Letter from NEA President Dennis Van Roekel to Arne Duncan Regarding His Response to the Vergara Ruling
Dear Secretary Duncan: Yesterday, when political ideologues were running full page ads attacking teachers and calling kids garbage — I was in the small town of Emporia, Kansas helping to dedicate a memorial to educators who made the ultimate sacrifice for their students. The headlines in the last few days have been dominated by political…
Letter from AFT President Randi Weingarten to Arne Duncan Regarding His Response to the Vergara Ruling
June 12, 2014 Secretary Arne Duncan U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Ave. S.W. Washington, DC 20202 Dear Secretary Duncan, This week, we needed your leadership; to demonstrate that teacher and student interests are aligned; that we must press—60 years after Brown v. Board—for educational equity; that it takes more than a focus on teachers…
Arne Duncan’s Response to the Vergara Ruling: Absolutely Empty Assurances of “Respect” for Teachers—Causing One to Wonder What, Exactly a Romney Education Secretary Would Have Said Differently
“Drawing the Right Lessons from Vergara” Sometimes conflict is the starting point on the path to progress. That’s one of two possible ways events could play out in the wake ofVergara v. California, a court case that is driving enormous debate throughout the education world. Brought on behalf of nine public school students, the Vergara case…
Two Charts That Illustrate the Benefits of Unions to Middle-Class Workers
Double-Speak or Profound Irony Related to Education Funding in Missouri
One of the major sources of education funding in Missouri is the revenues produced by the state lottery and from riverboat gambling, both of which have been down this year. The state provides 36.76% of the funding for K-12 education, and 16.6% of that funding comes from the lottery and gaming. I could not find…
Commemorating “Loyalty Day,” instead of “May Day,” Is Essentially an Insult to Workers and Their Unions
Yesterday, the White House issued this proclamation: “On Loyalty Day, we renew our conviction to the principles of liberty, equality, and justice under the law. We accept our responsibilities to one another. And we remember that our differences pale in comparison to the strength of the bonds that hold together the most diverse Nation on…
A May Day Lament for American Labor
The following post was written by Jack Rasmus and is being re-posted here with his permission. Dr. Rasmus teaches Political Economy at St. Marys College in Moraga, California. He is author of the 2012 and 2010 books, Obama’s Economy and Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression, published by Pluto Press. He hosts the weekly radio…
Labor under Fire, Literally, in Turkey
This is from Labour Start, which promotes trade unionism internationally: “Turkey’s first mass May Day demonstrations in Istanbul’s Taksim Square took place in 1976, with the participation of hundreds of thousands. A year later, half a million people took part — but 37 were killed by gunfire. “No one has ever been prosecuted for this…
Are Charter Schools a Good Choice for Students? Not in Ohio
We have heard a lot from Republicans and even some Democrats about how charter schools are a much-need alternative to our “failing” public schools. But that argument has been long on assumption and assertion and short on statistical support. The group Innovation Ohio has recently taken a close look at the performance of charter schools…