Posts tagged education
MASSACHUSETTS: Tensions are rising as North Shore teachers remain on strike
November 22, 2024 // New court orders came down Thursday from an Essex County Superior Judge on the fines the teachers’ unions have faced over the last week, which increase by $10,000 a day. The judge suspended the fines for Friday to allow negotiations to continue without that burden, but the judge says if no deal is reached by the end of the weekend, the fines are back in place Monday. Plus, an expedited fact-finding mediation through the state will begin.
Classes canceled on Tuesday as teachers in 3 Mass. communities remain on strike
November 12, 2024 // Classes will be canceled Tuesday throughout public schools in Gloucester, Beverly and Marblehead, as negotiations between the teachers unions and school committees continue with no deal reached as of Monday evening. Teachers in the three North Shore communities returned to the bargaining table on Monday as they enter the first full week of a teachers strike.
Teachers in Beverly and Gloucester vote to go on strike
November 11, 2024 // "Teachers are essential employees who our children depend on for learning and safety during the school day. An illegal labor action will cause direct harm to students by forcing many to stay home without a parent or guardian able to care for them, removing access to mental health service options, and limiting students' abilities to secure warm meals," said Kathleen Clancy, on behalf of the Gloucester School Committee. The teachers union in Beverly said it has been without a contract for 67 days, and educators are taking a stand as the schools continue to be underfunded.
Teachers Unions’ Motivations for School Board Endorsements Clash with Voter Expectations
November 8, 2024 // The study, titled The Politics of Teachers’ Union Endorsements, found that school board candidates endorsed by the union have won 70% of races over the past twenty years. According to the study, voters believe teachers unions make endorsements based on improving academic outcomes. In reality, however, the unions tend to make endorsements based on self-interest. The study suggests that voters might be misinterpreting these endorsements, thinking they reflect a candidate’s commitment to education quality when they are, in fact, more reflective of union self-interest. By allowing voters to be misled with regard to their intentions, unions have been able to secure races for two decades worth of school board candidates.
IEA study: Nearly 3 of 5 teachers weigh leaving classroom
October 23, 2024 // With more than 4,000 teaching positions across the state being unfilled as recently as the 2023-24 school year, Bailey, who challenged Pritzker as the GOP nominee in 2022, said it’s clear what needs to happen. “It's time for government to get out of education and let the local school boards decide how they want their children educated,” he said. “That’s the only process that will work and that's how this was set up in the very beginning.”
CHICAGO: Mayor Brandon Johnson Asks CPS CEO Pedro Martinez To Resign. Martinez Says No, Sources Say
September 26, 2024 // ohnson’s desire to replace Martinez comes after he pushed school district leaders to take out a short-term loan to cover a pension payment for non-teaching staff and new costs related to the yet-to-be-settled Chicago Teachers Union contract. It also comes as school district leaders are in tense contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union. The mayor is also struggling to address looming deficits to the city budget he now oversees. Those deficits are driven, in part, by the CPS administration and school board’s refusal to take out the short-term loan.
Chicago teachers’ union claim that Black kids cannot pass standardized tests doesn’t go over well with mom
August 14, 2024 // Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union and executive vice president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, was asked by a Black radio station last week about public school students' declining reading and math scores. Specifically, criticism that Gates was advocating to boost teachers' contracts with money that would be better served addressing student achievement. She responded that gauging student achievement through testing was the problem.
CHICAGO SCHOOL SPENDING NEARLY DOUBLES AS SCORES DROP
July 16, 2024 // Still, CTU seems oblivious as it pushes $1.7 billion in demands for new support staff that will give them more union members – part of at least $10.2 billion in new demands – rather than prioritizing students’ outcomes. This, in a school district that just cut enough to close a $500 million deficit. Expect that deficit to reappear with a vengeance if CTU gets even a fraction of its demands. Expect taxpayers to eventually pay for that deficit.
New York measures to fire ineffective teachers repealed
July 2, 2024 // In addition, teacher evaluations will no longer have to consider test scores, student growth scores and other measures that the state tried to use from 2010 until when the pandemic hit in 2020.
PA Union’s Vendetta Against School Choice Isn’t Afraid of Jay-Z
June 25, 2024 // Jay-Z’s pro-voucher push has included information sessions and a widespread advertising campaign to mobilize Pennsylvanians in support of educational choice. According to representatives from Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, the rapper became committed to the voucher issue not only through his longtime initiative to fund college scholarships, but also thanks to his familiarity with Pennsylvania. Not even Jay-Z, however, is immune to AFT’s onslaught. On June 7, AFT Pennsylvania tweeted a clear-cut message in response to the musician’s campaign: “This ain’t it.” Union president Arthur Steinberg reemphasized AFT’s intransigence three days later: “The crisis in public education funding in America could have been solved a long time ago if billionaires like … Jay-Z simply paid their fair share in taxes instead of robbing needed money from public schools to fund failed voucher schemes which hurt poor kids.”