Posts tagged students
UNIONS’ STRIKE HURTS L.A. STUDENTS AND FAMILIES
March 20, 2023 // The unions are demanding huge pay raises despite financial reports showing LAUSD is already upside down $16.4 billion. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 99 is demanding a whopping 30% increase in wages for school employees like bus drivers and cafeteria workers. United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) is also joining the strike, seeking a 20% raise for teachers. “The unions strike and close down schools regardless of how much it will hurt students and their families,” said Lance Christensen, Vice President of Education Policy and Government Affairs at California Policy Center.
OP-ED: LAUSD’s unions could support policies to help all Californians
March 14, 2023 // According to the SEIU, the average annual salary for the 30,000 LAUSD service workers they represent is $25,000. But that includes all service workers, from part-time to full-time. About 75% of the members work fewer than eight hours per day, and with school in session only 180 days, or 36 weeks per year, even many of the workers with “full-time hours” are off for up to 16 weeks per year. Union representatives themselves acknowledge LAUSD’s reliance on a part-time workforce. But it raises an uncomfortable question that applies to teachers as well: If K-12 schools in California operate for the equivalent of just 36 full weeks per year, is it reasonable for people working in these schools to expect to earn enough to cover a full year of expenses? Similarly, if some of the service jobs require a worker for only a few hours each day, how can the district’s taxpayers afford to pay them for a full day?
Unionized Public Education is Destroying California
March 13, 2023 // The teachers’ union in California supported a ballot initiative that guarantees at least 38 percent of the state general fund is spent on K-14 public education. This guarantees that any new government program – such as last year’s single payer healthcare proposal that would have added hundreds of billions to the state budget – will pour more money into public education. This creates an incentive for California’s teachers’ unions to push for huge increases to the size of the state government, because they’ll get 38 percent of the pie no matter how big it gets. Because California’s public schools receive state funds based on attendance, the teachers’ union is also incentivized to support anything that will increase the student age population. Hence they have an incentive to support anything that will facilitate mass immigration, whether or not that puts a strain on housing and other services. If those students are from low-income households or don’t speak English as their first language, the per student allocations are increased.
UIC students confront a third day of canceled classes as faculty strike continues
January 20, 2023 // UIC’s 900-member faculty union is pushing for higher minimum salaries and more investment in student mental health services. Administrators have said they are limited by tuition revenue and state funding.
WWU student employees vote to unionize
December 8, 2022 // A news release says a supermajority of the students, who work as teachers, researchers and tutors, voted in favor of the union. They say organizing will help them negotiate for better health care, compensation and workplace protections.
Tentative deal reached to end Columbus teachers strike: Here’s what you need to know
August 25, 2022 // Union leadership have said its members plan to meet this weekend and their bargaining team will recommend ratification. Should union members vote to ratify the deal, the strike, which entered its third day Wednesday, would end and in-person classes would resume Monday. The Columbus Board of Education would then vote on the agreement following the union's ratification. Columbus Board of Education's Neighborhood School Development Partnership committee,
Teachers’ union abandons Connecticut children in backroom deal
July 21, 2022 // In a stunning rebuke, the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) is raising the alarm about legislation altered before passage as the result of backroom negotiations between teacher’s union leaders and General Assembly leadership. They state, “Superintendents were blindsided as this piece of legislation was hidden from view. There was no transparency.” Ellington Board of Education, Ellington Superintendent Scott Nicol, Gifted and talented students, dual instruction, behavioral issues, Connecticut’s new law Public Act 22-80, “Concerning Mental and Physical Health Services in Schools”
Opinion: Biden’s political hacks won’t stop charter schools’ growth
May 16, 2022 // Much to the delight of teachers’ union bosses, the Biden administration is quickly becoming history’s most anti-(school) choice political pack, demonstrated most recently in its proposals to make charter schools’ access to federal funding more difficult.
Education, Tech Policy Leaders Ask Congress to Investigate Partnership Between NewsGuard, Teachers’ Union
May 2, 2022 // A group of leaders from 19 education and tech policy institutions sent a letter on Thursday asking members of Congress to investigate a new partnership between the nation’s second largest teachers’ union and NewsGuard, a tool that provides “trust ratings” for news and information websites.
Oakland Unified letter warns union about planned one-day strike
April 27, 2022 // Oakland Unified has warned its teachers union not to walk out of classes for a planned one-day strike this Friday, saying the walkout would have a harmful financial impact on the district and is a violation of the current contract,