Tag: teacher’s union

Yes, The Public Education System Is Broken

I have been in education for a long time. My first teaching job came two weeks after my younger nephew was born. His birthday is next week, and he’ll be 29. Take out the five years when I was working in retail and going to graduate school, and I’ve been a teacher for 24 years. There is not enough money in the world to tempt me back into public education. I’d rather stay poor, thank you. I keep hearing about a teacher shortage. That’s incorrect. There’s not a teacher shortage; there’s a people willing to be treated like dirt shortage. Why? How did public education come to this sad state? Jonathan Turley’s opinion piece in The Hill speaks to the problem and nails it right to the wall.

His opinion piece titled “The Blue-State Model for Education has Failed, and the Public has Caught On” states early on that one of the reasons the public schools have gone down the drain is because of the teachers’ unions. Early in the article, Turley states, “New polling shows that K-12 education has now reached a record low in the number of people who are even “somewhat satisfied” with the state of education in the U.S.” He then talks about the “education cartel,” a self-sustaining, self-perpetuating alliance between unions and politicians. The cartel has rendered families and students irrelevant.

How is that possible? people ask. Without the students, there is no school system. It doesn’t matter to the cartel. As long as the money keeps coming, which it does through dues, the cartel continues to operate. Personally, I have very little experience with the teachers’ unions. I joined the American Federation of Teachers briefly so I could get some legal help regarding the principal at the high school where I taught. I was a second-year teacher, and he had determined that I needed to go. He was black, and I was white. The AFT pointed me to the union steward at my high school, a government teacher who was also one of the basketball coaches. He told me that there was nothing the principal could do to force me from the building. I had to leave on my own. I’m a stubborn soul, so I was determined that the principal was going to leave first. He did, two years later.

Was the advice I got worth the annual membership? Absolutely. But that was twenty years ago. I dropped my membership the next year. Today, I wouldn’t join any teachers’ union because at their very core, they are about representing the teachers, not the students. The unions protect every teacher, even the teachers who have no business being anywhere near a classroom. In the states where teachers are required to join a union, the power is tenfold over the states that give teachers a choice, the right-to-work states.

In states where union membership is required, even if the teacher is able to quit the union, the union will still take a deduction from the teacher’s paycheck unless the teacher stands up and says “No.” In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court in Janus vs. AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) said that taking dues from non-union members was a violation of the First Amendment. This had an effect on union membership, which dropped by 10% after the ruling. However, the unions are not letting the decision slow them down. One year after the Janus ruling, a full 52% of teachers surveyed did not know they could leave the union without paying a fee. We are now eight years after the Janus decision, and the deep blue Democrat states with powerful teachers’ unions are working to make it easy to join a union but very hard to leave.

Aren’t unions supposed to protect workers and allow them to negotiate on a level playing field with their bosses? During the time of the Robber Barons in the early 1900s, yes. Today, most unions serve no purpose other than to enrich their heads. Both the head of the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) make six figures. The head of the Chicago Teachers Union makes six figures. Their salaries come from dues. Fewer dues-paying members, lower salaries. If the unions actually promoted better teaching and better practices, I would have no problem with them, but they don’t. The problem? Money. As long as the money keeps flowing to the unions, they can do whatever they want.

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SURPRISE! Study Finds Blue States With the Strongest Teacher Unions Also Have the Lowest Reading Scores

Liberals would have you believe that strong teacher unions equate with strong schools and solid results, but a new study found the exact opposite.

Of the states included in the study, blue states with the strongest teacher unions also happened to have the lowest reading scores.

Conversely, red states cited in the study, which give less attention to teacher unions, score much higher.

FOX News reports:

Powerful teachers’ unions share striking link with states struggling to teach kids to read

States with stronger teachers’ unions tend to have weaker literacy performance and have adopted fewer of the policies credited with improving reading outcomes, according to a new analysis from a center-left think tank.

Eight of the 10 states to score among the worst in the Progressive Policy Institute’s (PPI) assessment of early-literacy policies were home to powerful teachers’ unions. Among the top 60% of states in terms of early-literacy policy scores, only four had strong teachers’ unions.

Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Indiana, all Republican-leaning states with weak unions, were among the states with the best literacy outcomes. Maine, New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington and Rhode Island, blue states, were among the worst.

The pattern isn’t universal. Maryland, a blue state with a strong teachers’ union, has posted strong reading results, while South Dakota, a red state with a weaker union, has struggled. The differences suggest union strength and party control alone don’t explain states’ reading performance.

It’s kind of amazing, isn’t it?

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New York’s Biggest Teachers Union Fighting the Socialist Mayor It Helped Elect After Mamdani Files Lawsuit to Stop Pay Raise

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani received overwhelming support for his election from the city’s largest teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT).

Mamdani thanked them by filing a lawsuit to stop a pay raise for education paraprofessionals.

In July, the New York City Council passed the “RESPECT Check Act,” giving public-school paraprofessionals, like teacher aides, a one-time $10,000 “workforce stabilization” payment.

The Act was passed by the Council unanimously and became law without the mayor’s signature.

Although Mamdani supported a version of the bill in the past, now that he is comfortable in the Mayor’s seat, he has changed his mind.

He argued that the Act violates New York State’s Taylor Law and ultimately filed a lawsuit against the city.

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Country’s biggest teachers’ unions efforts to get DEI into AI for schools K-12 sparks backlash

he country’s two biggest teachers unions are working to get diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) ideology into artificial intelligence models before they are used in grades K-12, sparking backlash from at least one education and parental rights advocacy group.

The unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, essentially say they are making such efforts, including becoming involved in the process at state-level education departments, to mitigate AI models’ “algorithmic bias.” 

The term is essentially defined as AI-generated results that are incorrect, unfair or prejudiced as a result, in part, of the prejudices, whether blind or intentional, of the model creators, typically white or Asian men.  

Such efforts were flagged in a recent report by Defending Education, a national conservative and right-of-center grassroots advocacy organization.

“Within the next few years, most K-12 schools and colleges will integrate AI into their curricula … helping students with research assignments and even creating specialized feedback for each student,” says the group before warning, “The problem is that unions, left-wing activists, and groups in the education field are already setting the foundation to use these AI tools to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to students during their formative years.”

While the group singles out the country’s two most powerful teachers’ unions, it cites similars efforts by such groups, associations and organizations as:

  • The California Teachers Association assisting the California Department of Education in creating guidance for K-12 schools with language advocating for “educators to approach AI with an equity lens.”
  • The American Association of School Administrators promoting the idea that “white males” are a problem in the creation of AI.

“The goal of these groups is to implement DEI ideology into AI before it can be fully integrated into America’s education system,” Defending Education continued. “If DEI is embedded in AI before schools adopt these new tools, then DEI, as part of AI, becomes institutionalized in the nation’s schools once the tools are adopted.”

Neither the AFT nor NEA responded to a request for comment.

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Teachers’ Union Doubles Down On Crazy Leftist Policies Of Division

New NEA President Princess Moss is just what you would expect from the newly elected National Education Association President, a leftist idealogue who will continue the union’s slide to the left in support of indoctrination of our nation’s students into Marxism/Communism, gender ideology, and anti-family politics.

How do we know? We know because she, like former President Becky Pringle, tells us. Here is a quote from her acceptance speech at the recent NEA Convention. Moss is the current NEA Vice President and will take over as President September 1st, allowing Pringle to continue to prance around as if she is some kind of deity for just a bit longer. From the beginning of Moss’s speech:

“Together, we will build the power to defend public education, advance racial and social justice, and ensure every educator has the respect, resources, and voice they deserve,” new President Princess Moss said in announcing her win at the union’s Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly last week.

As you can see, there is no reference to academic achievement for children, parental rights, or American values in that announcement. It’s more of the same divisive rhetoric that has carried Pringle through her term, especially if you dig past the initial phrases.

The National EDUCATION Association has NOTHING to do with education, or kids, or even the rank-and-file teachers. In fact, less than 10 cents per dollar of member dues goes to educator advocacy and representation. The rest is salaries for six figure administrative salaries, payoffs to politicians, and millions into political action committees that don’t mirror the beliefs of many of their members. These facts have caused U.S. Representatives to introduce legislation to decertify the union.

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Chicago Teachers Seek Billions In Special Session For “What We Are Owed”

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has long been one of the most radical labor organizations in the country from its insistence on teachers being subsidized in political protests to members praising the former Communist regime in Venezuela. Now, with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the CTU is demanding yet another massive public infusion of money despite the dismal performance of its members in actually improving scores for Chicago children. They are calling for a special session and billions in more funding.

We have previously discussed how teacher unions have become virtual slush funds for Democratic Party operations, spending over a billion dollars on Democratic candidates and campaigns. In return, Democratic politicians have agreed to bloated pension and compensation packages that have driven cities and states into the red, particularly in Illinois.

It is a closed loop of influence and excess. The teacher unions funded Democratic campaigns and Democratic politicians then sign off on windfall union contracts without forcing any improvements for the actual students.

For these students, the system borders on the criminal. Rather than actually improve their educational results, the Chicago teachers (like unions and administrators in other cities) have lowered their proficiency standards. Even with that lowering, just 2 out of 5 children meet the lower proficiency standards. Forty percent of Chicago students are “chronically absent” from class.

According to the latest Illinois Report Card, 38% of the state’s public school students demonstrated proficiency in math last year. 52% showed ELA proficiency.

Nevertheless, teachers demanded the right to join May Day protests during work hours to speak against immigration enforcement, billionaires, and oligarchs. They called on citizens to boycott stores to oppose the super-wealthy and billionaires.

They are now demanding a special session to fund what “we are owed.”

Chicago Board of Education member Jitu Brown demanded “The $2 billion that we are owed just adequately funds, but when you are repairing harm you have to fund above and beyond.” Brown called on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who was previously a Chicago teacher and is generally viewed as owing his election to the unions, to repeat his December 2025 $1 billion tax-increment-financing push for the Chicago Public Schools.

As always, the CTU and IFT President Stacy Davis Gates framed the demand in class-warfare terms, calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to convene a special legislative session to raise revenue from the “ultra-wealthy.”

Of course, Pritzker did not respond by raising concerns about the dismal educational record for students, but by promising more money. While he acknowledged that they have increased spending every year, with the budget hitting $3 billion, he said the unions are right that they need even more money.

Notably, both the IFT and CTU are demanding that Pritzker reject a federal tax credit scholarship program that would provide tax credits for donations to scholarship organizations that fund education-related expenses for students in public, private, and homeschool settings.

The unions oppose any voucher system that would give poor families a real choice in seeking better education for their children. Both AFT president Randi Weingarten and NEA president Rebecca S. Pringle opposed voucher options.

Some of us have changed our views of vouchers in light of the stranglehold these unions have on public education.

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Insanity: Ex-BLMer and Special Ed Teacher on Leave Over Abuse Allegations Just Elected President of Teachers Union

Homeschooling only looks more appealing as the education system continues to leave children with some of the worst excuses for teachers.

One of those is Ibijoke Idowu, who teaches special education at Rising Star Elementary in South Beacon Hill for Seattle Public Schools in Washington state.

In December 2025, Idowu was placed on leave following allegations that she abused an autistic child in her classroom. A complaint was filed with the district after the third-grader’s parents saw bruises the size of an adult’s fingertips in October and December.

The child’s parents also alleged his therapist witnessed Idowu throw a marker at him, hitting him in the face.

Since those incidents, The Seattle Times reported that according to his father, the child has been emotionally distressed, not sleeping well, and has been avoiding school.

The Teacher Accountability System summarized the allegations as follows:

“Alleged physical abuse of a third-grade student with autism, including leaving fingertip-sized bruises and throwing a marker at the student’s head, causing injury to face and glasses. Additional allegations include grabbing students by the arm, causing pain.”

The organization puts the case severity as high, and the Seattle Police have been notified with the investigation ongoing.

If those claims weren’t bad enough, Idowu is also a leftist, having previously worked as an organizer for Black Lives Matter.

Apparently, none of this has kept her from holding office, as she’s been elected president of the Seattle Teachers Union ,with the New York Post reporting that the election results were certified Friday.

The criteria to run for office includes paying union dues and being employed by the school system.

Given that Idowu is on leave but still employed, she was an eligible candidate, but who in their right mind would vote for this woman?

From a practical perspective, she is relatively inexperienced.

Her teaching career began in 2021, but she is also a special education teacher. Why would her fellow teachers — she now represents 6,000 SPS employees — put her in this job?

Per the New York Post, as the race last week was winding down, Idowu commented on how she’d like to be seen as a candidate.

“I am not afraid to be a line stepper when it’s necessary and when it protects others,” she said.

“You can’t be afraid, and the thing is, sometimes you even have to be the bad guy. You have to ruffle feathers. But that is a part of, like, leadership, and sometimes you have to advocate for this group, and it bothers this group. But you know what? That’s for this group to deal with. And you figure out why the advocacy for this group is bothering you, because that’s something you have to deal with. That’s not for me to deal with.”

Her dystopian collectivism in handling individuals on a group basis is a topic of discussion in itself, but the comments about being “a line stepper” or “the bad guy” lack self-awareness. She should have given pause in consideration of the accusations, but her rebuttal now would likely be that those statements won her the race.

Idowu’s story is another advertisement for homeschooling.

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Teachers Union and School Districts SUE Trump Administration Over ICE

Two Minnesota school districts and the state’s largest teachers union have filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging a new immigration enforcement policy that allows federal agents to operate at or near schools and bus stops. 

The complaint, filed February 4 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, names the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Kristi Noem, and subagencies including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as defendants.

The plaintiffs—Fridley Public Schools, Duluth Public Schools, and Education Minnesota—argue that the administration’s decision to rescind a decades-old “sensitive locations” policy has disrupted school operations across the Twin Cities region. 

They contend that enforcement activity near school grounds has reduced attendance, forced districts to expand remote learning, and diverted administrative resources.

The lawsuit seeks to reinstate restrictions that previously limited immigration enforcement at schools absent exigent circumstances or supervisory approval.

The policy change at the center of the dispute occurred in January 2025, when DHS formally revoked prior guidance that discouraged immigration arrests at schools, churches, and similar locations.

The updated directive replaced categorical restrictions with officer discretion, stating that federal agents would rely on “common sense” rather than bright-line prohibitions. 

DHS defended the move as necessary to prevent criminals from exploiting geographic safe havens to avoid apprehension.

The litigation follows “Operation Metro Surge,” a high-profile federal enforcement initiative in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, the operation deployed thousands of agents to address what officials described as a backlog of criminal and fraud-related investigations. 

Just days after the lawsuit, thousands of high school students across the country—including students in several Minnesota districts involved in the litigation—staged walkouts to protest ICE and call for the agency’s abolition.

Videos circulated rapidly on social media, showing coordinated demonstrations framed as acts of civic resistance. 

In some districts, students who had walked out to protest immigration enforcement are now enrolled in systems suing the very agency responsible for carrying it out.

Immigration law is written by Congress and enforced by the executive branch. The prior “sensitive locations” guidance was an internal policy, not a statute.

Its rescission does not eliminate constitutional protections, judicial warrants, or due process. Instead, it restores operational flexibility to agents tasked with enforcing federal law.

Democrats maintain that enforcement presence near schools generates fear that undermines educational stability. District officials point to funding formulas tied to attendance and argue that declines in enrollment threaten budgets.

The complaint alleges that DHS failed to provide sufficient justification for abandoning the prior policy and violated administrative rulemaking procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act.

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National Teachers Union Training Members To Promote LGBT Ideology, Parents Group Says

The nation’s largest teachers union is planning a workshop on “Advancing LGBTQ+ Justice,” prompting criticism from a conservative national parent group that obtained the training handouts and released them to the public ahead of the session.

The National Education Association’s (NEA’s) next Focus Academy session is planned for Dec. 2 to Dec. 4. Participants will “develop a toolset of tactics for dismantling systems of privilege and oppression as it relates to LGBTQ+ educators and students,” the union’s website states.

The union’s national headquarters are in Washington, but the registration page does not disclose an address for the training. Upcoming Focus Academy sessions on advancing “racial justice” and winning school board elections are scheduled for early 2026.

Defending Education, a parent and research organization that opposes progressive curricula and policies such as transgender ideology, critical race theory, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in public schools, obtained and released the handout in November.

“The NEA is the largest teachers’ union in the country, and they have decided to vilify half the country in an upcoming training,” Erika Sanzi, Defending Education’s senior communications director, said in an email sent to The Epoch Times. “As far as they are concerned, the only reasons anyone could oppose their preferred ideologies are racism and transphobia, and they name Republicans as villains, in writing!”

The first section of the materials is a pronoun guide with “tips for using gender-neutral pronouns.”

The next section contains Cornell University’s “Transgender Guide to Transitioning and Gender Affirmation in the Workplace.”

A guide from the National LGBTQ Task Force lists “levels of expression and oppression.” This document is not limited to gender ideology and alleges discrimination against black and Hispanic public school children, immigrants, and women in the workplace.

The NEA’s policy on LGBT employee rights is included in the handout. It includes guidance on a recent Supreme Court ruling determining that parents are allowed to opt their children out of LGBT-related instruction for religious reasons.

“The decision only requires schools to provide opt-outs on the basis of sincerely held religious beliefs and practices,” the guidance states. “It does not require schools to grant opt-outs based on parent/guardian personal, political or ideological beliefs or preferences.”

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America’s Largest Teachers Union Is Doubling Down On Radical Left Ideology

Recently obtained internal documents from the National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the US, focus on training educators to become far-left activists in support of spreading woke propaganda to their students.  

According to information gathered by a conservative non-profit called Defending Education, the NEA’s upcoming training at an undisclosed location this December doesn’t focus on academics, but on attacking Republicans as “racist and transphobic,” pushing race-class-gender narratives, and promoting gender-transition guides for staff.

The training is targeted for union staff and teams as part of the NEA UniServ and Organizing Training Program 2025–2026.  

The goals of the session include, but are not limited to, “dismantling systems of privilege and oppression as it relates to LGBTQ+ educators and students” and “deepening skills and strategies to confront implicit bias, micro-aggressions and stereotypes.”  

Republicans are characterized as using an “arsenal of racist dog whistles,’ according to training materials. Participants are instructed how to evoke a “Race Class Gender Narrative” to push back.  

“Over the last ten years, Republicans in state legislatures have increasingly turned to anti-transgender rhetoric and legislation as a powerful complement to their arsenal of racist dog whistles used to whip up fear and consolidate power…they have paired these attacks with fear-mongering about Critical Race Theory, mobilizing their base with a potent mix of racist and transphobic tropes.”

The documents focus heavily on issues like “structural oppression” and transgender propaganda with an emphasis on defending the medical transitioning of children.  Teachers are encouraged to use gender fluid language (like neutral pronouns) with students while avoiding scrutiny from parents and administrators. 

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