Help at the Phone Banks 4/12 and 4/19 Although we don't always realize it, having the right people in Albany can have a huge impact on things that matter to us. From school funding, to teacher evaluations, to state testing and union rights, the State Assembly plays a huge role in legislating [...]
Republicans on and off the bench are moving to kill unions. But millennials—the most pro-union generation since the 1930s—may yet find a way to organize. For conservatives, the much-anticipated Supreme Court decision in the Janus v. AFSCME case may be coming eight years too late. If, as expected, the five Republican justices on the Court rule for [...]
When 20,000 West Virginia teachers staged a rare statewide walkout, questions of pay and benefits dominated the headlines. But those concerns could not fully account for the teachers’ ferocious resolve. After all, stagnant wages and receding benefits have been an issue for workers for decades. The missing variable appears to have been anxiety about their [...]
Labor unions deserve credit for many of the workplace policies that Americans now take for granted—a 40-hour work week, a minimum wage, pay for overtime, and protections from health and safety hazards—and the labor movement continues to champion state and local policies such as paid sick days and paid family leave, policies that are beneficial [...]
All the kids wanted was for the adults to ban assault weapons — which caused such bloody devastation at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. And most of their teachers wanted to quash the notion of armed educators in Florida schools. But the Florida Senate crushed both those hopes on Saturday, rejecting the weapon ban, and [...]
WASHINGTON—A new edition of an influential report published by the American Federation of Teachers exposes Wall Street asset managers who earn millions in fees from defined-benefit pension plans while simultaneously taking actions that can undermine their very existence. “Ranking Asset Managers: A Retirement Security Report on Money Managers for Pension Fund Trustees” (sixth edition), distributed this [...]
In Kelly Stevens’ kindergarten classroom, each day begins with circle time for what sounds like a menu of lesson options. “Miss Stevens is calling friends to read at the green table,” Stevens says. “We’re constructing boats. We’re also constructing out of clay.” Students Marco Carias Castellanos and Holden Free chose a writing activity on this day. [...]
A new "notice of interpretation" from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos aims to make it even harder to pay off your student debt—and easier to get overcharged and abused in the process. DeVos has already chipped away at regulations designed to protect borrowers, allowing student loan servicers like Navient and Nelnet to engage in deceptive practices [...]
As schoolchildren staged walkouts across the country to press for tougher gun controls, Congress took modest steps Wednesday to prevent violence in classrooms — even as lawmakers continued squabbling over broader action to curb gun rights. The House overwhelmingly passed the first federal legislation to address gun violence or school safety since the Feb. 14 shooting [...]
A month ago, hundreds of teenagers ran for their lives from the hallways and classrooms of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and staff had been shot to death. On Wednesday, driven by the conviction that they should never have to run from guns again, they walked. So did their peers. In New York [...]