Thanks to Janus, government unions have an opportunity to reboot for the better, but they are faced with a choice: Will they continue prioritizing political objectives unrelated to meeting the needs of their members? Or will they be more attentive and responsive to professional interests?...
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School may be out but the recent Supreme Court ruling that public employees cannot be forced to pay union fees has cut the teachers unions' summer vacation short. Kate Walsh of the National Council on Teacher Quality explains why in a pointed column on the opinion pages of the Star Tribune. After the high court sided with Janus in Janus vs. AFSCME, public-sector workers will no longer be required to contribute to their unions, something nearly half of all states — including Minnesota — require regardless of whether teachers choose to belong to the union. The nation’s largest union, the National...
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The National Education Association, the country's largest teachers' union, held its annual convention in Minneapolis this year, beginning in late June and ending in early July. The convention was attended by 8,000 or more delegates from around the country. It began just a day or two after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, holding that governments cannot force public employees to contribute to unions against their will. We wrote here about the fact that we greeted NEA delegates with two billboards, one on Highway 35W and one on Highway 94: Were the billboards effective? This is...
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In the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark Janus ruling, unions are in a state of outrage as workers are now allowed to leave. Pro-union media is raining down accusations of racism and authoritarianism on the part of SCOTUS, in attempt to to frighten union workers into maintaining their memberships. Fortunately, the facts remain, and after the media hype subsides, long term positive change is slated to take place. ...
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Conservative speaker Ben Shapiro just might get the last word in against the University of Minnesota after all--in a federal courtroom. The U of M refused to let the popular young speaker appear on the main campus in February, citing public safety concerns in off-loading the event to a venue with half the capacity on the St. Paul campus. American Experiment was among those warning that university administrators were teeing up a potentially lucrative First Amendment lawsuit at the expense of Minnesota taxpayers and free speech. The University of Minnesota continues to go out of its way to marginalize conservatives on campus. Perhaps the...
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“There’s an adult sphere and there’s a sphere for children,” said Kim Crockett, vice president of the think tank Center for the American Experiment. “It is very clear to me that the St. Paul Library has forgotten that.”...
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The national teachers' union (NEA) convention is in Minneapolis this year. While the rest of America is celebrating Independence Day, the teachers' union is conducting a day of business at the convention center. If teachers want to influence their union, they have to spend time away from their families and friends. Like it us just any other day of the week....
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Marxist philosophy, abortion, gun control, open borders and transgender advancement were among the political ideas marketed to educators and their classrooms last weekend at the National Education Association (NEA) annual union meeting, hosted at the Minneapolis Convention Center. As teachers perused booths retailing titles such as “Marxist Education,” “A World to Win, the Life and Works of Karl Marx,” and “How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America,” some attendees questioned the legitimacy of the union as a representative body. As one vendor put it, “do you really think that the average joe, like a normal guy just off the street would come in...
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Of $31 million distributed from the Permanent School Fund in 2017, 52% went to metropolitan area school districts. The vast majority of these funds were generated from mining. This begs the question, why should Twin Cities liberals get to benefit from an industry they don't support?...
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I am not at all unsympathetic to hungry kids if they have incompetent and/or neglectful parents. But this is not a proper expenditure or activity for any public school. Period. This gives a whole new meaning to in loco parentis. These schools have operational deficits and massive unfunded pension liabilities. Even if you could accept the argument that schools should feed kids year-round, and I do not, we do not have the money. The good news is local charities are involved; it should stop there. ...
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