Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. The California Federation of Teachers has a new president for the first time since 2011. Delegates elected Jeff Freitas to the position at the union’s biennial convention in Los Angeles this past weekend. CFT is the smaller of California’s two statewide teacher unions, with approximately 85,000 members....

In 2013, when I was elected to the Lynwood Unified School District Board, we voted to renew a partnership that had recently lapsed with an organization that recruits idealistic leaders of all ages to become teachers: Teach For America. Five years later, I can say that this decision has greatly benefited the students of our...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. After teacher strikes in Los Angeles and Oakland, union leaders see districtwide job actions as the perfect tool to check off all those boxes on their wish lists. The next venues appear to be Santa Rosa and Sacramento — for different reasons, although increased funding is behind...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. *Updated March 15 Things are definitely looking up for teacher unions, especially in California. Membership losses were less than feared after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus ruling. A wave of teacher strikes led to settlements with more funding. The 2018 elections went well, with a friendly governor...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. The Oakland teacher strike came to an end after seven days with another “historic” contract agreement. As was the case in Los Angeles, the previous Oakland contract had expired in June 2017. The strike lasted the same amount of time. Both were settled after mediation by outside...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. A day after a state fact-finding panel released its report, the Oakland Education Association announced a strike date of Feb. 21. On its face, this seems strange. The union released a press statement with the headline “Factfinding Recommendations Endorse OEA’s Bargaining Positions.” The district released a statement...

While the recent release of information about California’s lowest-performing schools, including more than 100 campuses in L.A. Unified that require intervention, is alarming, what we really need to ask is how committed school officials, educators, administrators and their unions are to improving student academic outcomes, starting now. Now is the time for parents and community-based organizations...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. The stage is set for what promises to be the largest and most expensive ballot initiative campaign in California history. The State Council of the California Teachers Association voted last week to support the Schools and Local Communities Funding Act, a measure scheduled for the November 2020...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Members of the Oakland Education Association voted to authorize a strike by a margin of 2,206 to 105, the union announced Monday. A fact-finding report is not due to be issued until the middle of the month, so a potential strike probably cannot be launched until after...