Free Republic

Nearly a decade ago, voters approved a $25 million annual property tax increase for Denver Public Schools to fund performance and retention pay for teachers who help students learn. But now, 90 percent of eligible DPS teachers are receiving the additional compensation, according to a database obtained by Watchdog.org under state open records laws. And that’s in a district where this year 22 percent of teachers were deemed as not achieving the “effective” teaching standard, DPS data shows. Critics say the ProComp tax increase was always about collecting more tax revenue for the district than rewarding teachers who truly help...

Education School tells Missouri boy his 9/11 souvenir violates school weapons policy A souvenir shell casing handed out by veterans at a 9/11 ceremony landed a seven-year-old Missouri boy in hot water when he took the keepsake to school. Sherry Falke said her son, Zane, forgot he had the souvenir in his pocket when he showed up for class on Tuesday, Fox4KC.com reported. The boy was given the souvenir at a Sept. 11 memorial ceremony in Carrollton, Mo. "He felt it in his pocket, and he took it out and was showing some of his friends at school," Falke told...

All four Harlem Success Academy charters serve primarily minority student populations (all are 93.5 to 97.1% black and Hispanic) and low-income households (75 to 80% of students at these schools qualify for free or discounted lunch), and yet all are ranked academically higher than about 97% of all schools in New York state based on 2013-2014 standardized test assessments in math and reading. What a truly amazing academic success story! Harlem Success Academy 3, an elementary school where 95.2% of the students are black or Hispanic and 80% are from poor households who qualify for free or discounted lunch, performed...

The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a civil rights investigation into the police practices that led to the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. has been welcomed by the nation’s association of teachers. National Education Association (NEA) President Lily Eskelsen García issued the following statement: “Educators applaud Attorney General Eric Holder for launching a civil rights investigation into the police practices of the Ferguson police department. This is a step in the right direction and much-needed action that family members of Michael Brown, community, and civil rights leaders have been demanding since the incident. “Like...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A T-shirt showdown has left two of the city’s most powerful unions at war – with teachers pitted against the NYPD. As CBS 2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reported, many teachers across the city wore pro-police t-shirts after their union president, Michael Mulgrew, attended the Rev. Al Sharpton’s march protesting the death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old father of six who died while in police custody on July 17.

LANSING — Michigan's largest teachers' union should allow members to resign at any time and stop enforcing an annual one-month opt-out window, a state labor judge ruled, relying on the state right-to-work law that took effect last year. The administrative law judge, Julia Stern, recommended Tuesday that the Republican-controlled Employment Relations Commission order the Michigan Education Association to no longer limit school employees to leaving the union solely in August of each year. She said the law that took effect last year incorporated a federal law interpreted to give public employees the ability to leave their union anytime.

It’s that time of year again – when the little juvenile delinquents, future prison inmates, and functionally illiterate junior members of the free shit army pick up their “free” backpacks and “free" school supplies they will never use and shuffle off to the decaying prison like schools in the City of Philadelphia to eat “free” breakfasts and “free” lunches, while being taught government sanctioned pablum by overpaid mediocre union teachers. It’s a repeat of every year for the Phila school district. As the school year approaches they are shocked to report a massive deficit and beg the State of PA...

After the Vergara v. California decision in California’s state Supreme Court, which held that key job protections for teachers are unconstitutional, anti-union advocates everywhere began spawning copycat lawsuits. But while reformers may genuinely want to fix education for everyone, their efforts will only worsen diversity in the teaching corps. The truth is that an attack on bad teacher tenure laws (and ineffective teachers in general) is actually an attack on black professionals. If the Vergara clones succeed, black children will lose effective teachers and the black community will lose even more middle-class jobs. Black workers are most likely to hold...

The ranks of non-teachers—such as administrators, counselors, teacher aides and cafeteria workers—has swelled 130 percent since 1970 and they now make up 50 percent of all public school employees according to a new study, The Hidden Half: School Employees Who Don’t Teach.Looking at data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found that the growth of non-teaching staff has greatly outpaced student growth over the past four decades.From 1970 to 2010, the number of students grew by 8.6 percent, while the number of non-teaching personnel increased by 130 percent. Non-teachers now consume over a...

The teachers union is pitting its members against cops — by sponsoring and promoting the Rev. Al Sharpton’s anti-police rally in Staten Island next week, The Post has learned. The United Federation of Teachers sent an “action alert” ­e-mail that even promised free transportation to Sharpton’s Aug. 23 demonstration that is billed as a march for justice for “victims of police brutality.” Some teachers were furious that the union would take such a prominent role in the event. “What a disgrace. What is going on with the leadership of the UFT thinking it’s OK to protest against rank-and-file cops?” asked...

St. Paul Public Schools workers are filing more injury reports and claims under the workers' compensation program. And district officials are not entirely sure why. Injury reports were up 50 percent in 2013 compared with four years ago, and the number of claims seeking payment for medical expenses or lost wages are up almost 30 percent, all while district employment stayed stable. Officials say they are watching how much the district is paying out more closely than the number of reports and claims. Those amounts have not risen in the past two years -- though they'll likely go up as...

Video surfaced on Thursday showing Michael Mulgrew, president of New York’s United Federation of Teachers, as he unloaded a hateful rant against critics of the Common Core Standards Initiative. “If someone takes something from me, I’m going to grab it right back out of their cold, twisted, sick hands and say it is mine!” Mulgrew bellowed clownishly. “You do not take what is mine!” The union boss also challenged opponents of Common Core and union control over education to a fist fight. “I’m going to punch you in the face and push you in the dirt because this is the...

It’s sad but true. Nearly 50% of high school seniors know the names of The Three Stooges (Larry, Moe and Curly) but can’t name the three branches of government. And fully one-third of students asked for the origin of the statement “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need,” responded that this came from the Bill of Rights when it actually came from The Communist Manifesto. So says Dr. Walter Williams, the eminent free market economist and higher education critic, who explained in a recent column at Townhall.com that examples like this are a testament to...

The teachers’ union representing the Douglas County school system has lost one-quarter of its membership since last year, signaling a growing frustration within the ranks that dues are used to finance politics instead of professional development. The significant drop in membership of the Douglas County Federation (DCF) was revealed in a July 21 letter from the board of education to Courtney Smith, union president, and was based on the union’s most recently released tax returns. The letter pointed to the drop in membership as undeniable proof that teachers had chosen the district over the union and the need for major...

A teacher in South Dakota with a bachelor’s degree and 10 years of experience earns $33,600 per year, which is less than the average auto-repair worker. So says Vox. This grievance against salary injustice is nothing new, of course, but this particular example comes to us from a new national study by the Center for American Progress, which details the chickenfeed teachers are forced to subsist on as they altruistically keep your hopeless children literate. Teachers are underpaid. In politics, and also in everyday life, this is almost universally accepted. Everyone admires teachers. Everyone wants good teachers for their children....

Hell hath no fury like a congressman scorned. Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel is giving the teachers union a lesson in political retribution for snubbing him and endorsing his rival Adriano Espaillat for Congress, sources said. Rangel is hitting the union where it hurts — by vigorously supporting non-unionized charter schools. The unions have been fighting desperately to stop or slow down charter-school expansion. “The congressman was disappointed the UFT [United Federation of Teachers] dumped him for Espaillat. I see Charlie speaking out more forcefully on the charter-school issue,” said a Rangel ­insider. “He doesn’t have to be concerned about offending...

A Catholic high school in Georgia is facing a legal complaint from a former teacher whose contract was not renewed after it was discovered through Facebook that, contrary to Catholic teaching, “he plans to marry a man,” National Public Radio reports. The school, Mount de Sales Academy in Macon, reportedly “released a statement saying they have to consider an employee’s ability to teach Catholic doctrine when making staff decisions.” Former teacher Flint Dollar is reportedly “working to change” federal anti-discrimination laws which do not prohibit employers “from hiring or firing people on the basis of sexual orientation.” NPR reports: Since...

Three of the city’s longest-running “rubber room” teachers have raked in more than $1 million each for a decade of not working in classrooms, and a fourth is paid a top salary — $100,049 a year — not to teach. The Foul Four — who beat sexual-misconduct charges — can’t be fired by the Department of Education because they are entitled to job protections under state tenure laws, which require “due process.” Educators are entitled to a trial with an independent hearing officer who decides whether any misconduct warrants termination. A group of New York City parents filed a lawsuit...

President Barack Obama brought forward a new administration effort Monday to place quality teachers in schools that need them the most. Obama said the U.S. education system has “a problem” in that students who would benefit the most from having skilled or experienced teachers in their classrooms are least likely to get them, including black and Hispanic students. Obama credits education and good teachers for helping him get to the White House. He said he wants to make sure that every child has the same access to good teachers that he had. …

SALT LAKE CITY — Since 2009, Utah has seen more than 20 cases of teachers and others in positions of authority accused of having some type of sexual contact with a minor. Below is a list of some of those who were prosecuted and the status of their cases...