A tax break for those who work for government: One needs no better demonstration of just
how powerful teacher unions and the other public - sector unions have become.
State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia's ruling that Superintendent Kriner Cash can circumvent the union contract to make changes at receivership schools will likely end in a court battle with one of the most
powerful teachers unions in the country.
It's a reversal from only three years ago, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo muscled the evaluation law through the Legislature over the objections of the state's
politically powerful teachers unions.
He says if those darned
powerful teachers unions continue to block progress, he will impose his own statewide «tougher» teacher evaluation plan through amended budget language on Feb. 16.
Candidates in a crowded field to take the top spot at one of the nation's
most powerful teachers union, UTLA, are angling to distinguish themselves online.
In response, state legislatures across the country are pushing to reform tenure and seniority rules, sparking battles
with powerful teachers unions.
The agreement to toss whole chunks of the landmark law reflects a rare political convergence, uniting liberals who decried rote testing regimes, conservatives who wanted the federal government out of education, state officials angry about unfunded mandates and
powerful teachers unions who said NCLB punished them, rather than giving them needed assistance.
Amid a controversial lawsuit charging that the state's teacher tenure and dismissal laws were depriving students of their constitutional right to a quality education, billionaire philanthropists seeking to overhaul public education and
powerful teachers unions poured more than $ 20 million into television attack ads and nasty mailers.
Previous Posts: UTLA candidate forum, issues break out within the mudslinging; In forum, big ideas — and a strike, In race to
run powerful teachers union: ideology up for grabs
They're graciously taking on the case pro bono, but it's mutually beneficial — because California's Parent Trigger law is at the forefront of an ed - reform battle raging hotly across America, pitting charter operators and radical reformers
against powerful teachers unions.
Remember when Charlie Crist sold out the future of Florida's school children by vetoing a school reform bill that would have introduced merit pay and tweaked tenure in order to curry favor with that state's
powerful teachers union in the hopes that they would aid him in his race for the Senate?
The measure had all but dropped out of the conversation in Albany as Democrats lawmakers — as well as the state's
powerful teachers unions — have expressed opposition to the proposal.
Anthony Weiner shouldn't count on a mayoral endorsement from the city's
powerful teachers union.
On one side are left - leaning Democrats like Mr. de Blasio and the Assembly speaker, Carl M. Heastie, who have traditional ties to
the powerful teachers union.
Legislative leaders, under pressure from the politically
powerful teachers union to restrict access to the information further than would occur under Cuomo's plan, have yet to come up with proposals of their own.
The problems led the state's
powerful teachers union to call Thursday for an end to computerized tests in New York until the problems are fully investigated and resolved.
The Assembly passed a bill Wednesday that would bar public schools from using students» standardized - test scores to evaluate teachers — a priority of the state's politically
powerful teachers unions.
Last month, however, the Democrats, aided by millions of dollars in last - minute spending by the state's
powerful teachers unions and the son of leftist billionaire George Soros, appeared to have retaken Senate control — but two races are yet to be officially decided.
The bill would also do away with a requirement that those abused in a public institution like a school must file a notice of intent to sue within 90 days of the incident occurring — something that in the past has been vehemently opposed by the public sector and
powerful teachers union.
New York State United Teachers, the state's
powerful teachers union, has not taken a formal position on the bill yet, said spokesman Carl Korn.
If they don't pass it, that could incur the wrath of
the powerful teachers unions, which would like to see the evaluation disclosure curtailed as much as possible.
The powerful teachers union continues to pick losers in prominent races.
He took on
the powerful teacher unions, successfully pressing for tougher evaluation standards.
Her plan to overhaul the tenure standards in place gets condemned by the seeming villain of the picture,
the powerful teachers unions.
An article in the New York Times reported, «Hedge fund executives are thus emerging as perhaps the first significant political counterweight to
the powerful teachers unions....
The board was unwilling to take on
the powerful teacher union in many instances when it most mattered.
It will raise costs; undermine efficiency; block rich instructional options; restrict school choice and parental influence; and strengthen the hand of other interest groups, including but not limited to already too -
powerful teachers unions.
And to be sure, the organized interests of the status quo — particularly
the powerful teachers unions — will always find a way to get their message out to core audiences.
And since de Blasio was not endorsed by
the powerful teachers union, his victory left some reformers wondering whether de Blasio was, as the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's Mike Petrilli wrote, «untethered from both the 1 percent and organized labor.»
Candidates must worry about the present — and the present requires that one pay close attention to interest groups, especially to
powerful teachers unions that pour vast sums into political campaigns.
And he has vetoed bill after bill sent to him by a legislature that often does the bidding of the state's
powerful teachers unions, which have opposed much of California's accountability system.
In an abrupt break with California's
powerful teacher unions, Feinstein reversed course and embraced the D.C. choice legislation on July 22.
Too bad
our powerful teachers unions here in Canada block charter schools and thus innovations like yours.
Joel Klein, Controversial as Chancellor of NYC Department of Education, Offers Lessons on Fixing Education WNYC: Klein writes about his eight - year mission of improvement: demanding accountability, eliminating political favoritism, and battling
a powerful teachers union that seemed determined to protect a status quo that didn't work for kids.
«My determination is to reform the public school system,» said candidate Booker, who was opposed by the state's
powerful teachers union, with 192,272 members, in part because of his support of vouchers.
That's traditionally been a non-starter with Washington's
powerful teachers union, the Washington Education Association.
Making an issue of using test scores to evaluate teachers means taking on
powerful teacher unions, pitting a core Democratic interest group against a major goal of the Obama administration.
The legislation faced stiff opposition from the state's
powerful teachers unions, and while linking teacher pay with student performance remains a key goal of the Obama administration, there remained enough uncertainty around the proposal to cause its demise, again.
Richard Berman, executive director of the Center for Union Facts, says yesterday's «Day of Action» is no more than the latest attempt by
the powerful teachers union to pull the wool over the public's eyes: «Randi Weingarten doesn't care about reforming schools in the name of quality education; she cares about exploding government budgets in the name of filling her union's bank account.»
That bill has been publicly backed by the New Jersey Education Association,
the powerful teachers union, although its leaders have been in discussions with Ruiz over the past several months as well.
She is the city's most prominent, and vocal, advocate for charter schools, and therefore a threat to
the powerful teachers union that had been counting the days until the de Blasio administration took over last month from the charter - friendly Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Government run schools and
the powerful teachers unions have coalesced to make teaching the equivalent of working in a glorified auto plant.
But then it came before the Assembly Education Committee, which shamefully bowed to the state's
powerful teacher unions and rejected the bill.