Posts tagged teachers
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.
Chicago Teachers Union’s actions affect all Illinoisans
October 31, 2024 // What exactly does Davis Gates think is “emergency” status for all of Illinois? CTU’s more than $10 billion in demands include 9% wage increases for Chicago teachers, a housing program for Chicago teachers, a 100% electric bus fleet and solar panels for Chicago school buildings – to name a few. CPS has projected just 52 of CTU’s demands would create a $2.9 billion deficit for the district next fiscal year and a $4 billion hole by 2029. Illinoisans outside Chicago may not think that’s their problem to solve.
Commentary- Teachers: Your Union Dues are Funding the Election
October 31, 2024 // Teachers in swing states such as Pennsylvania should be particularly aware of where unions are spending their dues. During the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), representing over 175,000 Pennsylvania teachers, spent $5.02 million on politics. This spending went primarily to progressive causes. PSEA is also an affiliate of the NEA, which means a portion of Pennsylvania teachers dues are also spent on politics by the national union.
Commentary: For Teacher Union Elites, It’s Always About Empowerment – of Themselves
October 25, 2024 // The first requires locals to give 60 days’ notice of plans to disaffiliate, allowing the NEA to gear up a defense. Locals must also give NEA officials time to speak at a membership meeting. A two-thirds majority is now required to leave the national union, not the simple majority required to affiliate in the first place. The second restriction allows the NEA itself – not only state affiliates – to establish trusteeships over local unions. Trusteeship permits the NEA to invalidate any attempt to disaffiliate and to conduct what amounts to a hostile takeover, directing the local’s books, funds, actions, and officers.
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.”
Commentary: Ballot Measure 2U: Expanding collective bargaining rights to more Denver city employees
October 15, 2024 // Right now, only firefighters, police and DPS teachers can negotiate as part of a union. Should library workers and others be allowed to?
A year after Oct. 7 attack, Jewish teachers say LA union promotes antisemitism
October 8, 2024 // “UTLA has also supported professional development that teaches anti-Israel and anti-Semitic content,” the lawsuit alleges. “The UTLA-supported Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum is patently anti-Semitic, and has been adopted by LAUSD in various ways and at various schools at the behest of UTLA.” The lawsuit says those curriculum materials “denounce the idea of a Jewish homeland.” Other lawsuits have been filed challenging ethnic studies courses alleging they are antisemitic. While the lawsuit lists specific positions and actions of the teachers union, it is directed toward California’s provisions that require a sole union to represent all employees in a workplace.
Missouri lawmakers and teachers union demand a state audit of charter schools
September 14, 2024 // Fitzpatrick said previously his office’s audit of SLPS is part of a larger effort to inspect more schools in the state. The state auditor’s office is also investigating the Independence School District in Jackson County, the Kingston K-14 School District in Washington County and the Francis Howell R-III School District in St. Charles County. The auditor’s office said it is reviewing SLPS’ 2023-24 school year through July 31. Officials said that staff members are not limited to that time frame, but that they will work closely with the Board of Education throughout the process and will try not to overlap a separate third-party investigation into Scarlett’s hiring practices and other personnel matters that are currently in process.
Back to school, back to the union? Commentary
September 9, 2024 // Union membership is a personal decision, and for a variety of reasons, thousands of Minnesota educators across the state have said no thanks to what the union is prioritizing. Just as educators encourage their students to be independent thinkers and hold true to themselves, so too should educators be trusted by their colleagues to make decisions that are best for them and their families. The right to say “no” to union membership is just as important as the right to say “yes” to it — but educators first need to know they actually do have a choice. And it’s important that respect exists for that choice.
Labor unions lose 63,000 members under new state law
September 5, 2024 // The largest losses of union representation in Florida due to SB 256 come from those employed by the state government — more than 43,000 state employees have lost their unions. The second largest loss of union representation comes from university and college professors, specifically unions that represent adjunct and part-time faculty. Municipal employees from cities large and small follow. WLRN is using public records to maintain a database that shows the full extent of the fallout of the law.