Union contracts often pick winners and losers in the workplace. However, teachers unions may soon lose the power to pick losers—at least in Kansas. Legislators there are considering giving unionized teachers the option of negotiating for themselves. The pain of union control is illustrated by Bria Klotz, a former sixth-grade …
You may have heard: Chicago teachers are on strike. Some facts you may not have seen (unless, of course, you’ve been reading the Foundry): the average Chicago teacher makes $71,000 a year before benefits. That’s $24,000 more than the average Chicago resident, and second only to New York City in teachers’ …
Reason TV and The Moving Picture Institute recently came out with a new video called “The Machine.” ”The Machine” highlights the correlation between the taxpayers, politicians, and the education unions. It works like this: Taxpayers send money to the government, which then uses it to pay for government education employees. Teachers are forced to pay …
As children head back to the classrooms, let’s look at two important figures to consider this school year: 308,000 and $11,400. 308,000: Number of members lost by the National Education Association. Education special interest groups, such as the teachers unions, are experiencing a decline in membership. As Stephen Sawchuck reports …
This spring, parents and grandparents throughout the nation will be misting up as the chords of “Pomp and Circumstance” play and the children and grandchildren they have cherished and nourished walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. Sadly, however, for every three high-school students who earn their degrees, one …
The push to nationalize the content taught in public schools across the country should be of great concern to state leaders. The Common Core national standards effort represents a massive federal overreach into what is taught in local schools, further removing parents from the educational decision-making process, and likely to …
Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently said that the idea that the Obama Administration is working to implement national standards and tests “is a conspiracy theory in search of a conspiracy.” Duncan can deny that the federal government is on the verge of creating a national curriculum—an unprecedented federal overreach—but as George …
In yesterday’s “Room for Debate” feature, The New York Times asks whether public-school teacher compensation should be increased. The answer we give, based on our recent report, is that teachers already receive more compensation than comparably skilled private-sector workers. If the current compensation bonus has yet to increase the quality …
“The power and influence of education unions has a significant effect on schools today. But is that good for American students?” Education Unions: Made Simple, the fourth in a series of short videos, explains the stifling effect of unions on the nation’s schools using a simple analogy. Sunny, a talented …
