workers receive in the private sector. That could relieve the pressure to raise taxes and thus help, not hurt, middle-class Ohioans.

This is an important bill not just for Ohio, but for the whole country. What Ohio is trying to do (and what Governor Walker of Wisconsin has already done) is to take away the power of un-elected union bosses from determining how the state’s budget will be spent. Ohio is trying to take back the reins of making policy, allocating tax money, and making rules for employment from the union thugs that now have control over it all.

This new rule that states such as Ohio and Wisconsin are struggling to pass is not a war against the middle class, nor even necessarily a war against the idea of unions themselves. It is a move toward fiscal responsibility and the democratic process.

These new reforms must pass now or our states will necessarily go bankrupt for all the unfunded liabilities and unfair goodies handed out to government union members.

Pass issue 2, Ohio.
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People, President, Prophet, Pope – VS – Anarchy, Unrest and Tons of Dope

November 2, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Conservatives, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Michael Bresciani‏, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Rev Michael Bresciani

One of America’s most well known news commentators gave a summary of how America got into its present troubles only last night. There is no need to name or quote the man because almost all commentators and pundits are mouthing the same spiel.

He said the people began to adopt a “do your own thing philosophy” in the sixties, what followed was a dip in morals and there was a rise in dependence on government for money, medical care and everything else, that in short time created the present, ‘nanny state.’

It all sounded good until he offered what has become the standard answer to resolve the problem of our dying society. As you might expect, it was a return to self reliance, invigorating businesses to grow, and cut the spending. With lots of nodding, assent and general agreement those on his panel were in full and unfettered agreement with him.
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CTA Dons Victim Guise and Joins OWS Crowd

October 31, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, California, Children, Education, Larry Sand, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

It’s almost Halloween and the California Teachers Association, a rich and powerful outfit, is in costume as one of the “99%ers” – protesters who claim to be have-nots

A couple of weeks ago United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten made sympathetic statements about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Now the California Teachers Association has jumped in with a full endorsement and suggestions on its website as to how teachers and others can get involved in OWS activities.

Stunning in its mendacity, CTA issued a press release (H/T Mike Antonucci) which announced its “support of the nationwide ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement for tax fairness and against corporate greed.” It goes on to say, “…a stable tax structure begins with everyone paying their fair share.”
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Union Organizers Work 1 Day As Teachers, Get $100K+ in State Pensions

October 24, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Two union organizers that represent the Illinois Federation of Teachers were able to secure millions in state pensions by working one day as a teacher here in Illinois. This outrageous abuse of the state pension system is exactly why government unions should not be allowed to exist.

The Chicago Tribune has the story of Steven Preckwinkle and David Piccioli who took advantage of a loophole to enrich themselves off the backs of the taxpayers written into law just for them by pliant Democrat politicians.

The crony legislation enabled the unionistas to quickly get state teaching certificates, work one day as a substitute teacher, then count their years as union operatives to qualify them for pension benefits from the state.
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Teachers Unions: On the Road to Extinction?

October 23, 2011 | Filed Under California, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

Online learning is the wave of the future, but teachers unions still have a Paleocene mentality

In his extraordinary book Special Interest, Terry Moe writes about the massive power of the teachers unions. After much gloom and doom, in the final chapter of the book, he manages to convey some hope about the future. Emerging technology-based education, he asserts, is the “long-term trend…, and the unions cannot stop it from happening.” Online teachers from different states and countries will be much harder for the unions to corral and control.

However, according to a post on hotair.com by Tina Korbe, the University of California chapter of the American Federation of Teachers hasn’t gotten the message yet. University of California schools, which are in dire financial straits, have begun using online education programs as a way to save money. As a result, some lecturers’ jobs could be done away with. However, their union is using its collective bargaining power to ensure that every job, no matter how unnecessary, will be saved.

“… the California lecturers, who make up nearly half of the system’s undergraduate teaching teachers, believe they have used … bargaining power to score a rare coup. The University of California last week tentatively agreed to a deal with UC-AFT that included a new provision barring the system and its campuses from creating online courses or programs that would result in ‘a change to a term or condition of employment’ of any lecturer without first dealing with the union.”

In other words, the union is determined to keep all its dues-paying members on the payroll whether they are needed or not, whether we can afford them or not. The fact that there are some excellent online classes and that their use would save the beleaguered taxpayers of California bushels

Reform Illinois Pensions Now!

October 19, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Government, Ill. County, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Pat Quinn, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Springfield must reform pensions now or our children will pay.

According to Illinois Is Broke, “The 30-second spots, in English and Spanish, will begin airing on Tuesday, October 18th and are scheduled to run through the veto sessions, which begin October 25th. The television campaign will be supplemented with a billboard, print and radio campaign, timed to coincide with the legislative sessions. In addition to nightly newscasts, the spots will run during sporting events, and programming such as 60 Minutes.”

Connect with Illinis is Broke on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/IllinoisIsBroke

Follow them on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/IllinoisIsBroke
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Lisa Fithian: Teaching Radicalism to Chicago Teachers Union

October 18, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Chicago, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Hate Crimes, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Society/Culture, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Violent, union thug comes to Chicago to fake teacher “arrests”

When people ask me, “What do you do?” I say I create crisis, because crisis is that edge where change is possible.
– Lisa Fithian

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) trained under radical street organizer, and leader of the anti-capitalist #occupy movement, Lisa Fithian, to stage a protest march in Chicago on 10/10/11.

During this event, more than 20+ members of the CTU were arrested.

THE NYT MAGAZINE SAYS THIS ABOUT FITHIAN
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Steve Jobs vs. Wall St. Whiners and Teachers Unions

October 17, 2011 | Filed Under Business, California, Capitalism, Economy/Finances, Larry Sand, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

Steve Jobs knew how to create wealth. The parasitic Wall Street protesters and teachers unions want to destroy it

There are many theories as to who is orchestrating the “Occupy Wall Street” protests – known in some circles as “Kamp Alinsky” and “Kamp Kvetch” – in lower Manhattan and elsewhere throughout our country. George Soros? President Obama? Could they possibly be spontaneous?

No matter. The protesters and their message of social justice, socialism and general hatred of all things corporate will not affect the great majority of Americans. The average Joe and Jill are just trying to pay their bills, raise a family and live a decent life. Hence the Wall Street rabble, a motley combination of bored teenagers, old guard lefties and hard core partiers, many armed with iPhones, digital cameras and many other luxuries produced by corporations, are badly missing the mark. As usual, the protesters’ signs tell the story – none more so than the one that says, “A job is a right. Capitalism doesn’t work.” Could any serious types associate with this fringe mentality?

Enter Michael Mulgrew – the United Federation of Teachers president. Speaking “truth to power,” his tax-the-rich talk at a Wall St. rally fit right in with the angry mob that thinks wealth is evil and that if A has more money than B, A owes B some of it. It’s the mentality that thinks that there is no moral difference between Bernie Madoff and Bill Gates.
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Labor Unions Support Wisconsin Agitators

October 12, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Scott Walker, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | 1 Comment

Until now many of the often-illegal antics perpetuated by several individual Wisconsin-based protesters appeared to be random acts committed by disillusioned agitators. But the MacIver News Service has learned that these acts have been highly orchestrated and perpetuated by an organization whose members are told to deny their involvement in the group. A group, we’ve discovered, which is financed by thousands of dollars from Big Labor.

With that funding comes clout. They have shared the stage with Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate. They’ve hosted prominent Democratic legislative speakers such as Representative Cory Mason and Minority Leader Peter Barca, a rumored potential candidate for governor.

These protesters have played a key role in many of the most visible events in and around the State Capitol since February. This week, their organization was listed alongside the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and United Wisconsin as key organizers behind the efforts to recall Governor Scott Walker.

And they’re currently organizing and participating in many of the ‘Occupy’ protests in Washington, DC, New York and Wisconsin.

Bill Osmulski reports in this MacIver News Investigation.

http://maciverinstitute.com/

Bad News For Illinois Teachers: Illinois is Broke and You Might Not Get Your Pension!

October 12, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Pat Quinn, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

The unions and the Democrats are lying to you, teachers.

In Illinois we have a $140 billion retirement pension deficit for teachers, folks. Don’t let the unions lie to you all the way until you decide to retire only to find out you lost everything.

And you police, firemen, and other state employees… don’t think you are better off than the teachers. You aren’t.

The Tragedy and Farce of American Schools of Education

October 10, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Los Angeles, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

Education schools are nothing more than dumbed down, politically correct fad factories supported by the teachers unions.

If you ever wanted to have a complete file of Diane Ravitch’s inane union apologist utterances all in one place – here it is. As Part of NBC’s Education Nation, she and Harlem Children’s Zone’s President Geoffrey Canada duked it out for a half hour. (As I watched this, I recalled Steven Brill’s comment in Class Warfare, that American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten should become the next New York City Chancellor of Education because she’s “smart” and could fix public education by making the rank and file perform better. I would add that in the highly unlikely case of this happening, Ravitch could easily replace Weingarten as AFT president.)

Needless to say, Ravitch vehemently disagreed with Canada on just about everything. However, they did agree that we needed to train our teachers better. This, of course, is like agreeing that snow is white.

The schools of education in the U.S. are by and large an abomination. Richard Vedder, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, pretty well nails it in a recent article he wrote for the Chronicle of Higher Education. He says that:
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Abuse: Union Leaders Pull Down Millions in Public Pensions in Illinois

October 9, 2011 | Filed Under Adam Andrzejewski, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, For The Good Of Illinois, Franklin Deleno Roosevelt, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Andrew Thomason of the Illinois Statehouse News agency has a pair of stores on the criminal syndicate that is unions in the Land of Lincoln this week that have to be seen to be believed. In fact, these stories and the ones like them we’ve seen for the past several months in Illinois are proof positive that unions should be illegal for government employees.

In one story, Thomason reports the tale of Michael Johnson, a corrupt teacher out to milk the taxpayers dry by collecting $209,379.43 in pension benefits while at the same time also collected $324,785 from a separate Illinois pension fund. And so far this crook has already collected $1.1 million of our tax dollars on top of the $198,105 a year he makes for “part-time work” for the school district.

This is called double dipping. Johnson was able to do this because he worked at one job in Illinois education, “retired” from it, then took a second job in the same field. This means he gets two pensions to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, likely totaling up to millions by the time he dies. All paid for by the taxpayers of Illinois.
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Cherry Picking Facts + Bad Polling = Demagoguery

September 27, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, California, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

Teacher union boss cherry picks from a biased poll and ends up with the pits.

Cherry picking is a phrase that has become quite popular these days. The term simply refers to advancing a certain point of view by using only data which supports that POV and omitting any contradictory or mitigating information.

A recent illustration of this phenomenon is on display in an article written by NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. The ironically titled Back-to-School Reality Check is, in fact, quite short on reality. The article, primarily a pep talk for teachers, uses a recent Phi Beta Kappa/Gallup poll as its motivating source. Early on, Van Roekel tells us,

“73 percent (of the poll’s respondents) said teachers should have flexibility in the classroom.”

I’m all for that. But what the union boss leaves out is that for teachers to have more flexibility they would need to tear up the telephone book-size union contract that dictates every little move a teacher makes.
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Launch of Choice Media — Education News Service

September 22, 2011 | Filed Under Children, Education, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

ChoiceMedia.tv to Serve as Nation’s ‘Education Reform Homepage’

NEW YORK, NY, September 19, 2011 — Choice Media launches today, a non-profit news service devoted to covering all facets of K-12 education quality and reform.

“Education remains the most under-reported facet of American life by the traditional news media,” said Bob Bowdon, founder of Choice Media. “The coverage it does receive is often shallow and scandal-focused, with too little attention paid to the intractable systemic failures of a broken education model. Choice Media will attempt to reddress this imbalance.”
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Lib Activist Physically Assaults GOP Lawmaker in Wisconsin, Media Silent

September 16, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Anti-War, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

A known liberal activist that has for months been stalking several Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin, verbally abusing them, has finally crossed the line into a physical attack. So… where is the Old Media to chronicle this assault? Sadly, no where to be seen.

On Sept. 14 left-wing activist Miles Kirstan entered The Inn at 22 S. Carroll Street in Madison, Wisconsin, began to harass some GOP lawmakers patronizing the establishment, and ultimately attacked them, throwing a mug of beer on them.

The Madison Police Department confirmed to the MacIver Institute that the incident occurred and the group found that Republican State Rep. Robin Voss (Burlington) was the main target. Reps. John Nygren (Marinette) and Scott Suder (Abbotsford) were also a victim of the attack.

Kirstan is a well-known face among the extremists that have been railing against the Walker administration over the budget cuts and other legislative efforts.
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Mich. House Moves to Ban Union Dues Deducted from Teachers’ Paychecks

September 15, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Michigan, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A new measure has been introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives that would ban school districts from automatically deducting union dues from teachers’ paychecks and handing that money over to unions.

The practice of having state governments deducting dues automatically from state employees is quite common in northern and western states that are in thrall to the unions. It is a major payoff to unions to have governments automatically deduct dues from the paychecks of government employees, too.

It does seem odd that government is handling union dues, of course, but the reason it is done is because if government didn’t automatically deduct the dues and hand the cash over to the unions, those unions would have a harder time getting timely dues payments from members. If employees were responsible for paying their own union dues — as they should be required to do — then unions would find payment a bit less reliable than when government does the job.
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AFL-CIO Prez: Hey, Remember 9/11? Was a Great Union Moment, Right?

September 10, 2011 | Filed Under 9/11, AFL-CIO, al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Islam, Islamofascism, Jobs, Liberals, Osama bin Ladden, Public Employees Unions, Richard Trumka, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Terrorism, Unions, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In one of the most disgusting examples of the self-absorption of the union mind set, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka decided that his 9/11 memorial would not be much about 9/11, but would instead be just another excuse to say how great unions are and how evil conservatives are. This isn’t just gauche, but insulting, infuriating, and just plain ignorant. Not only that, but it is most certainly disrespectful of the fallen and just plain un-American.

But, then again, that describes unions in just about every instance, doesn’t it?

Disgustingly, the AFL-CIO’s Trumka turned a “memorial” to 9/11 into a union snake-oil sales pitch. Worse he began with an almost dismissive attitude to the memory of the attacks on our homeland.
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Former Union Boss to Become Charter School Operator

September 10, 2011 | Filed Under California, Children, Education, Larry Sand, Los Angeles, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

Once a rabid anti-reformer, termed out United Teachers of Los Angeles President A.J. Duffy has become a union apostate…maybe.

On September 1st, Los Angeles Times writer Howard Blume wrote what at first glance appeared to be satire. He reported that A.J. Duffy is starting his own charter school. For those of you who live a peaceful life outside the realm of the education wars, Duffy is the crusty and cantankerous, raspy and rabid former president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles – a man who never met a charter school or any education reform that he liked. And when he didn’t like something, he made sure you knew about it.

But it’s a new day and Duffy indeed will be soon become the executive director of Apple Academy Charter Public Schools, a new organization that hopes to open one or more schools by the fall of 2012.

To show how bizarre all this is, let’s take a step back a couple of years. In 2009, when the Los Angeles Unified School District wanted to expand the number of charter schools in the district, Duffy, then UTLA President said,

“All the data says charter schools do not do better than public schools. This is bureaucracy putting in a top-down plan which hasn’t worked before.”

Now he says he has a vision, and while his schools will be unionized, it will not be at the expense of sacrificing his new ideas about how a school should operate.
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Teachers Unions Happy to Say Goodbye to August

September 3, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, California, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, NEA, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

The Dog Days of summer are making teachers unions sweat as they get caught being, well, teachers unions

August has been a bad month for teachers unions. And looking at things objectively, it would appear that every one of their hot flashes has been well deserved. In no particular order:

The SOS March was a dud. It was supposed to be a teacher-led event, but the unions were really behind it. The small turnout had its share of angry, mostly leftist teachers whining and shouting about this and that. No one paid much attention. The speakers were just what you’d expect. Jonathan Kozol, forty years later, is still railing about poverty causing ignorance. (No, actually ignorance causes poverty.) Then the marchers were treated to former reformer and current union mouthpiece Diane Ravitch who chirped about how wonderful they all were. And then the big gun, Matt Damon, who if nothing else showed what a great actor he is. The guy who played a convincing genius in Good Will Hunting demonstrates that without a good script he’s about as sharp as a marble.

Children Better Behaved Than Union Thugs in Wisconsin

August 30, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, NEA, Public Employees Unions, Scott Walker, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The MacIver Institute of Wisconsin has been doing stellar work on the situation between the unions and the rest of Wisconsin since Governor Scott Walker first entered the Governor’s mansion. The Institute has really shown the thuggery that is the unions again and again, revealing them for what they are.

Well, MacIver has done it again… or rather the unions have done it again.

Governor Walker had planned a visit to the Messmer Preparatory School in Milwaukee, a school that exemplifies what good education is. After all, 85% of the students that graduate from Messmer end up graduating from college.
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A Blueprint for Maintaining the Status Quo

August 30, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, California, Economy/Finances, Education, Larry Sand, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

Tom Torlakson’s panel comes up with edubabble and little else in an attempt to turn around a troubled California public school system.

Just when we thought we were safe from yet another “master plan for educational improvement,” A Blueprint for State Schools is bestowed on us. This 31 page monstrosity was unleashed by State Superintendent for Public Instruction Tom Torlakson’s Transition Advisory Team. While the Teacher Quality Roadmap I wrote about in June had specific ideas about fixing Los Angeles schools, the “blueprint” is supposed to identify and address areas that are “vexing to the state’s K-12 system.”

The LA roadmap includes interviews with teachers and principals and can be summarized:

“Among other things, the report, which included interviews with over 1,500 teachers and principals, recommended changes to the current union contract and to state laws regulating staffing, evaluations, tenure, compensation and work schedules. Some of the prescriptions include using criteria other than seniority if layoffs are necessary and utilizing standardized test scores as part of a teacher’s evaluation and when making staffing decisions. Additionally, it was suggested that teachers be denied permanent status until they have been in the classroom for four years instead of the current two.”

In my June post, I commented that while the roadmap was full of good common sense prescriptions from teachers and principals, they were really nothing new and, in any event, would be blocked by the teachers unions because they are happy with the status quo, ugly warts and all.
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Typical Teachers Union Tactics Kill Parent Trigger in Connecticut

August 16, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, California, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, NEA, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

Time for being shocked, shocked about teacher union methods and objectives is over.

Last week, writer Rishawn Biddle broke a story about the American Federation of Teachers’ recent successful actions to neuter a Parent Trigger bill in Connecticut. The first Parent Trigger law, officially the Parent Empowerment Act, was passed in California early last year. It allows parents, via a petition, to force change in the governance of a failing school should the petitioners get a majority of parents to sign on.

The educational establishment – school boards, teachers unions and other special interest groups, dubbed the “Government Education Complex” by Bruno Behrend, director of the Center for School Reform at The Heartland Institute, don’t like the law since it allows a group of parents to trump their power.

Most writers and bloggers who have written about the incident have focused on a pdf, originally a PowerPoint, posted on the AFT website, which very honestly and cynically describes the process by which the union did its dirty work. Realizing that this display of raw union power was not in keeping with its persona as a reform-minded partner, always willing to collaborate with parents, communities and other stakeholders, AFT pulled the pdf from its website shortly after the Biddle piece was posted and started to play defense…sort of.
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Failure: Over $14 Mil Spent on Wisc. Recall By Liberal Groups, Unions

August 12, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Scott Walker, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

As a recap on the past recall effort that just occurred in Wisconsin, a final accounting shows that liberal groups spent over $14 million to beat the six Republicans that were up for recall. They failed in four of the six attempts and in the two they won, well, it was a pyrrhic victory to say the least. It all goes to show that money is not always the final arbiter of an election victory.

The MacIver Institute of Wisconsin has created a great graphic to diagram the spending the left indulged to recall these six Wisconsin Republicans. It was mostly union money, of course.

Click Image to embiggen…

Of the totals, MacIver says:
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Unions Lose BIG In Wisconsin Recall Efforts

August 10, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Children, Conservatives, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Republicans, Scott Walker, SEIU, Senate, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Oh, the union thugs in Wisconsin will certainly try to act as if winning a mere two of the six recall elections of the Republican State Senators in the Cheese State was a big win… but it wasn’t. In fact, this recall nonsense shows that the union issues were a huge failure. After all, they even shied from using the union issues to push the recall efforts after they got going because they were looking like a losing issue.

In fact, the two Republicans that lost their effort to beat the recall were the two that were a bit odd as it is, so beating them doesn’t seem to be such a great triumph. And even at that the margins of defeat were not great. David Fredosso of the Washington Examiner puts it well:

In the end, the union-backed Democrats picked up only two state Senate seats in Wisconsin last night, at a staggering cost in time, effort, and of course money. One of the seats was solidly Democratic, held by a Republican due to an apparent fluke of nature. The other was held by an alleged adulterer who had moved outside his district to live with his young mistress, and whose wife was supporting his recall.

A Pyrrhic victory, there, for sure.

Unions and left-wing Democrat operative told us that the people of Wisconsin were furious at Governor Scott Walker and his GOP partners. We were told that “the people” would swarm to the recall election polls and throw the rascals out. But aside from the two problem children above, none of the elections were even close.
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