Free Republic

The Goldwater Institute is a leading free-market public policy research and litigation organization that is dedicated to empowering all Americans to live freer, happier lives. We accomplish real results for liberty by working in state courts, legislatures, and communities nationwide to advance, defend, and strengthen the freedom guaranteed by the constitutions of the United States and the fifty states. The following column is by Nicole Solas, a mother in Rhode Island and a client of the Goldwater Institute.I’m just like any parent—when I enrolled my daughter in kindergarten, I wanted to know what she would learn. In response, our school...

New documents obtained through an open records request show how far Democrats in Georgia have gone in their attempts to demonize practices that make elections more secure and set themselves up for future victories by pushing their messages to the rising generation of voters. In short, the records uncovered show that an organization founded by Stacey Abrams partnered with Atlanta public schools to uncritically teach students that election security provisions such as requiring ID to vote are discriminatory in nature, while the lax protocols implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic should become permanent. The lesson plans and curriculum used in the...

Though student mask mandates are expiring in California and Los Angeles County this week, students who attend the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) must remain masked—leaving parents and students frustrated. Lisa Sanchez, whose daughter is in LAUSD, called the situation a “never-ending battle.” “We’re very upset that the school hasn’t lifted the mandate sooner,” Sanchez told The Epoch Times. “District officials claim to follow the science—yet the science has spoken—and here our kids are still masked.” The state’s largest school district cannot change its indoor mask requirement without first negotiating an existing contract with the teacher’s union, United Teachers...

A Chicago mother who the teachers' union claimed died when a COVID-positive student was sent home to quarantine as they rallied for more COVID protocols actually died of alcoholism, it emerged on Monday. Denisha Henry, the 32-year-old mother of an eighth-grade student at Jensen Elementary Scholastic Academy in the East Garfield Park district of Chicago, died on September 24.

In Democrat cities across America, the word is out: It’s time for masks to go...except on children. Teachers’ unions are adamant that it’s just better for those kids to keep hiding their faces. ... As you contemplate the unions’ adamant stand about masks on students, consider that children almost invariably experience COVID as a mild cold (“Data collected by the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that just 0.1% to 1.5% of child COVID cases resulted in hospitalization and 0.00% to 0.01% resulted in deaths”) and they’re unlikely to infect others. Consider, too, that children by nature hate having their faces...

A Seattle teachers union is pushing for keeping the district's school mask mandate in place until May, despite the state and county no longer requiring masks, arguing that the forced masking ensures a sense of "safety and normalcy." Seattle Education Association President Jennifer Matter told NPR-affiliate KUOW that the mask mandate should remain until at least May 1, two weeks after students return from spring break, saying there "should be no rush to lift the mask mandate." "We have people who are immunocompromised, we have pregnant educators, we have educators who have children of their own that are under 5...

The high wages of teachers in Boston, where nearly 3,000 are paid six-figure salaries, reflects the strength of their union and suggests that a district plagued by “chronic underperformance” may be more geared toward the adults running it than the children it serves, watchdogs say. A Herald analysis of payroll data found that 2,905 teachers earn more than $100,000 annually, compared to the average per capita income of $44,690 in Boston in 2019, the most recent year for which the U.S. Census Bureau has statistics. Those teachers earned six figures in a city where 18.9% of the population – about...

On Thursday, schools in Douglas County, Colorado closed after hundreds of teachers called in sick to protest against several actions carried out by the newly-elected school board, which became majority conservative in November. According to local outlet CPR News, by mid-day Wednesday, there were around 1,500 unfilled teacher absences for the following day. In total, there are about 3,300 licensed teachers in the school district. The district then canceled preschool through high school classes because “the number of absences has impacted our ability to provide a safe and supervised learning environment for students,” according to a tweet posted by the...

A group of Chicago parents this week sued the city’s teachers union over its refusal to teach classes in person.The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted on Tuesday night to only teach classes remotely, arguing the rise in COVID-19 cases and an alleged lack of protective measures made it too dangerous to instruct students inside classrooms.Chicago Public Schools (CPS) deemed the action an illegal work stoppage and canceled classes for three consecutive days as officials negotiated with union leaders. CTU and city officials also filed competing labor complaints.The lawsuit, filed in Cook County circuit court, offers a similar view of the...

A group of Chicago parents sued the Chicago Teachers Union after the union voted earlier this week to delay a return to classrooms due to COVID concerns. Chicago Public Schools and the union have yet to reach an agreement on whether in-person learning should return amid the recent uptick in coronavirus cases caused by the highly infectious omicron variant. Friday marks the third straight day classes in the district were canceled. The lawsuit, filed Thursday night by attorneys at the Liberty Justice Center, alleges that the school closures constitute an "illegal strike" and violate the union's own contract. "CTU’s resolution...

Teachers’ unions across the country are demanding that schools shut down in favor of virtual learning amid concerns over the low-risk omicron variant of the coronavirus. Virtual learning has proven detrimental to the educations, social development, and mental health of children.

“Follow the science,” it said about handling COVID. But for Team Biden, it was follow the teachers unions when it came to reopening schools. Emails between the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — provided to the watchdog group Americans for Public Trust via a Freedom of Information Act request — reveal that the Biden administration not only consulted national teachers unions before releasing school reopening guidance to the public, it put a heavy thumb on the scales in favor of the unions’ agenda.

A National Education Association (NEA) Board of Directors member and English teacher at a Pennsylvania high school posted to Facebook that she thought unvaccinated individuals with religious exemptions deserved to die, according to a screenshot of the post obtained by the social media account Libs of Tik Tok.Mollie Paige Mumau took to Facebook to condemn all individuals who have not been vaccinated due to religious exemptions, accusing this group of “hiding behind religious exemptions because they don’t want anybody to tell them what to do,” according to a screenshot of her post. Mumau said religious exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine...

Can you believe it’s Feather Day already?Detail from a Scandinavian Barbizon School paintingIt seems like yesterday was just Thanksgiving. On the other hand I’ve already forgotten half the things I remembered to be thankful for. I do recall however that learning how to think rather than what to think was on my list. I rather doubt that entry will make the grade, so to speak, for a place on the lists of future generations. The quality of education seems to be devolving at an ever increasing speed. We’ve whizzed right past the “what to think” stage all the way to...

After keeping Virginia schools closed for over a year and repeatedly moving the goal posts on reopening, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten successfully delivered the state to Republican Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin last week. Despite appearing at a final campaign rally for Democrat Terry McAuliffe, parents showed up to vote against her endorsement and anti-parent education policies. Now, Weingarten is finally admitting it's time for a pandemic off ramp. "It was clear that vaccines for teachers helped us reopen schools. Maybe it’s vaccines for kids helping us get to an off ramp for masks and getting to a new...

Parents who never imagined running for office battled to win seats on local school boards last week; they won some, but lost many. Their fiercest opponents were the teachers unions. The media portrayed these school board races as culture wars, but more than anything they were struggles by parents to wrest control of the boards from self-serving unions. For decades, the unions have maintained a tight grip on who gets elected. No wonder school district decisions -- about budgets, masking, COVID closures, curriculum and teacher contracts -- protect teachers first. Never mind what's best for kids. That needs to change....

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, whose organization advocated for mask mandates in pubic schools, apologized after she was caught with her mask down at the 2021 SOMOS conference in Puerto Rico. Weigarten faced criticism after Adriana Aviles, a New York City parent and former City Council candidate, posted a photo of the teacher’s union boss sitting maskless on a panel with other guests, including New York City Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter. “Gotta love when school leaders @rweingarten @DOEChancellor mingle with others in a packed room with no masks,” Aviles wrote, “yet I wonder if everyone needed proof...

HBO star said 'what's going on in the schools' was going to be 'the issue' in future elections... Bill Maher sounded the alarm Friday night about next week's Virginia gubernatorial election, which could go to Republicans for the first time since 2009. Maher began the show's panel discussion by pointing out that Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe "should walk away with it" since resident Biden won Virginia by 10 points and McAuliffe previously served as the commonwealth's governor, 2014-2018. Instead, Maher noted, the race is "neck and neck," with GOP challenger Glenn Youngkin over an issue that Maher reminded viewers he...

On Thursday Mark Levin broadcast a letter with insider information on the teachers union, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and the FBI who met and organized how to combat America’s parents who were speaking out at local school board meetings across the country. The parents were outraged at the COVID masking and vaccination rules, critical race theory indoctrination and open porn disguised as literature promoted in American schools today.Mark Levin called this the biggest scandal of his lifetime on his radio show last night.The letter by America First Legal is fascinating. According to the letter the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized...

It is hard to believe moms have now become the target of the U.S. government, but in our rapidly declining culture, every day seems to bring a new crazy. As the president of Moms for America we hear from moms all over the country who are angry and frustrated with the unrelenting authoritarian march endangering our children and completely disregarding our fundamental rights as parents. As more and more moms show up to school board meetings protesting mask mandates, graphic sexual content labeled as curriculum, and critical race theory which teaches our children to hate their country, hate their neighbor...