Free Republic

Chicago’s Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson nominated seven appointees to the city’s board of education early last week after the previous board collectively resigned in early October. The move stunned the city and the rest of the nation. The drama is the latest sad episode of Chicago’s downward spiral, thanks to its Democrat mayor and the teachers union.The direct cause of the previous school board resignation was sparked by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) contract negotiation. With more than 30,000 members, the CTU is one of the nation’s most powerful teachers unions. The CTU’s current demands included “a 9% annual raise,...

A Hamas commander in Lebanon who was killed in an Israeli airstrike overnight was an accredited member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the embattled agency confirmed after his death. Hamas’s Fateh Sherif and his family were killed in an airstrike at a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern city of Tyre, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Monday. “Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas’ terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives, as well as Hamas’ efforts in Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons.” While leading terrorist activities, Sherif...

The Democrat Party is pushing to increase “literacy” on climate change-related material in America’s schools while students are performing poorly with respect to actual literacy. The party’s education platform mentions the importance of “climate literacy” for American K-12 students several times, emphasizing the purported need for students to be able to understand and interpret information relating to climate change. Meanwhile, the average reading score for both fourth and eighth grade students in 2022 had fallen by three points relative to 2019, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). “We will equip students with the knowledge and skills to...

When you think of an ideal teachers union president, perhaps what comes to mind is someone who cares deeply about children, learning, and improving the lives of educators. But if you're American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, you care more about inserting yourself into the far-left political sphere and constantly spewing out inflammatory rhetoric. Why a teachers union boss feels the need to weigh in on the Israel-Hamas war is beyond me, but there was Weingarten on social media Sunday, essentially blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Hamas killings of six hostages, including 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin....

In an interview with a Chicago radio station, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates claimed that her students’ awful reading and math scores should be ignored because testing is “junk science” rooted in “white supremacy.” “The way in which we think about learning and think about achievement is really and truly based on testing, which at best is junk science rooted in white supremacy,” Gates said in the interview, the Wall Street Journal reported.“If you have another hour, I can get into why standardized tests are born out of the eugenics movement,” she added. “And the eugenics movement has...

According to a Freedom Foundation press release, the organization has filed multiple complaints with state and federal authorities concerning the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) and the Democratic Governors Association (DGA). The complaints allege PSEA “executed an illegal scheme during the 2022 Pennsylvania general election to surreptitiously use nearly $1.5 million in teachers’ union dues to back then-candidate Josh Shapiro’s gubernatorial campaign.” Shapiro is reportedly under consideration as Kamala Harris’s running mate.

Vice President Kamala Harris rallied thousands of members of the most powerful teachers unions in the country to join her in a fight against what she called former President Donald J. Trump’s plans to roll back their rights, gut their protections and undermine their profession.In a keynote address at the national convention of the American Federation of Teachers, Ms. Harris blasted efforts by “extremists” who she said wanted to take the country back to a “dark past” that included “failed trickle-down economics,” union busting, slashing social programs and curtailing student loan forgiveness.And before the crowd of 3,500 people, she assailed...

Douglass Academy High School had 35 students with nearly 900 seats unfilled. None were proficient on the SAT. The Chicago Teachers Union wants to add at least eight staffers there and at every other school in the district at a cost of $1.7 billion. Only 35 students enrolled in Douglass Academy High School for the 2023-2024 school year, but the building can hold over 900 students. Logic would say it should be closed, but the Chicago Teachers Union prohibits closing it and other underused schools. In fact, CTU sees the 23 staffers at Douglass as inadequate. CTU’s new contract demands...

Schools in the progressive haven of San Francisco are facing a major budget crunch. Things are so dire that the district may have to actually close some schools. It’s amazing that these schools are having cash flow problems when you consider the taxes people pay to live there. Officials from the school district recently met with some financial experts who gave them some tough love. ... Late last week, two fiscal experts — appointed a few years ago to give guidance to the district — were authorized to suspend or reverse financial decisions made by the superintendent or school board....

Uniparty Republicans and teachers’ unions in Oklahoma recently concocted a new plan to sabotage the fight for educational freedom — silencing the state’s Department of Education. But their efforts failed. Make no mistake, their efforts weren’t about silencing me — they were about silencing parents in the fight for school choice in the Sooner State. I wish I were exaggerating, but I’m not. RINO Republicans in the Oklahoma legislature recently cut a deal with the union to silence my department. The language in the budget bill said the "Department of Education shall not be encumbered or expanded for the purpose...

It is hard to overstate just how much public education in the United States was permanently changed by extended school closures of 2020 and 2021. For an entire year, millions of students across the country were forced to attend classes via Zoom, wear masks that affected their cognitive abilities, and were generally socially isolated. At the same time, decision-makers in school districts from Virginia to California were pushing a political agenda that blatantly sought to shut parents out of the education of their own children. The swift and intense backlash from parents changed the politics of education forever. And documenting...

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is seeking additional $50 billion for a variety of reasons, including including free abortions, migrant services, and LGBT training. The union is calling for an additional $50 billion to fund a range of initiatives, including free abortions, migrant services, and LGBT training, according to Daily Wire. These requests are part of the union’s broader push for substantial changes to employee benefits and educational provisions amid concerns over academic performance in Chicago Public Schools. In its contract proposal, which was recently leaked but not yet officially released, CTU is advocating for a 9% annual pay increase...

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is negotiating a new contract with the public schools system and is understood to be calling for an extra $50 billion to pay for wage hikes as well as other demands such as fully paid abortions for its members, new migrant services and facilities and a host of LGBT-related requirements and training in schools. To put the figure into context, the total base tax receipts for the state of Illinois last year were $50.7 billion.

I'd think Joe Biden has to be sitting around wondering how he managed to put himself in his current position, but I'm not sure he even has the cognitive ability to process how bad things are. We've all seen the polls, which will likely tighten in a general election, but other factors are at play as well. ... The latest flashing red light comes courtesy of the National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest teachers union. A far-left entity that has long served as a lynchpin for Democrat politicians, its members are now demanding Biden show support for Palestinian terrorists...

An annual report from the Inspector General of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) revealed that millions of dollars worth of tech devices were reported lost or stolen “without appropriate search and recovery efforts.” The fiscal year 2023 annual report released Tuesday states CPS schools reported 77,505 tech devices as lost or stolen during the 2021-22 school year, totaling well over $23 million in original purchase price. The discovery, as a result of the district’s first post-COVID-19 inventory, calls the numbers “unacceptably high” and says the oversight process is in need of a “serious overhaul.” The report said the missing items included...

Once in place, it is nearly impossible to get rid of a public union. Florida governor Ron DeSantis found a clever way to make it possible...Union Decertification Legislation in FloridaIn May, governor DeSantis signed a bill that requires at least 60% of workers in a bargaining unit to be dues-paying members. United Teachers of Dade (UTD) did not hit the threshold.Also, unions also can no longer automatically deduct dues from paychecks, members have to opt in. Much of the dues are used for political purposes and resentment from many teachers has built up.Teachers Union Showdown in FloridaThe Wall Street Journal...

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Board of Education are following the lead of other major cities and eliminating gifted school programs in the name of achieving greater racial and social “equity.” Eleven “high-achieving selective-enrollment schools” will be eliminated, according to Chicago Board of Education CEO Pedro Martinez, to reduce “stratification and inequity.” As we have previously discussed, major cities with failing public education programs are erasing performance gaps in their schools by decapitating the top performers rather than elevating the performance overall. Other schools have also eliminated or lowered proficiency standards to achieve higher passage rates.According to the...

Stacy Davis Gates owes more than $5,500, but makes more than $289,000 ... The progressive president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) owes thousands in unpaid utility bills despite making an eye-popping salary ... Stacy Davis Gates owes the city of Chicago $5,579 in unpaid water, sewer and trash bills as of Nov. 7, 2023, despite bringing home "at least" $289,000 a year. Documents uncovered by the group show Davis Gates started a payment plan for the amount in July 2023, but quickly defaulted. ... This latest revelation adds to the mounting evidence of her hypocrisy. She spurns responsibility and...

Barely six months after South Carolina lawmakers approved legislation allowing K-12 students to customize their education, the state affiliate of the National Education Association is attempting to force children to remain in assigned public schools. The South Carolina Education Association is the latest in a long line of education special-interest groups that oppose parental rights and have sought to limit students’ learning options through litigation. National teachers unions and their state affiliates have filed suits against parental choice in education in Arizona, Florida, New Hampshire, Ohio, Puerto Rico—the list goes on. Fortunately for children, the unions and other lobbying groups...

While the teachers flaunt their “righteousness” and fancy themselves activists, the more apropos term is “useful idiots” — they are unwitting accessories to an agenda that is antithetical to everyone’s best interest, including their own. The Fresno Teachers Association, a union with around 4,000 members, is headed towards a strike, largely because the superintendent of the Fresno Unified School District, Robert Nelson, hasn’t budged on allowing school parking lots to become homeless camps; as Nelson says, the proposal isn’t within the district’s “area of expertise.” But according to the president of the union, Manuel Bonilla, it is; from a new...