Posts tagged private school
Opinion: Unions’ victories shake Utah politics
April 25, 2025 // Legislators will not go quietly into the night, allowing an activist judge to dismantle Utah’s school choice program. Expect legislation to shore up the program, and judges to once again be recipients of legislative ire. Pignanelli: Unless resolved soon, the role of public employee associations will be a feature in political party conventions and swing legislative districts. The Supreme Court’s ultimate ruling on the scholarship program could foster another constitutional ballot proposition.
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.
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.”
COMMENTARY Chicago Teachers Union: An Example in Corruption
May 29, 2024 // The scandals didn’t end in 2023, regrettably. An ethics complaint filed in 2024 over a “leaked email detailing a plan to help students vote” violated the CPS Code of Ethics, according to the Illinois Policy Institute, which filed the complaint. To be fair, CPS officials aren’t barred from engaging in some political activities. They cannot, however, conduct such activities during working hours. The Illinois Policy Institute claims the email shows “the union is asking its members to violate the CPS Code of Ethics and possibly other state or city provisions.” In fact, while writing this article, another shocking revelation came out about the Chicago Public Schools system. A former student is suing the CPS, alleging that a dean there raped her at the age of 15 and then posed as her stepfather to get her two abortions, and the staff failed to report it. I need to stop writing before another scandal comes out, or I’ll have to add that, too.
Opinion: ‘$50 Billion’ Chicago Teachers Union Contract Demands Higher Pay And Lower Expectations
May 8, 2024 // The contract veers into many social issues and away from academics: LGBT issue training, sex-neutral bathrooms, immigrant housing, police-free schools, restorative justice, and more. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has kicked off a season of contract negotiations by issuing a $50 billion list of demands that will enrich the union at taxpayers’ expense and provide little, if any, benefit to the city’s students. Right now, Chicago Public Schools delivers terrible results at a very high cost. Last school year, the district spent more than $21,000 per student, well above the national average of $14,347. And on the last Nation’s Report Card, only 21 percent of the city’s eighth graders were proficient readers.
If Only Low-Income Kids Had a Union
March 21, 2024 // Lawmakers failing to align with the unions’ objectives may jeopardize their backing during election season, which not only includes financial funding but also campaign support such as organizing get-out-the-vote efforts and door-to-door canvassing to secure the victory of their favored candidates. Parent activists are growing increasingly frustrated with being overshadowed by teacher unions. During a Feb. 28 press conference at the Legislative Office Building, the Connecticut Parents Union (CTPU), an advocacy group focused on educational reform, joined forces with activists from Danbury and Middletown to urge lawmakers to fund and open charter schools in these cities. The state Board of Education has already given approval to the schools in question, but the General Assembly has yet to allocate the required funds. Specifically, Danbury Prospect Charter School received approval in 2018, and Capital Preparatory (CPREP) in Middletown was greenlit in 2023.
CTU president suggests new teacher contract could cost taxpayers $50 billion
March 7, 2024 // The Chicago Teachers Union is preparing for collective bargaining talks with the city, and the union's president suggested the new terms would cost taxpayers $50 billion. “We are asking you to give us an opportunity to tell our story. It will cost $50 billion, and three cent,” CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said Tuesday at the City Club of Chicago this week, setting the stage for upcoming negotiations with the city. "And so what? That's audacity."
THE POLICY SHOP: THE CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION’S AFFINITY FOR FAILURE
February 29, 2024 // The district already has 20 sustainable community schools, including 12 elementary schools and eight high schools. Sustainable community schools integrate student services coordinated by the school with outside organizations, such as housing or food assistance, medical or dental care, mental health services, English language or parenting classes. CTU claims the model promotes improved outcomes, such as decreased absenteeism rates, increased student performance and improved school culture, including “decreases in school discipline referrals, suspensions, and expulsions.” With dwindling enrollment in CPS, CTU markets the expansion of sustainable community schools as an attempt at “fortifying neighborhood schools.”
CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION IGNORES OWN MANDATE FOR FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
February 26, 2024 // And it’s certainly not good legacy-building for Davis Gates, whose first year as union president has been tainted by deficit spending, decreased spending on members, personally cheating Indiana schools out of taxes owed to them and sending her son to a private school while denying that choice to low-income families. CTU’s bylaws require publication of an annual audit of finances, but there’s been no sign of an audit for at least four years CTU’s internal rules are clear: an annual audit must be performed and published each year.
ILLINOIS: Union president’s school choice sparks debate over Illinois’ expiring program
September 11, 2023 // State Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, did not comment directly on whether the Invest in Kids Act should be extended but said it should be up to the parents to do what they believe is best for their children. "I believe every child should have the opportunity to go to the school that their parents choose for them to go to. Period," Ford told The Center Square. Ford said the choice by Davis Gates to send her child to a private school speaks to another issue he sees. "We cannot miss that her decision to place her [child] in a school outside of Chicago Public Schools speaks volumes to the deficit in those schools," Ford said.