NEA Archives | PE + CO

in Louisiana

After Janus, The Drought? LAE & LFT are downplaying the impact of the Janus v. AFSCME decision, but both are subsidized by their national unions

by Peter Cook 29 June 2018, 17:05

The United States Supreme Court handed public sector unions – including the teachers unions – a major defeat on Wednesday with their decision in Janus v. AFSCME, in which a majority of justices agreed that mandatory agency fee laws violate the First Amendment rights of non-union public employees. In the 21 states with agency fee laws, […] More

in Media

Capital & Lame A Case Study In How Teachers Unions Influence The Media

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by Peter Cook 23 October 2017, 00:51

“What the privatizers are doing is they keep selling the same snake oil, school choice, as the answer to the problem. School choice doesn’t answer any problem. The biggest correlation in education is between poverty and test scores. If you think the test scores are too low, go to the root causes.” That’s what Diane […] More

in Politics

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

in Explainer

Explainer: Does AFT Really Have 1.7 Million Members? How The Union Uses Accounting Tricks To Inflate The Numbers

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by Peter Cook 5 September 2017, 08:15

On Friday, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) announced its membership had risen to over 1.7 million members, surpassing the 1.6 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to become the largest union in the AFL-CIO. According to union officials, the milestone was reached last month when the Asociación de Maestros de Puerto […] More

in Politics

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

in LaLege

All About The Kids? Calcasieu Teacher Plays Politics At The Expense Of Students, Taxpayers

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by Peter Cook 10 June 2017, 09:00

For more than a year, Calcasieu Parish special education teacher Ganey Arsement has been on a self-appointed crusade against education reform in Louisiana. He has blasted charters, standardized testing, Common Core, teacher evaluation, and yours truly on his blog, as well as on social media. He has worked to coordinate his attacks with the state’s […] More

in Louisiana

Money In The Bank A Look At Political Spending By LAE & LFT in 2016

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by Peter Cook 9 February 2017, 09:17

Although the Louisiana Association of Educators (LAE) and Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) largely stayed on the sidelines during last year’s electoral contests, a review of campaign finance reports filed by their political action committees over the past 12 months provides some interesting insights on our state’s two teachers unions. Here are some highlights… I. […] More

in Politics

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

in Louisiana

The LAROS Papers: Part II An Inside Look at NEA's Effort To Influence Education Policy in Louisiana

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by Peter Cook 7 December 2016, 23:25

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

in Louisiana

The LAROS Papers: Part I An Inside Look at NEA's Effort To Influence Education Policy in Louisiana

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by Peter Cook 22 November 2016, 03:41

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

in Reform

Update: John White Calls on García To Retract Statements La. State Superintendent Calls Comments "Insensitive" and "Inaccurate"

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by Peter Cook 21 November 2016, 14:46

Louisiana State Superintendent John White called on National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen García to publicly retract statements she made last week about the rebuilding of New Orleans schools after Hurricane Katrina. On Friday, the Pacific Northwest Inlander published an interview with García in which she claimed that state education officials rebuilt and modernized “white […] More

in Reform

Nobody Likes A Liar, Lily NEA Head Fibs About Turnaround, Charters & New Orleans

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by Peter Cook 21 November 2016, 03:05

Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association (NEA), visited Rogers High School in Spokane, Washington last week. While she was there, she sat down for an interview with Wilson Criscione of the Pacific Northwest Inlander, in which she made several outlandish claims that had absolutely no connection to the truth. Here’s a summary […] More

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