An analysis of campaign finance records reveals that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) spent far more on November’s Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) elections than previously reported. According to filings with the Louisiana Board of Ethics, Orleans Future PAC, a political action committee launched by AFT in late-September of last year, spent nearly $370,000 […] More
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
Note: This is the second installment of a two-part series. You can read Part I here. When Kyle Serrette learned back in February that Louisiana was on the verge of winning an $8 million charter school grant from U.S. Department of Education, he wasn’t happy about the news. After all, he had spent the previous […] More
Over the past year, a small group of education leaders from across Louisiana has been secretly plotting to curtail charter school expansion, weaken the state’s accountability policies, and rewrite the law passed earlier this year to return New Orleans schools to local control. The group, which calls itself the Louisiana Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools […] More
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
Post-Script: 11/01/2016 Wonders never cease! It appears that David Alvarez has finally filed his missing campaign finance reports, albeit three weeks late. His 30-P report, along with his 10-P report, simultaneously appeared on the Louisiana Board of Ethics website this afternoon. – PCC It’s November 1st – All Saints Day – and for aspiring officeholders […] More
It’s official. The American Federation of Teachers has become a major player in the upcoming races for the Orleans Parish School Board. A recent filing with the Louisiana Board of Ethics reveals that the union has given a whopping $225,000 to Orleans Future PAC, a political action committee AFT launched in September to support candidates […] More
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
A recent filing with the Louisiana Board of Ethics suggests that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is seeking to influence the upcoming Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) elections. On September 16th, an AFT-affiliated political action committee called Orleans Future PAC filed a statement of organization with the state ethics board. Meladie Munch, former president […] More
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
I noticed something curious on Twitter the other day. Two state chapters of the Badass Teachers Association (BATs), the rabble-rousing teacher activist organization founded by Mark Naison that fights “corporate education reform,” tweeted the exact same tweet about a study on the opt-out movement at the exact same time. This had to be more than a […] More
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
Peter Cook