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Fox & Friends — Leading Teachers Unions Discredit DeVos
Setting the record straight on union efforts to discredit Betsy Devos and parent power. Watch here. 

Wall Street Journal — Who Is Betsy DeVos? 
Dispelling myths about Donald Trump’s pick for Education Secretary. Watch here.

ABC — How Trump’s Pick for Education Secretary May Reignite the Education Wars
Education opportunity advocates welcome DeVos to lead the fight for opening up more options in education. Read more.

BONUS READ!  DeVos can set a bold path for an education revolution at the federal level
The hour has come for a revolution that’s been needed for many years. Let’s get on with it. Read more.

An open letter to charter schools, your staffs and your parents, and, most importantly, your students –

This weekend the late night British comedian John Oliver parodied charter schools, poking fun at politicians and celebrities who support them, serving up misstatements and lies about their success & drawing from anti-charter sentiment that is all too prevalent today.

Highly credible researchers and organizations have dismissed his poor taste as just the rantings of a comedian, as satire, which is “his job.” But tens of thousands that find their employment in the organizations you challenge gloated, tweeted and sent their combined millions of members to view and further promote.

Worse, highly credible news sources, including TIME Magazine, the Washington Post, and popular rags like Rolling Stone, carried and repeated the Oliver jokes on charters.

The problem is, it’s no joke what you do every day, and it’s no laughing matter that people who have never experienced bad education think it’s funny to mock those who desperately need a good education for themselves.

The response from the teachers union and others who are currently engaged in a WAR on charter schools is nothing short of coronation for John Oliver. In Massachusetts, hundreds of anti-charter forces working to prevent the more than 32,000 students on waiting lists to achieve their dreams cackled over social media all night and day about the parody, trying to intimidate voters who might otherwise want to vote to lift their charter cap.

You know what it’s like to be in your community and be criticized for doing the hard work it takes to demonstrate results year after year under a microscope, with higher standards and fewer resources than other public schools.

You know what it’s like to teach children who come into your

Read More …

As the NEA and AFT gather for their major annual meetings this month, the U.S. Supreme Court could be prepared to strike down laws that force employees to pay union dues.

This would be a game-changer for teachers, as they would no longer be forced to pay money to a group that has outlived its usefulness as a professional membership organization.

In fact, stories about teachers’ frustrations of having to pay money to a group that doesn’t represent their beliefs or values is getting more and more traction in the media. Here are the latest stories about teachers speaking out about their desire to control where their paycheck dollars go:

Apollo-Ridge High School teacher sues PSEA over dues
Ahead Of Supreme Court Hearing, OC Teacher Leading Fight Against Union Dues Speaks To CBS2/KCAL9
Massachusetts Teacher forced to pay $600 to Union despite desire to opt out

Pennsylvania State Rep. James Roebuck (D-Philadelphia) is not an honest broker. With more than $50,000 in contributions each year from the city’s teachers unions, the public should know that the reform bill he is backing for charter schools is about destroying, not reforming; about raising up the status quo, not real reform of our schools.

His reports and allegations, of widespread problems in charter schools across the state, are misleading and plain wrong. For example, he alleges that most charter boards have conflicts of interest with those with whom they work or depend for services. But that would also suggest that the largest employer in the school system is riddled with conflicts. Who isn’t related to a teacher or a child or a board member or a vendor in any district? Everyone with a pulse has overlapping interests. The only time it’s a conflict is when their views and their work is at odds with what’s good for kids.

Conflict of interest is code for keep charter schools small and insignificant. Demands from opponents for accountability is code for shut them down.

The charters are efficient, effective, albeit underfunded public schools that are oversubscribed and, in most cases, achieving above and beyond the traditional public schools.

Why would you try to save money on schools that are already underfunded and over subscribed? Why not save money on schools that are failing on a system that has a larger administrator/adult -student ratio than most comparable districts?

Philadelphia District:
15-to-1 teachers to students
655 administrators making over $100,000/dollars a year! (100 of who are teachers)
2980 in total all education administrators — Average salary is $104K

There are about 150,000 students in district public schools – 50 students for every administrator! A charter school survives with half as many administrators – an average of 100 kids for every administrator!

Read More …

Vol. 15, No. 10

RACISM & GREED? Should our public services be used for people who really need them? Aren’t prisons a place for criminals who defiantly break the law? And how exactly does intentionally breaking the law help children understand the importance of schooling? These and more questions are on our minds as we ponder the actions by President of the AFT union Randi Weingarten this past Thursday, who, upon her arrival in Philadelphia to protest the closing of 23 FAILING (yes that was caps intentionally) schools got herself arrested. Make no mistake — this was planned. Anyone with a big time PR shop like the AFT has doesn’t do these things without much consideration. You could just see her — boarding the plane, arriving in Philly, taking her car to the site, getting poised to protest and WHAM, standing in front of the door to the School Reform Commission meeting just to be carried away to the Klink, the pen – prison! The cheering and hizzahs were incredible, thanks to the adult members of the union who joined her. “This is about Racism and Greed” one sign said. Actually — he’s half right. It’s about the not so subtle racism that pervades a system that makes someone want to keep a bad school open and keep poor kids of color from getting a good education and it’s about the greed of the unions who just can’t let it go.

BABIES TO THE CORE. Those cute little kindergartens we all like to fawn over are apparently getting the shaft in schools that have already started implementing the Common Core standards for young children. It’s not intentional, as Harlem Village Academies Founder & Author (and CER 2006 Honoree) Deborah Kenny writes in a fabulous op-ed. It’s that teaching

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Vol. 15, No. 9

OK PINOCCHIO. Last week, Newswire sparked a mini-debate on what the sequester really means for education. But as CER president Jeanne Allen points out in today’s National Journal, “… that among all of these thousands of entities that spend and receive federal money, no one seems to know or to be even talking about how the almighty federal dollar flows.” The reality that CER continues to point out, is that most of the money has already been collected by states and districts. Thankfully we’re not alone in holding the Administration accountable for irresponsible rhetoric about a frenzy of “pink slips.” In fact, the US Department of Education has yet to produce any district-level evidence of lay-offs, according to the Wall Street Journal.

COVER UP. The Worcester County Teachers Association in Maryland has been making headlines as news broke of their botched attempt to cover-up the fact that Denise Inez Owens, the union’s former treasurer embezzled over $430,000 of teacher dues to fund her gambling addiction. In 2009 when the MSEA (state affiliate of the NEA) learned of the crime, they merely forced Owens to resign. We know these union contracts are ironclad, but come on, they sent a known-criminal back to teaching in a middle school classroom! Finally justice has been served, but where’s the accountability and “common good” that the union leadership supposedly values?

EXPANDING CHOICE. In a press conference last week Alabama Governor Robert Bentley applauded the legislature for sending an individual and corporate tax credit bill to his desk, “I truly believe this is historic education reform and it will benefit students and families across Alabama regardless of their income and regardless of where they live. I’m so proud we have done this

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Students in two Michigan districts, the Taylor School District and Warren Consolidated Schools, are not in class today. The districts cancelled school, allowing teachers to go protest right-to-work legislation at the capital instead of educating kids.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder says schools shutting down so teachers can go prostest is inappropriate.

“Too often the educational system’s all about the adults,” he said. “To see schools shutting down because of an issue like this is not appropriate in my view.”

The legislation at hand would make Michigan the 24th right-to-work state, and would mean union dues could no longer automatically be deducted from teachers’ paychecks. Unions attempted to enshrine collective bargaining rights in the constitution, but the measure failed to win voter approval in November.

“Getting along with unions to get reform done is an idea that’s been weaved into many conversations during this conference. Do you agree collaboration is key?”

Mitch Daniels: “No.”

That was Mitch Daniels’ answer to CER President Jeanne Allen’s question at this year’s Excellence in Action summit in Washington, D.C. Mitch Daniels is known for his tough stance on reform and ability to get meaningful reforms passed in Indiana, and recently ousted State Superintendent Tony Bennett shares this reputation as well.

After a simple “No” answer, Daniels went on to explain some of the improper tactics used to defeat Tony Bennett in the 2012 election, and his remarks are still making waves in the press:

“If you’re a fan of anything-goes politics, it was a creative use of illegal — but still creative use — of public resources.”

“We got emails sent out on school time by people who were supposed to be teaching someone at the time, all about Tony Bennett. We have parents who went to back to school night to find out how little Jebbie is doing and instead they got a diatribe about the upcoming election.”

“Louisiana education lawsuit: Teachers association expects protracted legal battle”
by Lauren McGaughy
Times Picayune
November 28, 2012

Louisiana’s recent education overhaul will be tested Wednesday in court as multiple teachers associations and school boards challenge the constitutionality of changes made this year to the state’s voucher program and teacher hiring rules. Ahead of Wednesday’s court case, Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) President Steve Monaghan told NOLA.com he expects a protracted legal battle with the Jindal administration.

“Pragmatically, one has to understand that the legal process doesn’t go like a blitzkrieg. It is a lengthy process that can take months and sometimes years,” Monaghan said Tuesday.

He added, “we are fully aware that the administration is very, very likely to appeal and to appeal to the Supreme Court.”

State Superintendent of Education John White came out against the lawsuit in June, issuing a statement that said, “The LFT is preventing parents from doing what they think is best for their children. It’s time to return our focus to teaching and classrooms, but the LFT keeps dragging us back to politics and courtrooms.”

The Washington, DC-based Institute for Justice, a libertarian law firm, have also come out against the suit. They issued a statement this month condemning the suit.

“It is imperative that school choice flourish in Louisiana or else another generation of Louisiana schoolchildren will be condemned to educational purgatory,” the Nov. 20 statement read.

“Faced with an exodus of children from underperforming and failing public schools, teachers’ unions and school boards have sued to stop parents from making that choice,” it added.

Institute of Justice members, along with Ken Campbell, president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, and others will protest the suit tomorrow morning outside the court house in Baton Rouge.

The suit was brought by the LFT, Louisiana Association of Educators, Louisiana School Boards Association

Read More …

As the Wall Street Journal Review & Outlook notes, “Education reformers had good news at the ballot box this month as voters in Washington and Georgia approved measures to create new charter schools. But as the reform movement gathers momentum, teachers unions are giving no quarter in their massive resistance against states trying to shake up failing public education.”

… “No reform effort is too small for the teachers union to squash. In this month’s election, the National Education Association descended from Washington to distant Idaho, spending millions to defeat a measure that limited collective bargaining for teachers and pegged a portion of teachers’ salaries to classroom performance. In Alabama, Republican Governor Robert Bentley says he’s giving up on his campaign to bring charter schools to the state after massive resistance from the Alabama Education Association.” READ MORE