Tomorrow, the Los Angeles Unified School District school board will vote on adding 36 charter schools to the district. At the prospect of losing a few union members, the United Teachers of Los Angeles has become unhinged - issuing a flyer full of lies, half-truths, distortions and all around demagoguery. If you are not informed on this issue, don’t look for any help here.

http://www.utla.net/system/files/Decision_Day_Actions_flyer.pdf

     The entire teaching staff at Rhode Island’s Central Falls High School was issued termination notices this week after local union leaders refused to sign off on sorely needed reforms necessary to turn the failing school around.

     School Superintendent Frances Gallo informed all of the high school’s 74 teachers by mail Thursday that she will recommend their termination at the end of the 2009-10 school year, the Providence Journal reports.

     It reflects the drastic measures forced on school district leaders by American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association affiliate unions that remain out of touch with the country’s sagging economy, and the communities they serve.

     Gallo didn’t make her decision lightly. Central Falls High School has been on the state Department of Education’s list of underperforming schools for seven years. Less than 50 percent of the school’s students graduate, only 7 percent are proficient at math, and roughly half cannot read proficiently, state data shows.

     State Education Commissioner Deborah Gist charged Gallo with reversing that trend, and Gallo formulated a transformation plan with the help of the Central Falls Teachers’ Union.

     But reform talks broke down last week when the CFTU refused to sign off on many changes because the district is unable to pony-up enough extra cash to motivate its teachers. Those changes include a 25-minute longer school day, a formal tutoring schedule, lunch with students once a week, and better teacher evaluations.  

     Gallo offered to pay teachers $30 an hour for other extra duties, and $1,800 for two weeks of additional training in the summer, the Journal reports. The union demanded $90 an hour, and pay for more of the additional duties.

     “I know I tried as hard as I could to get the local union leadership - who are constantly telling me they are committed to reform - to agree to these reforms,” Gallo told the Journal.

     We certainly don’t envy Gallo’s position, but we do applaud her commitment to improving instruction at Central Falls High School. That’s far more than we can say for the CFTU.

     Business Insider reports that teachers at the high school make between $70,000 and $78,000 per year, more than three times Central Falls’ median household income of $22,628. Rhode Island’s unemployment rate is 12.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

     About 96 percent of the school’s 808 students live in poverty.

     The union’s stubborn refusal to put forth a little extra effort to help those kids build a brighter future goes far beyond the typical union selfishness. It’s pure greed.

     The Central Falls school board will vote on Gallo’s decision next week. We hope they support their school’s leader, whom we consider a rare breed with enough backbone to do what is truly best for the district’s students.

     If approved, all of the school’s 74 teachers can reapply for their positions, but no more than 50 percent can be re-hired, under the reform model.

     We hope the teachers that are committed to their students’ success agree to do what’s necessary, and earn back their positions at the head of the class.

     To those mulish enough to snub their noses at Gallo’s reforms, we say good riddance.

     A National Education Association scheme to launder dues money from a “children’s fund” into the union’s political action committee is obviously unacceptable and warrants a thorough investigation.

     But when two Alabama educators who were scammed by the union filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, the agency dismissed the charges without a field investigation, citing in part a lack of funds to enforce the law, according to the National Right to Work Foundation.

     Daphne, Alabama middle school teacher Claire Waites and assistant principal Jeanne Fox said union officials assured the women that contributions made in their names to the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education were not political.

     The two later learned their donations actually went to the union’s PAC, and contributed to Barak Obama’s presidential campaign. The fraud occurred at the union’s 2008 annual convention in Washington, DC, nrtw.org reports.

     It’s illegal to encourage or solicit contributions under false pretenses. Federal law also prohibits campaign contributions made in another person’s name, according to nrtw.org.

     The NRTWF is now encouraging other educators who donated to step forward and join Waites and Fox to pursue legal action against the nation’s largest teachers union.

    “The FEC made a conscious decision to not take these charges seriously,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “We suspect this scheme could involve many more teachers – potentially to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

     We find it appalling that the NEA would swindle its own members to promote its political interests, but we are hardly surprised to learn it is happening. It is exactly these types of unscrupulous union tactics that allow the NEA to maintain a chokehold on the nation’s education system. It is also perfect example of the government’s unwillingness to do anything about it.

     NEA teachers, and the citizens who pay their salaries, must demand that the union is held accountable for its misdeeds. It is, after all, taxpayer dollars that bankroll the NEA.

     We also commend Waites and Fox for bringing the rip-off to light, and encourage other teachers to join their efforts to hold the union responsible, and prevent it from happening again.

     A recent study of contributions made by the nation’s two largest teachers unions reveals that both shelled out millions in 2008-09, with a good chunk going to radical and scandal-ridden organizations.

     The study, posted online by the Education Intelligence Agency, is further proof that the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers are out of step with their members, which union officials claim are evenly split between Democrat, Republican and Independent parties.

     This is what the EIA found:

     The AFT gave $46,894 to the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). That organization’s members gave tax evasion advice to pimps and prostitutes, encouraged struggling homeowners to walk away from their mortgages, and championed radical causes like softer immigration regulations and a government takeover of health care.

     The AFT’s interest in government-run healthcare is also apparent in its $407,208 donation to the Economic Policy Institute, a union-funded progressive think tank that advocates for the expansion of unionized government jobs, and generally promotes organized labor’s interests.

     The AFT also sent $125,000 to Health Care for America Now! HCAN, which is led by SEIU and ACORN, promotes a government takeover of health care.

     The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network received $10,000 of AFT dues money to fight for gay rights. GLSEDN’s leaders have a long-documented history of promoting sex-related issues to elementary-aged kids.

     The AFT made smaller donations to groups that generally promote causes like the redistribution of American wealth. Those included $15,000 to the Apollo Alliance, and $25,000 to Jessie Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

     In total, the AFT spent $5.3 million in dues income promoting radical left-wing advocacy groups and charities. Most of the money went to seemingly innocuous organizations with radical policies.

     The NEA, which doled out $26 million in dues dollars, also sent the bulk of its money to the far left.

     The anti-American, human rights fanatics at Amnesty International banked $7,500 from the NEA. The Economic Policy Institute got a quarter-million in NEA membership money. GLSEN received $157,500, and HCAN got $450,000 from the NEA.

     MediaMatters, which attacks and distorts reports from conservative organizations, earned a $100,000 NEA check.

     The NEA also gave a $10,000 donation to Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and $165,000 to People for the American Way, two organizations with extreme left-wing agendas.

      The population control advocates at the Sierra Club pocketed $150,000 in NEA dues dollars. The Zimbabwe Teachers Association is even partially bankrolled ($10,000) by the NEA. Seriously?

     That union, the ZIMTA, is aligned with despotic dictator Robert Mugabe’s political party, media reports show.

     Some will argue that these teachers unions can contribute their income to whatever organization they like. We agree, and strongly defend that freedom.

     But we also feel that union membership, and the taxpayers that pay their wages, deserve to know where the money is going and why. We also believe that teachers should be able to keep their dues dollars from financing union PACs, if they wish.

     Former NEA president Reg Weaver has repeatedly claimed that the NEA’s membership is evenly divided into Democrats, Republicans and Independents. We suspect AFT members are similarly split.

     Then why does their union not distribute their dues dollars evenly to reflect that split? That’s a good question, and one we would encourage union teachers to demand an answer to.

Last month, I posted information about where the National Education Association spent $26 million of its members’ dues listed as “donations.” Just the other day, the largess of the country’s second largest teachers’ union, the American Federation of Teachers, was made available. Some of the groups receiving donations from AFT in 2008-2009 were ACORN, SEIU and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. Once again, teacher union watchdog, Mike Antonucci, has published this information in list form and it can be found at http://www.eiaonline.com/archives/20100208.htm

If you think the above is bad news, here is worse news – once again from Mike Antonucci. He makes a point, the importance of which cannot be exaggerated. On LM2s and elsewhere, we can find out just where the unions donate its members’ dues. What most people don’t realize is that they give far more than is commonly thought – only it is not listed under donations. For example, according to Antonucci, in the 2008 election cycle, “NEA dropped $260,000 on one of the many front groups operated by Craig Varoga and George Rakis, two men Fox News identifies as ‘Democratic Party strategists.’” This money is not listed under donations to advocacy groups. It is listed in their disclosure report “as expenses for media.” As Antonucci says, “…NEA’s advocacy spending extends well beyond the easily identifiable groups.” To read his entire post, go to http://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2010/02/10/union-sock-puppets-well-laundered/

Indiana public schools will literally get a reality check this week.

School corporations are expected to see their first state funding payments this week since Gov. Mitch Daniels announced $300 million in cuts to the K-12 budget, and we suspect it won’t be pretty.

Those checks will put added pressure on districts to cut millions of dollars from their budget without laying off teachers, as suggested by Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Daniels’ suggestion can and should be followed. But state education officials fear local school boards will take the easy way out and lay off teachers, instead of demanding salary freezes or health coverage contributions from teachers unions that would keep their members working and class sizes manageable.

Residents can help schools avoid that fate by insisting that their school boards initiate contract concession talks with their unions now.

State education leaders informed superintendents of the impending budget crisis as early as November, and the Indiana Department of Education recently issued a checklist for local school boards with suggestions to trim their budget while keeping educators in the classroom.

But many in Indianapolis, including state Superintendent Tony Bennett, are concerned that some items on the checklist, such as teacher salary concessions or trimming employee benefit costs, are being overlooked or ignored.

The Richmond Community Schools board, for example, approved pay raises, one-time stipends, and expensive changes to health benefits as part of a new teachers union contract signed in December.

Those expenses are expected to cost RCS more than $2.5 million over the next year, according to Pal-Item.com. That is only one of several examples.

RCS and many other school corporations in the state now are bracing their communities for teacher layoffs. Despite their financial situation, most Indiana school systems seem to be ignoring the elephant in the room- concessions from their teachers union.

“Any district can find two or three percent savings without reducing teacher staff,” Bennett said in a news release. “If everyone, including teachers themselves will pitch in, we’ll get through this recession just fine.”

That makes a lot of sense, but we at Education Action Group Foundation (ISTAexposed.com) fear nobody is listening.

Indiana State Teachers Association President Nate Schnellenberger simply talks around the issue of concessions with a swift “but teachers are professionals,” and everybody nods their heads.

The ISTA, meanwhile, is diligently working to pass legislation that would allow schools to shift funds between accounts, a measure designed to preserve union perks.

EAGF believes Indiana taxpayers deserve more from the union and their local school boards. We believe it only makes sense to ask our educators to contribute to solving the budget problem with a freeze on their automatic raises, a small salary cut, or a contribution to their health care coverage. Those measures could save millions.

The ISTA will not contribute on its own. Local school boards must stand up and demand concessions. Otherwise, the state’s young, eager educators will be filing into the unemployment office, class sizes will swell, and students will suffer.

If you run for local office in Montgomery County, MD, you must toe the line if you are to receive the blessing of the Montgomery County Educational Association, which represents the county’s 11,000 teachers. Nothing really new on that count. The twist is that to get the union’s stamp of approval, you must then contribute money to the union.

The unsurprising result - “This twisted system has fueled skyrocketing payroll costs — including a 23 percent pay raise for the typical teacher over the past three years, plus extraordinary health and retirement benefits — even as private-sector wages have stagnated.” To read the entire Washington Post article, go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/04/AR2010020404421_pf.html

     Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri’s plan to expand tax credits for businesses that support private schools would give low-income families more educational options, while offering relief to public school districts.

     Carcieri recently proposed a budget to state lawmakers that included doubling tax credits from $1 million to $2 million for companies that support private school scholarships, the Associated Press reported.

     “That’s a small incentive that is actually encouraging other types of schooling,” Carcieri said last week. “I say, ‘God bless them,’ because if we had all those youngsters in those public schools, it would cost us tens of millions of dollars.”

     Under the four-year-old program, companies can contribute up to $220,000 through two years for $200,000 in tax credits. That money offsets tuition costs for students in low-income families, the AP reported.

     The National Education Association in Rhode Island balked at expanding the program, citing the state’s budget woes.

     “He’s being awfully charitable with the public’s money while he’s preaching austerity everywhere else,” NEA’s Rhode Island executive director Robert Walsh told the AP.

     The NEA argues that the money could go to the public school system and Carcieri is “really not helping in a tough time,” Walsh said.

     We believe it is becoming increasingly clear that the current education system in Rhode Island isn’t getting the job done, and now may be the perfect time to invest in new ideas.

     Recently released test scores show that students are lagging behind. Only 27 percent of eleventh graders are proficient in math, 55 percent are proficient in writing, and over a quarter of those students are not proficient readers, according to the AP.

     Those statistics come as the state’s unemployment rate approaches 13 percent.  State and local funding cuts have forced school districts to consider fees for student sports and class size increases.

     It only makes sense to us to ensure that parents, particularly those on a tight budget, have options for their child’s education. We suspect that many families couldn’t afford better schools otherwise.

     We assume Walsh is concerned that less of the public’s money will be siphoned off to the NEA, and that might cut into the union’s bottom line.

     If that means more educational choices for the state’s struggling families, we say so be it.

A recent editorial in the Investors Business Daily and an article by the Boston Globe’s Jeff Jacoby give some hard numbers to make their case – that unionized public sector workers are bleeding much of the nation dry. In addition to CA, Oregon and Ohio are facing serious shortfalls. As Jeff Jacoby says, “A showdown is coming and more likely sooner than later. Taxpayers will put up with a lot, but their patience has its limits.”

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=519312

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/01/27/income_angst_not_for_public_employees/

     In Camden, New Jersey, union teachers are racking up more sick days than the students they teach and putting a heavy strain on cash-strapped school budgets, according to local news reports.

     The problem is made possible by teachers union contracts with copious sick day allowances (typically a dozen days off in an 187-day school year) and compounded by the steady need for substitutes to fill teacher vacancies. The problem is expected to cost Camden schools $2 million this year alone.

     According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average teacher absenteeism rate was nearly double the national average for all private sector employees in 2008, Camden’s Courier-Post reported.

     Researchers at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education have documented the correlation between teacher absenteeism and student success, according to Raegen Miller, lead author of one recent study.

     “Teacher absences are causing the reduced achievement,” Miller told the Courier-Post. “If there is plenty of leave available, teachers will take lots of it.”

     Some teachers in Camden have defended the days off, and compared their class assignment to war.

     “If you feel like you’re in a combat zone or under a lot of pressure, or you’re covering others for a lack of substitutes, it kind of wears on you,” Camden teacher Karen Borrelli told the Courier-Post.

     We’re sure U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan can sympathize with the teachers, Karen. But we doubt public school conditions are comparable to the situation in Kabul.

  It’s interesting that, like the teaching profession, soldiers chose their career path, yet the public rarely hears a peep from them regarding their lack of sick days.

     The sick day problem is bigger than Camden. We at EAGF recently studied a sampling of Michigan teachers union contracts that revealed similar excesses in our home state. In most school districts we reviewed, teachers were granted around a dozen days off per 187-day school year, and can cash out unused days when they leave the district.

     In Michigan’s Rochester School District, for example, the district currently owes its teachers $732,032 for those unused sick days. In Ypsilanti, the district spent $449,104 for substitutes last year.

     While the financial cost on taxpayers for excess sick days is staggering, we feel it’s relatively small compared to what it could cost our country down the road. How can we expect to produce educated future leaders if teachers don’t show up for class?

     Something needs to be done to stop the bleeding. We believe it starts with the teachers, and the contracts that govern their employment. As citizens and taxpayers, we need to demand local school boards negotiate contracts that will keep teachers in front of students.

     If we ignore the problem, it could cost us far more than money.