One of a Kind

With roughly three million members, the National Education Association is the largest labor union in the United States. When the American Federation of Teachers‘ 800,000 members are added to that figure, their combined membership is nearly double that of the next largest union – the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). NEA and…

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Listen to the Music

With the mass murder of 19 elementary school students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas gnawing at the national conscience, pundits, parents and practitioners find themselves pondering the question of how children can best be protected from future acts of violence, short of arming teachers and converting school campuses into citadels. Necessary as those…

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Heartbreak, Health and Politics

Every so often a piece of journalism breaks through the flotsam and jetsam that is the contemporary Twitterverse, and compels digestion, contemplation, and discussion. If you’ve given any thought to the trade-offs involved in extending distance learning or resuming campus-based instruction and have yet to read Alec MacGillis’, “The Students Left Behind by…

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When Teachers Unions Supported Private School Choice

For those who long to see teachers union representatives offering legislative testimony in support of parental choice of private schools, you’ve come to the right place!  We hearken back to the halcyon days of May, 2001, when the California Legislature’s Senate Education Committee considered a bill authored by former State Senator Ray Haynes.  The…

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Through the (“Tax Expenditure”) Looking Glass

It’s no secret that the California Teachers Association has no love for tax credit legislation. To illustrate the point, one need look no farther than AB 337, a bill authored by California Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer in 2015, that proposed a modest tax credit (to a maximum benefit of $250) for out-of-pocket expenses incurred…

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