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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill on Sunday, as he previously said he would, to bar the two biggest U.S. public pension funds from investing in companies doing business in Iran. The bill, which affects the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System, comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran. Schwarzenegger's office had issued an announcement last month stating he would sign the bill while he was in New York as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was appearing at Columbia University. "I couldn't be more proud to sign this bill," Schwarzenegger echoed...

Rosen: Education's union label May 18, 2007 Back in February, I wrote in this space about Senate Bill 73. Sponsored by a freshman Democrat, Sen. Chris Romer, it would have required Colorado public schools to adopt competency in the English language as a graduation requirement for high school students starting in 2012. The merits of this are so obvious, it's a sad commentary on our public schools that such legislation would even be necessary. But remarkably, the knee-jerk reaction to Romer's bill by Democrats who represent the interests of the teachers' unions in the state legislature was nothing short of...

Supreme Court to hear teacher porn issue Madison - The state Supreme Court will decide whether pornographic images found on the school computer of a fired Cedarburg teacher should be made public, attorneys in the case said today. Robert Zellner, a Cedarburg High School teacher who was fired in January for viewing pornography on his computer, filed a court action to stop 1,500 "adult images" found on his computer from being released. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had requested the release under the state open records act. An Ozaukee County Circuit Court judge ruled that the images are a public record,...

It's nothing unusual for a sixth grade class to be assigned a book to read -- usually something like Huck Finn. But a book that a Baker Middle School teacher suggested for her 6th graders is raising eyebrows and tempers. WAFB's Paul Gates investigated, and found a novel filled with sexually explicit scenes -- including men having sex together. Roberta Townsend says her 6th grade, 11-year-old daughter came home from Baker Middle with the name and author of a book her social studies teacher suggested the students should read. She says her daughter related the teacher's instructions: "She told them...

The American Association of University Professors is trying to spin the results of a poll it conducted to make it look like a ringing repudiation of the Academic Bill of Rights crafted by author and activist David Horowitz. “They do have an instinctive feel and sense that the kind of legislation that Horowitz is advancing is just not acceptable,” AAUP General Secretary Roger Bowen told the Chronicle of Higher Education. What the AAUP is trumpeting is the poll result that shows that about 80 percent of those questioned do not believe that “The government should control what gets taught in...

"The more you know, the less you need." "Think globally, act locally." These are just two of dozens of bumper stickers that Jack Powell has carefully arranged on his white van. They've become stuck in his psyche as well. A longtime singer and guitarist with the Zucchini Brothers and a substitute teaching assistant for Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES, Powell has lived frugally for years. He works about three days a week as a sub, earning about $70 a day, with no benefits. From March to October, he rides his bike 20 miles to work when work is available. Sometimes he works for...

Article Launched: 3/10/2006 01:43 PM Controversial teacher keeps job By DenverPost.com A Cherry Creek social studies teacher will not lose his job, after a student went public with a tape recording of controversial comments the teacher had made in class. Superintendent Monte C. Moses said Jay Bennish will be reinstated to his job at Overland High School, and will be teaching on Monday. At a news conference this afternoon, Moses said Bennish doesn't deserve to be praised, nor does he deserve to be fired. "Jay Bennish has promise as a teacher, but his practice and deportment need growth and refinement,"...

"The teachers united will never be defeated!" chanted thousands of public-school teachers at a union rally. They may be right -- unfortunately. Teachers unions in this country are very influential because they can assemble a crowd. Randi Weingarten, head of New York's teachers union, put out the word, and thousands of teachers filled Madison Square Garden to demand a new contract and more money. That clout brings timid politicians into line. The unions can pay for expensive rallies at "the world's most famous arena" because every teacher in a unionized district like New York must give up some of his...

The New York City teachers union has decided not to stage a demonstration at ABC's offices on Feb. 14 to protest John Stossel's recent 20/20 feature criticizing the public education system, Stossel said in an email to viewers of the show on Thursday. "They are apparently planning something else," he wrote. "Stay tuned." Earlier in the week, Stossel said that he had been scheduled to receive an award from the union's Social Studies Conference "for the oustanding work which you have done for social causes." However, he said, after the broadcast the union wrote a letter withdrawing the invitation and...

$10 million spent annually by district for classroom subs... Driven by parental concerns about teacher absenteeism, the Chicago Public Schools for the first time will start scrutinizing schools with high numbers of teachers taking sick days. On any given school day in Chicago, an average of 1,500 teachers, about 6 percent of the teaching staff, call in sick or take a personal day, according to a Tribune analysis of teacher payroll records. The absentee rate is highest on Fridays, when an average of 1,800 teachers don't show... For each of the last six school years, Chicago teachers missed an average...

A Woodside High School girls basketball coach charged with molesting a teenage girl had two prior "peeping Tom" convictions that school officials said they did not know about, authorities said. Guy Hayman, who was Woodside's coach from 1997 until he was fired last week, was convicted in 1991 and again in 2000 of peering into homes occupied by women. But a background check required for school employment failed to raise a red flag about Hayman, school officials said. Hayman, arrested last week, has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of child molestation and 41 misdemeanor counts of annoyance of...

DEMOCRATS TRAP BLACK CHILDREN IN FAILING SCHOOLS For Immediate Release Contact: Frances Rice National Black Republican Association 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 900-S Washington, DC 20004 (202) 638-6940 (202) 639-8238 Fax NBRA websiteDEMOCRATS TRAP BLACK CHILDREN IN FAILING SCHOOLS Washington, D.C. - January 7, 2006 - On the heels of a protest rally by Democrats in Florida to shut down a privately funded program that gives school choice vouchers or "opportunity scholarships" to black parents, the liberal Florida Supreme Court ended the state-sponsored opportunity scholarship program, slamming the door in the face of black parents. The National Black Republican Association...

Teachers reject union; form independent professional association Teachers in the Sprague-Lamont School District (an hour west of Spokane) voted October 10 to decertify the Washington Education Association (WEA) as their collective bargaining representative. Led by science teacher Jim Dishon, the teachers formed a local professional organization, the Sprague-Lamont Professional Educators Association. The teachers received assistance from Northwest Professional Educators, a non-union, non-profit professional educators association based in Spokane. Michael Reitz, the director of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation's Labor Policy Center, released the following comment: "The National Education Association and its local affiliate, the Washington Education Association, disrespect teachers by overcharging...

Seniors are on their own this fall at College Park High School. After more than a year of contentious contract negotiations, teachers at the Pleasant Hill high school are refusing to write letters of recommendation for college-bound students. "I am very sad, very concerned and yes, very angry," said parent Susan Wood, her voice shaking with emotion as she addressed the school board Tuesday night. "The teachers at College Park have now resolved to write no letters of recommendation and do no club advising, after-school tutoring, chaperone dances, athletic functions. All of this is very negatively impacting my daughter and...

Federal authorities say the Maryland State Teachers Association broke labor laws by "threatening and coercing" employees who sought company benefits denied by the union. According to the National Labor Relations Board ruling last week, the teachers union must stop such unfair practices as reprimanding workers petitioning for employment benefits or job reassignments and must post notices stating it violated labor laws. The union, a National Education Association affiliate, is Maryland's largest union and represents about 60,000 public school employees.

AUSTIN – Thousands of college graduates with no teacher training are expected to be put in charge of classrooms this fall under a controversial plan approved Friday to ease the state's teacher shortage. The plan creates a new two-year teaching certificate that allows college graduates to become instant teachers in grades eight through 12 if they pass a state test and their degree is related to the subjects they would teach. State Board of Education members cleared the plan on Friday even though a bare majority was against it. Opponents on the 15-member board were two votes short of the...

The state teachers union went to court Thursday to shut down an online education program popular with hundreds of home-schooling families. Education Minnesota argues that state officials erred when they certified Minnesota Virtual Academy to receive public funding because the school relies mainly on parents to deliver the instruction while state law requires that licensed teachers do the teaching. “Is it public education or are we funding home schooling?’’ asked Education President Judy Schaubach. “Parents can make a choice to home school their children. But what we are talking about is what is the definition of public education.’’ State education...

<p>April 19, 2003 -- TWENTY years ago this month, an ad hoc commission established by then-Education Secretary Terrell H. Bell released a report entitled "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform." The report quickly became the most widely discussed educational reform blueprint in American history. One sentence in the report summarized the commission's take on the status of American education: "If an unfriendly power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war."</p>

READ HOW EFF IS NAILING THE UNION IN WASHINGTON The Evergreen Freedom Foundation just reported that the NEA is giving some dues money back to 4,000 teachers in the state of Washington. The good news comes on the heels of the million dollars in fines and assessement charged to the Washington Education Association for taking member dues and using them for RAT political purposes without permission. We need to replicate the success of EFF across the country. I have checked a district near me. Some of the schools have all the teachers listed as well as e-mail to each ...