Free Republic

Bhavik Lathia, former digital director for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, complains that "there is an extreme imbalance in strategy that allows Republicans to say and do stuff--like cutting government waste, deporting criminal aliens, and cutting taxes--that really grabs voters' attention. Meanwhile, we're stuck on the opposite side of these issues. We need a strategic shift in Democratic messaging. That shift is 'dark woke.'" Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett agreed saying "we need a crass and rude attitude that will show voters that we're ready to fight for the soul of America. With this in mind, I'm calling out Rep. Marjorie Taylor...

DOGE: While teachers scrape by, union "executives" like Randi Weingarten gorge themselves on salaries nearly eight times higher, raking in close to $600,000 a year. They neither teach a single child nor train a single teacher. They are not educators, they are parasites, draining a system they pretend to serve. ... She also flies in a private jet.

Texas Democrat Gene Wu said in a video posted to X on Monday that parents send their kids to private school "so they don’t have to have their kids with your kids," even though a previous social media post from him indicated he also chose private school for his children. "How do we tell people we’re going to take your money and give it to rich people, so they can send their kids to private school, so they don’t have to have their kids with your kids," Wu told a crowd on Monday during a demonstration against a proposed school...

A New Jersey law that removes a requirement for teachers to pass a reading, writing and mathematics test for certification will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. The law, Act 1669, was passed by Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy as part of the state’s 2025 budget in June in an effort to address a shortage of teachers in the state... Individuals seeking an instructional certificate will no longer need to pass a “basic skills” test ... Just months earlier, Murphy signed a similar bill into law that created an alternative pathway for teachers to sidestep the testing requirement....

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...