Education
Keeping Teachers in the Classroom
Given our still-sputtering economy, Americans have grown used to their public schools facing tight budgets. This fiscal squeeze has drawn out a hidden crisis in public education: How do we…
Commentary
Read More: Keeping Teachers in the ClassroomEducation
Top 5 Blog Posts of 2013
As 2013 winds to a close, we thought we’d run down the top stories of the past year. Here are Commonwealth Foundation’s top 5 blog posts, as chosen by you…
Media
Read More: Top 5 Blog Posts of 2013Public Union Democracy
PSEA Pours $3.8 Million Into Politics
In the last year, the Pennsylvania State Education Association poured $3.8 million of its members’ dues into “political activities and lobbying,” according to its 2013 financial disclosure report. That’s an…
Media
Read More: PSEA Pours $3.8 Million Into Politics
Your Union Dues Pay for PSEA Politics
As a teacher, you love being told what to think, right? That’s unlikely, but it’s exactly what the PSEA has been doing with union members across the state…
Media
Read More: Your Union Dues Pay for PSEA PoliticsPublic Union Democracy
Union Gave $650,000 from Teachers’ Dues to Anti-Republican Group
Remember the shadowy group, Pennsylvanians for Accountability, which ran “shell game” prime time attack ads on Gov. Tom Corbett for “bankrolling big tax cuts for his corporate backers”? The…
Media
Read More: Union Gave $650,000 from Teachers’ Dues to Anti-Republican GroupPublic Union Democracy
Union Dues Pay for PSEA Politics
“If you DON’T care about funds for your school…then by all means throw this away,” reads a June 2011 insert in PSEA Voice, the magazine of the 185,000-strong Pennsylvania…
Media
Read More: Union Dues Pay for PSEA PoliticsEducation
Union Dues Backing Political Groups Prompted My Resignation
This perspective on union spending by Pennsylvania public school teacher John Cress originally appeared at Free to Teach, a project of the Commonwealth Foundation. I have been a middle school…
Media
Read More: Union Dues Backing Political Groups Prompted My ResignationGovernment Accountability
Obama Supporter Soured by Obamacare Ordeal
Lynn Larrick doesn't fit the usual profile of someone angry with President Obama. She's a staunch Democrat, a retired Philadelphia teacher, and a union member. But when she—like more than…
Commentary
Read More: Obama Supporter Soured by Obamacare Ordeal
NEA Funding of Radical Groups Prompted my Resignation
I left my teachers union because I was against the forced funding of political groups that go against my personal beliefs. The NEA/PSEA’s agendas and political ideals are counter to…
Media
Read More: NEA Funding of Radical Groups Prompted my Resignation