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Analysis: Los Angeles pays a steep price for labor peace. Will the war continue anyway?
Los Angeles teachers have much to cheer about. Less than a month after the district’s school support workers received a contract with 30% salary increases, United Teachers Los Angeles came away with a mammoth deal of its own. On April 13, the district made what it called a “historic offer” of 19% in pay hikes...
By Mike Antonucci | April 27, 2023
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Analysis: Here we go again — L.A. adds instructional days to fight learning loss, union balks
April 3 and 4 marked the last two of four “acceleration days” for students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The optional extra tutoring was designed to help make up for instruction lost during COVID school closures. Of course, things didn’t work out as planned. United Teachers Los Angeles voted to boycott the extra...
By Mike Antonucci | April 10, 2023
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Analysis: Settling L.A. strike causes future problems while trying to solve past ones
If you’ve ever read a science fiction story, you know the dangers of time travel. Someone returns to the past and alters something that completely remakes the present and the future, usually with disastrous effect. So it went last month with Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. Carvalho was forced to shutter schools...
By Mike Antonucci | April 3, 2023
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Analysis: As schools close for 3-day walkout, could L.A. strike accelerate learning loss?
The vast majority of Los Angeles Unified School District employees will not be at work for most of this week, leading to the closure of schools. SEIU Local 99, which represents 30,000 support workers, called a strike because of what it calls unfair labor practices by the district. United Teachers Los Angeles, which represents 32,000...
By Mike Antonucci | March 21, 2023
Investigation: Nearly 1,000 Native Children Died in Federal Boarding Schools
Podcast: What a Mentorship Mindset Can Do for Student Motivation
Black and Hispanic Voters Say Democrats Aren’t Focused Enough on K-12 Education
Teen Activist Rhea Maniar on the Power of Abortion to Turn Out Young Voters
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Analysis: California teachers unions spending at least $2.8 million on school board elections this year
The political action committee of the California Teachers Association is making a heavy financial commitment to endorsed school board candidates in the state, with LA Unified candidate Rocio Rivas its largest beneficiary. The CTA/ABC statewide PAC funds candidates for all state and legislative offices, but it also provides the bulk of campaign contributions for local...
By Mike Antonucci | November 7, 2022
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Analysis: California Teachers Union expects to lose 4,000 members, gain $2.3M
It has been the best of times and the worst of times for the California Teachers Association. When the COVID crisis hit, the union received a bunch of protections from the governor and the legislature, including a layoff ban and funding based on pre-COVID enrollment levels. Most districts kept schools closed until fall 2021, in...
By Mike Antonucci | June 28, 2022
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Analysis: The Clovis, California, faculty senate is a model of nonunion representation. The state teachers union is looking to change that
For the last 45 years, teachers unions have been the predominant political force in California, using their clout from the governor’s office down to the state’s 1,037 school districts. Except for one: the Clovis Unified School District, just north of Fresno. While there are a number of tiny districts in California without a teachers union,...
By Mike Antonucci | April 22, 2021
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Analysis: California’s state budget has big benefits for teachers union, stifles charter schools and funds phantom students
Students of civics might think the California state budget is crafted by the elected representatives of the citizenry, who debate and amend proposals working their way through various committees, ultimately leading to a spending plan with majority support and the signature of the governor. All that happens, of course, but no budget makes it to...
By Mike Antonucci | August 10, 2020
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Analysis: National Education Association abruptly endorses Joe Biden, angering Sanders supporters
Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive. The National Education Association finally threw its weight into the Democratic presidential primaries, announcing Saturday night that it recommended Joe Biden for the nomination. A Biden endorsement is hardly a surprise; he is an establishment candidate, and NEA is a major player in the...
By Mike Antonucci | March 17, 2020
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Analysis: Teacher unions in Oakland and Richmond join United Teachers Los Angeles in endorsing Bernie Sanders
Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Two Bay Area teacher union locals followed the lead of United Teachers Los Angeles and endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. The Oakland Education Association (2,605 active members) and United Teachers of Richmond (1,666 active members) issued...
By Mike Antonucci | February 12, 2020