Tag "California Teachers Association"

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Push for weaker requirements for reading teachers quickly stalls

The California Teachers Association is having one of its best sessions in years, winning support for a crackdown on charter schools and unusual direct state assistance for districts to pay for ballooning pension costs – freeing up money for teacher

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Union dues ruling by Supreme Court not a CTA headache yet

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in the Janus v. AFSCME case that public employees couldn’t be compelled to pay union dues was widely seen as a game-changing moment in U.S. politics. The coverage on The Atlantic website was typical.

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In school superintendent race, it’s Democratic reformer vs. union ally

The 2018 race for state superintendent of public instruction may not have an incumbent but is likely to feel like an encore of the 2014 race, pitting a Democrat aligned with the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of

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Big money readies for fight over tax extension

A hospital association just pumped $12.5 million into an effort to extend a tax on top earners — a tax that’s provided billions of dollars in education funding since 2012. In fact, the California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems quadrupled its investment

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Union funding endangered by pending Supreme Court case

The average K-12 teacher in California pays at least $30,000 in union dues over the course of a 30-year career, at a minimum of $1,000 a year. But not all teachers want to pay that much; 12,212 teachers in 2014

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SCOTUS hears CA Friedrichs case

After years of mounting controversy over compulsory unionization, public pensions and other labor issues,  California has sent the Supreme Court a case that could change the power of unions in America overnight. As the court hears oral arguments, the challenge has made

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Initiatives filed to extend Prop. 30 tax hikes

California’s temporary income tax hikes aren’t set to expire until 2018, but that hasn’t stopped Sacramento special interest groups from laying the groundwork for campaigns to extend Proposition 30. In recent months, sponsors of tax increases have filed the necessary

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CA unions brace for SCOTUS hearing on dues

Faced with the greatest legal challenge to their core source of revenue, California unions have braced for defeat and scrambled for alternatives. Some time after its new term begins this month, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Friedrichs v.

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Unique “behested” campaign donations prop up nonprofits, political endeavors in growing numbers

Donations to special interests on behalf of statewide officeholders have grown from $250,000 in 2000 to $4.9 million so far this year, records show. The donations, which can be solicited by the charity or the officeholder, are unlimited and need

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Special contracts allow ‘full-time’ teachers to work for both union and district

It’s been called “ghost teaching,” and it thrives in California. Full-time teachers are paid six-figure salaries to work for their union while keeping their school district seniority and pensions afloat. The dual work arrangements are built into union contracts. “This

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