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Wave Of #RedForEd Candidates Crashes In The Voting Booth Very Few Teachers Running For State Office In WV, OK, KY & AZ Won On Election Night

by Peter Cook 7 November 2018, 12:58

Update 11/15/2018: When this post was first published, it appeared that Kathy Hoffman, the Democratic candidate for Arizona’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction, had been narrowly defeated by her opponent, Frank Riggs. However, mail-in ballots shifted the tally in her favor in the week following the election and she was declared the winner on Monday, […] More

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PSA: It’s Millage Time Three School Taxes Are Up For Renewal On October 14th

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by Peter Cook 16 September 2017, 19:28

Voters in New Orleans will be heading to the polls next month for the first round of several high-profile citywide races. While the contests for mayor and various city council seats have drawn plenty of attention, three important school board millages are also on the ballot (literally at the very bottom, so don’t miss them). […] More

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Dark Money Duplicity The Teachers Unions Decry Dark Money, But Spend Plenty Of It

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by Peter Cook 15 September 2017, 13:12

On Monday, the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) announced they had reached a legal settlement with Families for Excellent Schools-Advocacy (FESA), a major backer of last year’s failed ballot question to raise the state’s charter school cap, following an investigation that found the group had violated campaign finance laws. Under the terms […] More

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Hey Big Spenders! A look at AFT & NEA Spending During The 2016 Election Cycle

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by Peter Cook 10 August 2017, 02:45

After spending eight long years at odds with the Obama Administration, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and National Education Association (NEA) viewed the 2016 elections as an opportunity to reassert themselves within the Democratic Party and to regain a measure of influence over federal education policy. As a result, the two unions spent massive […] More

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The Great Class Size Crisis…That Wasn’t Teachers Unions Are Trying To Fool Voters In Oregon Like They Did In Washington State

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by Peter Cook 5 June 2017, 11:09

When citizens in Washington State headed to the polls in November 2014, one of the decisions facing them was whether to approve Initiative 1351, a proposition aimed at reducing class sizes by requiring the state legislature to pay for an additional 25,000 public school employees by 2019. For months, an organization called Class Size Counts […] More

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How To Buy A Congressional Caucus Surprise! Lawmakers In New Education Caucus Got Big Bucks From AFT & NEA

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by Peter Cook 11 January 2017, 00:06

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten and National Education Association (NEA) president Lily Eskelsen García joined 11 members of Congress for a press conference on Tuesday to announce the formation of a new caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives focused on public education issues. This morning I held a press conference with Rep. […] More

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A Huge Wake-up Call Losses in Massachusetts, Georgia Point To Need For New Approach

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by Peter Cook 16 November 2016, 16:25

Anyway you slice it, last week was pretty disastrous for the education reform movement. On Election Day, two closely watched and fiercely contested ballot initiatives backed by reformers in Massachusetts and Georgia went down in defeat. The former was an effort to lift the Bay State’s charter school cap, while the latter was a proposition […] More

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Let’s Recognize AROS For What It Really Is… A Publicity Stunt Organized by the Teachers Unions

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by Peter Cook 8 October 2016, 13:53

On Thursday, the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) held “walk-ins” in cities across the country to call for an increase in education funding, a reduction in standardized testing, and limits on charter school expansion. The Alliance’s “Day of Action” drew plenty of media coverage, most of which portrayed the walk-ins as a genuine expression […] More

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Quick Take: New U.S. Senate Poll & Endorsement Good News For Caroline Fayard Among Dems, Mitch Landrieu

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by Peter Cook 9 September 2016, 11:42

Democrats For Education Reform Louisiana (DFER) released a poll today from the firm Anzalone Liszt Grove that has U.S. Senate candidate Caroline Fayard ahead of fellow Democrat Foster Campbell. If the Senate race were held today, Fayard is the only Democrat with support in the double-digits at 13%, while Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and […] More

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Teachers Union Endorses Foster Campbell Well duh, of course they did.

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by Peter Cook 8 September 2016, 10:42

Given the myriad challenges facing Louisiana these days, it’s clear we need a bold, forward-looking leader fighting for us in the United States Senate. Apparently, LFT believes that no one embodies bold, forward-looking leadership like a 69 year-old white man who has held elected office longer than I’ve been alive. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen: […] More

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I Was Wrong About Hillary Time For Reformers To Go On The Offensive

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by Peter Cook 20 July 2016, 00:46

When Hillary Clinton decided to skip an education forum hosted by Campbell Brown last fall, I wrote a piece arguing that pro-reform Democrats shouldn’t read too much into it. I insisted it wasn’t a signal that she was distancing herself from the education policies embraced by the Obama Administration. Surely, I said, Clinton just wanted […] More

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Quick Take: Who Got Campaign Cash From The Teachers Unions? A Look at LFT & LAE's Campaign Contributions Since 1999

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by Peter Cook 7 April 2016, 22:44

With the 2016 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature now in full swing, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the campaign finance records of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) and Louisiana Association of Educators (LAE) to see where their donations have been going. Below, I’ve assembled all campaign donations […] More

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