Teachers Unions
Charter Schools
NEW BRIEF: New Obstacles Hinder Students Trapped in Failing Schools From Escaping to Charter Schools
Political interests, teachers unions and legislators are thwarting new and existing charter schools, and parents and students must use every available tool to fight back, argues a new research brief released today by the Pacific Research Institute, a California-based, nonpartisan think tank. Click here to download the brief ...
Lance Izumi
January 5, 2021
Commentary
Would-be Education Secretary Lily Garcia Should Meet Mia Giordano
Lily Eskelsen Garcia, the former teachers union boss who wants to be Joe Biden’s education secretary, has been slammed for her disparaging comments about learning-disabled children. Garcia should meet Mia Giordano, a young woman who overcame her learning disabilities outside of the conventional public school system. Garcia, who headed the ...
Lance Izumi
December 17, 2020
Blog
Nevada Experience Shows Charter and Private Schools Could Lose Out on Covid-19 Funds
On December 3rd, in a live CNN interview with Jake Tapper, president-elect Joe Biden declared his plans to re-open elementary schools nation-wide. After speaking with the leaders of the teacher unions, he determined that sanitization, ventilation, and more teachers (for smaller pods of students) would cost $100 billion nationwide, for ...
McKenzie Richards
December 17, 2020
Charter Schools
PRI’s Lance Izumi Featured in Article on DeVos Interview
Lance Izumi, senior director of the Pacific Research Institute’s Center for Education, recently interviewed U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and covered the importance of expanding school choice opportunities for every student in America, school re-openings following the COVID-19 pandemic, and the President’s education reform agenda. Izumi is the author ...
Katy Grimes
October 21, 2020
Distance Learning
Lance Izumi Quoted in Los Angeles Times on School Reopenings
California teacher unions fight calls to reopen schools By Howard Blume As parents express widespread dissatisfaction with distance learning, two influential California teachers unions are pushing against growing momentum to reopen schools in many communities, saying that campuses are not yet safe enough amid the pandemic. Leaders with the California ...
Pacific Research Institute
October 16, 2020
Blog
While California Wars Against Charter Schools, Harvard Finds Charter Performance Growth
Like in so many policy areas, California is going in the wrong direction when it comes to charter schools. But while Sacramento is making it hard for charters to grow, a new Harvard University study finds charter-school students are learning more than their regular public school peers. Last year, the ...
Lance Izumi
September 28, 2020
Charter Schools
California Cheats Charter School Students of Funding Again
The 2020-21 state budget signed back in June by Governor Newsom glaringly failed to fund growing regular public schools and public charter schools. A purported “fix” to this problem, pushed by the governor and Democrat legislators, turns out to be just more Sacramento smoke and mirrors. The budget for the ...
Lance Izumi
September 17, 2020
California
Lance Izumi Discusses Teacher Union Role on COVID-19 School Shutdowns
Lance Izumi, Pacific Research Institute’s senior fellow in education, joins the Phil Cowan Show on AM 1380 The Answer with guest host Katy Grimes, to discuss the current state of education due to COVID-19 and the impact of the coronavirus. Izumi and Grimes also discuss some of the more egregious ...
Lance Izumi
September 14, 2020
Charter Schools
With Teacher Unions Blocking Reopening, Parents Seek Alternative Schools
Across the country, teacher unions are demanding that school reopenings be postponed and many state and local officials are acquiescing to those demands, which is fueling greater interest among parents in school-choice alternatives. In Florida, the state teachers union has sued to block school reopenings scheduled for the end of August. In ...
Lance Izumi
August 13, 2020
Charter Schools
Charters Are Pivoting to Online Education Better than Traditional Schools
With conventional schools shut down because of COVID-19, school officials are scrambling to provide students with education services through the use of online-learning tools. However, some types of schools are having greater success in transitioning to online education, and often those schools are charter schools. First, it is noteworthy that ...
Lance Izumi
May 11, 2020
NEW BRIEF: New Obstacles Hinder Students Trapped in Failing Schools From Escaping to Charter Schools
Political interests, teachers unions and legislators are thwarting new and existing charter schools, and parents and students must use every available tool to fight back, argues a new research brief released today by the Pacific Research Institute, a California-based, nonpartisan think tank. Click here to download the brief ...
Would-be Education Secretary Lily Garcia Should Meet Mia Giordano
Lily Eskelsen Garcia, the former teachers union boss who wants to be Joe Biden’s education secretary, has been slammed for her disparaging comments about learning-disabled children. Garcia should meet Mia Giordano, a young woman who overcame her learning disabilities outside of the conventional public school system. Garcia, who headed the ...
Nevada Experience Shows Charter and Private Schools Could Lose Out on Covid-19 Funds
On December 3rd, in a live CNN interview with Jake Tapper, president-elect Joe Biden declared his plans to re-open elementary schools nation-wide. After speaking with the leaders of the teacher unions, he determined that sanitization, ventilation, and more teachers (for smaller pods of students) would cost $100 billion nationwide, for ...
PRI’s Lance Izumi Featured in Article on DeVos Interview
Lance Izumi, senior director of the Pacific Research Institute’s Center for Education, recently interviewed U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and covered the importance of expanding school choice opportunities for every student in America, school re-openings following the COVID-19 pandemic, and the President’s education reform agenda. Izumi is the author ...
Lance Izumi Quoted in Los Angeles Times on School Reopenings
California teacher unions fight calls to reopen schools By Howard Blume As parents express widespread dissatisfaction with distance learning, two influential California teachers unions are pushing against growing momentum to reopen schools in many communities, saying that campuses are not yet safe enough amid the pandemic. Leaders with the California ...
While California Wars Against Charter Schools, Harvard Finds Charter Performance Growth
Like in so many policy areas, California is going in the wrong direction when it comes to charter schools. But while Sacramento is making it hard for charters to grow, a new Harvard University study finds charter-school students are learning more than their regular public school peers. Last year, the ...
California Cheats Charter School Students of Funding Again
The 2020-21 state budget signed back in June by Governor Newsom glaringly failed to fund growing regular public schools and public charter schools. A purported “fix” to this problem, pushed by the governor and Democrat legislators, turns out to be just more Sacramento smoke and mirrors. The budget for the ...
Lance Izumi Discusses Teacher Union Role on COVID-19 School Shutdowns
Lance Izumi, Pacific Research Institute’s senior fellow in education, joins the Phil Cowan Show on AM 1380 The Answer with guest host Katy Grimes, to discuss the current state of education due to COVID-19 and the impact of the coronavirus. Izumi and Grimes also discuss some of the more egregious ...
With Teacher Unions Blocking Reopening, Parents Seek Alternative Schools
Across the country, teacher unions are demanding that school reopenings be postponed and many state and local officials are acquiescing to those demands, which is fueling greater interest among parents in school-choice alternatives. In Florida, the state teachers union has sued to block school reopenings scheduled for the end of August. In ...
Charters Are Pivoting to Online Education Better than Traditional Schools
With conventional schools shut down because of COVID-19, school officials are scrambling to provide students with education services through the use of online-learning tools. However, some types of schools are having greater success in transitioning to online education, and often those schools are charter schools. First, it is noteworthy that ...