Posts tagged education
Head of major teachers union calls for restrictions on AI, screens in schools
May 29, 2026 // American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten called for restrictions on artificial intelligence and screen usage in schools. In a speech on Wednesday, Weingarten said that students are “drowning in tech” and there needs to be research done on the effects of students’ learning with AI.
Report: The diminishing power of teacher unions
May 29, 2026 // The result is A Crowded Table: Teacher Union Strength in 2026. Building on our original study, the authors set out to gauge teacher union strength in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.). Collectively, the 59 measures—which include 29 new measures that were not in the original report—seek to quantify union strength in five key areas: Resources and Membership; Involvement in Politics; Labor and Bargaining Policies; Policy Wins and Losses; and Perceived Influence, which draws from an original survey examining how stakeholders in each of the 50 states and D.C. perceive teacher union strength today. The states with the strongest teacher unions are Vermont, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Hawaii. The states with the weakest teacher unions are Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Mississippi. (See our interactive table on the report website for the overall rankings alongside the rankings for each of the five areas.)
Disregard for students showcased in Sheridan teacher strike
May 27, 2026 // The Sheridan teachers did have a legal right to strike, but not a morally justifiable one. They seriously disrupted the lives of innocent schoolchildren and their parents, holding them hostage to the union’s demands. When a grocery union strikes, customers can do business elsewhere. However, teachers are government employees within a school district that has a monopoly on publicly-funded education. And unlike private sector employers, Colorado school boards can refuse to allow a union. In 2012, a new Republican majority on the Douglas County School Board decertified its teacher union when the collective-bargaining agreement expired. (A new Democrat majority on the DougCo school board will likely welcome the union back with open arms.)
Leadership of Norfolk teachers’ union ousted, president accused of misappropriating funds
May 26, 2026 // The documents outlined “the clearest example where Mackey and the executive board failed to exercise their fiduciary obligation to the membership” as a clothing allowance that was raised to $3,000 and stipends for hourly work despite holding a salary position. NFT officers had not been elected in a democratic manner, the decision and order read. Half the union’s executive board had been appointed. Its members, in a meeting, nominated one another for office. Hernández-Mats said only 16 of 1,100 dues-paying members participated in that union election. Many of these ranking members, she said, enabled the spending outlined in the report. Union budgets during that period, the documents read, included unreliable figures and displayed a lack of transparency.
Tucson charter school teachers vote to unionize
May 23, 2026 // CITY charter school network becomes second unionized charter school in Arizona
When Educational Institutions Drift, Build New Ones
May 13, 2026 // For educators who do not want to spend their time or hard-earned paychecks on these unions, alternatives are emerging. Teacher Freedom Alliance and the Association of American Educators offer liability protection and classroom-focused professional development—without forcing members to subsidize political advocacy. This model reflects the original intent of unions to support and protect educators, not push ideological agendas that make their jobs harder. The same pattern appears in standardized testing. Many parents may not realize that SAT is owned by the College Board, an organization that has drifted ideologically left over the past decade. A 2024 report by the Goldwater Institute highlights this with examples of the organization’s embrace of “anti-racism” and “equity.”
Op-ed: George F. Will: It’s graduation time for disappointed little Lenins
May 11, 2026 // Disgruntled Starbucks workers embraced the United Auto Workers union, which they soon despised as too tepid about rectifying all injustices everywhere. Scheiber says the UAW now represents “roughly 100,000 higher-education workers” — graduate students and non-tenure-track faculty. Their numbers and grievances are growing faster than those of autoworkers. Many Starbucks workers agitating for unionization were berating the company for an inadequate commitment to LGBTQ rights. Then, on Oct. 7, 2023, they fell in love with Hamas. One organizer wore a sweatshirt emblazoned with a portrait of Karl Marx. An Apple store employee, who blamed her declining mental health on “the job” and “the stress of unionizing,” became, Scheiber writes, so “desperate” she sold her two $150 tickets to a Beyoncé concert. An employee at a Baltimore-area Apple store: “I had to get rid of Hulu” (a subscription-streaming service).
Federal ruling opens door for City High, Paulo Freire, other Arizona charter school workers to unionize
May 7, 2026 // The staff and teachers at City High and Paulo Freire Schools are allowed to unionize, according to a federal ruling on Friday — paving the way for more charter schools in Arizona to form unions. The ruling by the National Labor Relations Board, says the group — about 40 teachers and staff that serve about 285 students at three schools — can hold an election and vote on whether to unionize even though the Board of Directors stalled their efforts earlier this year. The election is set for May 19, which is graduation day at City High School.
First-Ever Bargaining Compact Unites Higher Ed Unions Across Northeastern US
May 5, 2026 // Together, they drafted a document called the Amherst Compact. While it is largely aspirational, it commits HELU to working “to coordinate bargaining priorities that raise the floor for workers of all job categories across the most densely-unionized region of the U.S.,” the Northeast. Moreover, the agreement pledges solidarity across job titles, even on campuses where multiple unions represent workers in different employment categories — buildings and grounds; clerical; custodial; food service; research; security; or teaching — and regardless of whether the workers are employed by university hospitals or degree-granting bodies.
Watchdog report exposes teachers union ‘political machine’ funneling more than $1 billion to liberal causes
April 27, 2026 // According to research from Defending Education, national teachers unions alone have directed roughly $669 million toward left-wing political groups, advocacy organizations and campaigns since 2015. When state and local affiliates are included, that figure balloons to more than $1 billion in total political spending. The reports track spending from the two largest unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), as well as their state-level affiliates, using federal filings and campaign finance records.