Posts tagged public school
Local drivers officially on strike, disrupting transportation for thousands of students
October 1, 2026 // The district’s transportation contractor, First Student, is in a contract dispute with the local bus drivers union. If the two sides do not reach a deal by midnight Wednesday, more than 5,000 students could be without bus service Thursday morning, affecting students at 11 schools, including eight elementary schools.
Vinnie Vernuccio: Labor reform finally has congressional momentum
September 30, 2026 // Those reforms will take time to pass, whereas ending racist or sexually harassing language in unionization campaigns should be easy to get across the finish line soon. Clearly, Congress is capable of rallying behind pro-worker labor reforms. The House’s bipartisan passage of the Ending Predator Access to Union Power Act proves it, and hopefully it will clear the Senate soon.
Teachers unions, not racism, are failing New York City’s black students
September 22, 2026 // The problem is accountability. New York’s government unions fight against being held responsible for their failures at every stage. Tenured teachers can be dismissed only for cause after a formal proceeding before an arbitrator. They ordinarily remain paid during reassignment and receive union-provided legal representation. Seniority rules can force schools to release newer teachers who may be good rather than ineffective veterans who either cannot or will not do their jobs. Excessed teachers can be placed in other district schools rather than removed from the system.
Teachers unions lose another fight against school choice
August 26, 2026 // Why are teachers unions so hostile to school choice? Because it threatens the system from which they derive their power, in which all but the wealthiest parents are trapped, and prey to an unresponsive monopoly, while union leaders collect dues regardless of educational outcomes. School choice gives families a way out and, more importantly, introduces competition into a system unions have spent decades trying to control. Parents and children need elected officials willing to resist unions, and they need institutions such as the Goldwater Institute willing to fight when unions turn to courts and ballot campaigns to take choice away. Arizona’s victory should be a model.
After financial troubles and firings, MASTERS Program staff starts union
August 14, 2026 // Nugent is in her fourth year at the school, but the effort began in just her second semester there, when she started working to bring in the state’s other teachers’ union, the National Education Association of New Mexico — “because Northern New Mexico schools are supposed to use NEA,” she said. But after a few Santa Fe local leadership positions switched around within NEA and a “poor meeting of about two hours that wasted teachers’ time,” she said, the partnership fell through. She was ultimately told the union “did not want to bother with unionizing small charter schools because it wasn’t profitable.” NEA New Mexico President Bethany Jarrell disputed that characterization.
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.
9th Circuit Case Against UTLA Fully Briefed, Awaiting Oral Argument
March 28, 2026 // “UTLA’s position boils down to this: Accept our representation or give up your career,” said Shella Alcabes, Freedom Foundation litigation counsel. “That’s not a choice the Constitution permits the government to impose. These teachers opted out of this union for good reason, and no court has ever said the First Amendment allows what California is doing here.” Among the actions the plaintiffs attribute to UTLA: spending $700,000 to elect a school board candidate who promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories; funding members’ attendance at anti-Jewish rallies; endorsing a “Teach Palestine” curriculum that misrepresents Jewish history; and, passing resolutions supporting the BDS campaign against Israel.
California Teachers Association president denies organization ordered coordinated strikes | California Politics 360
March 17, 2026 // "CTA doesn't line up contracts," said CTA President David Goldberg, stating local unions coordinated the effort that was then supported by the statewide group, not mandated. "It's the result of the conditions in which educators are working under decades of disinvestment." Goldberg noted that teachers statewide are asking for better pay and more resources for students. He said school districts in the Sacramento area, such as Twin Rivers and Natomas, are "hoarding millions." But school districts are not cash cows or revenue generators. Several school districts impacted are struggling financially, and they rely on state tax dollars. California has been grappling with back-to-back-to-back state budget deficits that are expected to persist over the next several years.
Debate grows as states consider teacher strike bans
March 9, 2026 // Many states are considering new policies affecting teachers’ ability to strike or participate in protests, and education officials and labor advocates continue to debate the legality of teacher strikes. The strikes are banned or heavily restricted in roughly 38 states and Washington, D.C.
Lawmakers join Chicago Teachers Union to push for more school funding
February 12, 2026 // State lawmakers have introduced legislation backed by the Chicago Teachers Union to immediately increase evidence-based funding and additional public school services. Republicans say Illinois' taxes already are too high. State Sen. Graciela Guzmán, D-Chicago, is a former CTU organizer.