Public Union Democracy
Uprooting the Teachers Unions
Originally published at The American Mind Across the country, teacher union leaders and leftist pundits frequently malign educational choice expansion as an insidious plot to “dismantle public education”…
Read More: Uprooting the Teachers UnionsCompulsory public unions threaten individual worker rights and cost taxpayers billions. Reforms to the Pennsylvania Public Employee Relations Act are needed to restore and protect workers’ rights. No one—including government employees—should be blocked from leaving a union. To increase government integrity and accountability, policies should be adopted that ensure all special interests groups, including government unions, interact with the state government on a level playing field.
Education
How schools lock themselves into raising taxes
Article on USATODAY.com explores how health care and other benefits promised to public teachers’ unions will cost school districts a fortune over the coming years. Anyone who thinks…
Media
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The New Union Label: Closed!
From the New York Times: The Center for Union Facts shot onto the public stage yesterday by running full-page ads in The New York Times, The Washington Post…
Media
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“Don’t be talkin’ bad about me” protest
Teachers’ union rally to protest “20/20” piece (John Stossel’s “Stupid in America,” which details how unions have stood in way of school reform) will occur on March 8.
Media
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The PHEAA raises: Another pay-jacking
More on the lobbyist/legislative operative who is now the highest paid state employee … in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Media
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Why Maryland is fighting windmills.
A George Will piece (Getting mugged in Maryland), explaining why the Maryland legislature has decided to attack the paper tiger of Wal-Mart. Will cites Wal-Mart’s ample benefits and pay,…
Media
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Union ousted
Montgomery County Court-related employees throw out AFSCME, reports The Times Herald.
Media
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PA is national leader on teacher strikes
Pennsbury School District parent, Simon Campbell, nails the teacher strike issue in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Media
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The best of the best, of course
The Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System and the Public School Retirement System are the envy of the government worker world. They are the most generous systems in the entire country.
Media
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Unions Win: Florida Supreme Court Rules Against School Choice
News release from the Institute for Justice…. Florida Supreme Court Strikes Down School Choice Washington, D.C.-In a major blow to education reform in Florida, the Florida Supreme Court today struck…
Media
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Rocky Mountain High
Denver enacts the nation’s first merit pay system for teachers in a large district. See this National Center for Policy Analysis summary of Denver’s new system and other pay…
Media
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What’s “Education” got to do with it?
The Wall Street Journal highlights the political agenda (via its $65 MILLION in spending to support political causes) of the National Education Association. This would not be a problem…
Media
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Teachers challenging union dues in California
California teachers have initiated a lawsuit against the two major teacher’s unions in that state over their rights: NRTW – December Foundation Action The Califonia Teacher Association and California…
Media
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Property Taxpayer Protections: Tax Referendum & Prevailing Wage
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is in the midst of discussing what to do about school property taxes. The discussion is an old one in Harrisburg. The complexity of this issue…
Fact Sheet
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Striking teachers strike again…and again…and again…
Students in the northeast PA school district of Crestwood may be getting a few more days off, thanks to the PSEA labor unions efforts to raise taxes on homeowners…
Media
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Is the NEA Really a NUT?
Is the NEA really a NUT? By asking, I’m not casting aspersions on the National Education Association’s sanity, just on its choice of name. The NEA’s British counterpart really is…
Commentary
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Throwing a Party for the Educational Status Quo
The National Education Association recently concluded its annual convention in Los Angeles, gathering 8,000 delegates in celebration of the status quo in public education. When attendees weren’t offering a vigorous…
Commentary
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The Union Behind the Curtain
California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is giving his 49 colleagues across the country a quick tutorial in political courage. And Gov. Ed Rendell would be wise to sit up in class…
Commentary
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The Teachers Menace: Compulsory Unionism
“I want to urge devotion to the fundamental of human liberty—to the principles of voluntarism. No lasting gain has ever come from compulsion. … [T]he workers of America adhere to…
Commentary
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The Somerset Nine: Pennsylvanias Magnificent Seven
What does it take for school board members to be fiscally responsible with taxpayers’ money? For the nine members of the Somerset Area School District (SASD) board of directors, the…
Commentary
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Time to Labor to End Compulsory Unionism
"We want a legislative program led by leaders and staff with sufficient clout that they may roam the halls of Congress and collect votes to reorder the priorities of the…
Commentary
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Union Propaganda Can’t Hide Charter Schools’ Success
There they go again. Back in July 2002, during a slow news period, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a school employee labor union, issued a widely cited report "showing"…
Commentary
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