July 24, 2013 by The Progressive
"The rightwing argument that public employees bankrupted Detroit is incredible on its face. But it is part of an ominous national push to raid pensions, give away tax dollars to corporations, and impose austerity on regular working people."
A new nationwide survey shows that parents overwhelmingly believe that strong neighborhood public schools are a better choice for our children than vouchers or charter schools.
“Parents believe that public schools are the single most important institution for their community and for the nation,” said Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan. “This survey shows that 77 percent of American parents support public schools, an opinion that cuts across political and class lines.”
Please save the date! A&R Annual Holiday Party will be on 12/6/13. More details to follow.
AFT released a new survey of parents that shows that parents want politicians to support neighborhood public schools. Ted Kirsch released the following statement about the study.
“We are privatizing ourselves into one disaster after another. We’ve privatized a lot of what our military is doing. We’ve privatized a lot of what our intelligence agencies are doing. We’ve privatized our very prison system in many parts of the country. We’re privatizing the health system within those prisons. And it’s not working well.”
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From the July 17 Ed-Alert newsletter issued by State Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth): |
(Baton Rouge – July 17, 2013) Louisiana should take advantage of a U.S. Department of Education offer to extend the timetable for implementing Common Core Standards, according to the Louisiana Federation of Teachers.
Federation President Steve Monaghan said that the idea behind Common Core may have merit, but that like so many other education reforms that have been imposed recently, teachers and school systems have not been adequately prepared for the change.
(Baton Rouge – July 16, 2013) Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan was injured in a fall over the weekend and, while expected to make a full recovery, may be out of the office for several weeks.
Monaghan fell from a ladder while working on repairs to his Baton Rouge home on Friday, and fractured two vertebrae in his back. Full recovery is expected to take from six to eight weeks, though he may return to work sooner.
Saturday night, a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman, a man who killed an unarmed teenager in cold blood. While we believe in the rule of law and while the jury has spoken, the implications of the acquittal are profound. It is disappointing that a racially profiled, unarmed African-American young man can be shot dead with no consequences for the perpetrator.
“While we believe in the rule of law and the jury has spoken, the implications of the acquittal are profound. It is very disappointing that a racially profiled, unarmed African-American young man wearing a hoodie can be shot dead and there be no consequences for the perpetrator. This case reminds us that...
