Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. In June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public-sector unions could no longer charge representation fees to nonmembers. The decision in Janus v. AFSCME was expected to have an immediate explosive effect. Unions had argued before the court that the loss of fees would be devastating,...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. You can’t get very far in the public education policy debate without coming across the pension issue. School districts are seeing a greater portion of their budgets going toward covering their obligations to retired employees. The fiscal pinch makes negotiating with current employees even more...

Helicopter parenting may seem like a faddish term that applies only to those who would do their child’s homework or sit out a detention on their behalf, but the rise of what psychologists call “overparenting” has become so pervasive that education experts have labeled it a crisis. While researchers and commentators tend to be aligned...

We know that Los Angeles voters believe in the importance of education. In 2002, nearly 64% of voters approved Measure K, which authorized $3.35 billion for school repairs and renovations. Six years later, voters overwhelmingly approved Measure Q, the largest local school bond in state history that allocated $7 billion for facilities. Additionally, Angelenos voted...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Voters in the Los Angeles Unified School District last week rejected a parcel tax designed to raise $500 million annually for district operations. Needing a two-thirds majority to pass, Measure EE failed to receive 46 percent of the vote. The measure had the support of...

I know what it is like for a whole community to feel invisible. Before I began my service on the L.A. Unified School District Board of Education in 2006 as just the third Latina elected in 155 years, questions about whether Latino/a students could succeed academically were answered only by assumptions due to our lack...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Back in 2014, the California Teachers Association generated a long-term strategic plan. Titled “Our Union, Our Future,” it described eight broad goals, including community engagement and coalition building, organizing unrepresented education workers and “transforming our profession.” In April, CTA assembled a working group of union officers, representatives...

To paraphrase the great philosopher Yogi Berra, education is 50 percent about teaching and learning and 90 percent about money and politics. On June 4, the voters of Los Angeles have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change that and put the focus squarely where it belongs – on LA’s children. Over three years ago, we participated...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Any debate about public education finances invariably devolves to whether we are spending enough “in the classroom” and how much “administrative bloat” there is. Textbooks, maintenance, facilities, curriculum and student programs all come under scrutiny, either to find savings or to fight for additional funding....