Low-income, minority, immigrant, ESL, disabled, at-risk kids

Aug 14, 2020
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** Faces of Classroom Closures
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John,

These are faces of school closures: Yesterday, the LA Times released ([link removed]) a survey of 45 school districts in the region, revealing the disproportionate impact that classroom closures have had on low-income communities. The expose, titled, “A generation left behind? Online learning cheats poor students,” highlights just how tough closures have been on those without the necessary technology for virtual learning. “The longer this goes on, the longer the pendulum swings to where this could be a generation that’s really left behind,” said Beth Tarasawa, of the education group NWEA. The disproportionate consequences of online learning on low-income families undercuts the UTLA's position ([link removed]) that it's reopening classrooms that hurts the most vulnerable

Victims of school closures include immigrants, ESL, and disabled families: NBC News covered ([link removed]) the Center for American Liberty’s ongoing lawsuit against Gov. Newsom for refusing to reopen schools and profiled some struggling families: Marianne Bema, a Cameroonian immigrant, said she can’t afford a tutor. "I'm not a professional teacher. My boys have been struggling." Their "lives stopped" when schools closed says Christina Ruiz, who has three sons, including two with autism. "They've got no learning whatsoever.”

And children at risk of abuse: The New York Times published ([link removed]) an expose about the consequences of school shutdowns on at-risk kids in California. “The pandemic has cut many children off from routine interactions with teachers, counselors, and doctors who are required by law to report signs of abuse or neglect. (Indeed, calls to child abuse hotlines have plummeted nationwide.)”

Parent Union rally in LA: CPC’s Parent Union is hosting another rally to reopen classrooms next Wednesday at 5 pm. This one’s in LA, outside the teachers union’s headquarters. Featured speakers include Will Witt of PragerU. Find out more details to attend here ([link removed]) .

Oh, the irony: EdSource reports ([link removed]) this week that one of the bargaining holdups to California teachers resuming instruction is teachers union demands for pay for teachers’ childcare. The gall! While we struggle at home trying to balance work and kids, schools, which should offer us some respite, remain closed partially because of demands that taxpayers pay for the childcare of teachers?!

The award for the lamest teachers union coronavirus PR stunt goes to…: The PR firms on teachers unions’ payroll are working overtime when it comes to coming up with stunts to generate sympathetic media coverage of their refusal to return to the classroom. In his latest piece ([link removed]) , CPC Contributor Larry Sand gives out his Edu-Razzies, “the educational equivalent of Razzies ([link removed]) , awards that honor the worst cinematic under-achievements of the year”:

The Edu-Razzie in drama goes to the Metro Nashville Education Association which held a “die-in” a couple of weeks ago at a Nashville farmers’ market. Their suitably apocalyptic message is that “Dead students can’t learn. Dead teachers can’t teach.” Other candidates for the dubious award were the St. Paul and Minneapolis teachers unions which recently organized a march to the governor’s residence. Teachers carried signs that read “I can’t teach from a grave” and “Exactly how many dead kids is (sic) acceptable?

Driving Uber and Lyft out of Cali: This week, Uber and left said ([link removed]) that if a California court doesn’t overturn or delay its ruling forcing them to reclassify drivers, which use their software to find rides, as employees, with all the baggage that carries, then they’ll have to suspend their services in the state. At what point will their drivers and riders follow Uber east on I-10?

Speaking of driving employment opportunities out of state: A new statewide bill ([link removed].) to create a wealth tax on California job creators was announced in the State Assembly this week. People subject to the wealth tax would report it to the Franchise Tax Board along with their income taxes. They would have to report all assets including stock in publicly and privately traded corporations; interests in partnerships, private equity or hedge funds; cash, bonds and savings accounts; mutual funds, futures and options; art and collectibles; offshore financial assets, pension funds, non-mortgage debt, real property and mortgage debt."

Government funding gobbled up by public-sector compensation: The Sacramento Bee reports ([link removed]) that Sacramento County spent less than three percent of its federal coronavirus bailout funds on public health, as (at least, ostensibly) intended. The majority went to pay for the Sheriff’s payroll. Government aid invariably means propping up public-sector compensation.

The public union mafia: Dan Walters writes ([link removed]) in CalMatters this week about how the coronavirus crisis has amplified the problems with public-sector unions:

California’s public employee pension dilemma boils down to this: The California Public Employees Retirement System has scarcely two-thirds of the money it needs to pay benefits that state and local governments have promised their workers….

Meanwhile, CalPERS’ demands for more money from state and local governments is hitting their budgets even harder these days because tax revenues have been eroded by the COVID-19’s recession. They force employers to dip into reserves, shift funds from other services, ask their voters to raise taxes or even borrow money to pay pension debts.

When labor unions complain about their pensions: The California Teachers Association, which bargains for state teachers, is complaining about its CTA pensions. These aren't teachers. They're the activists who roam the state arguing that teacher pay and benefits (including pensions) need to be higher. In his latest piece ([link removed]) , CPC contributor Edward Ring points out that “the CTA management and workforce can use this opportunity to ask themselves: why on earth did we think we were entitled to a defined benefit retirement plan so much better than the teachers we represent?”

It’s Kamala: This week Joe Biden picked (to quote ([link removed]) President Obama ) “by far, the best looking [former] attorney general in the country,” Kamala Harris, California’s junior U.S. Senator, as his running mate. On the latest episode ([link removed]) of National Review’s Radio Free California, CPC Board Member David Bahnsen and CPC President Will Swaim consider Kamala on something more important than her looks -- her record as an authoritarian eager to use her political power to attack capitalism and to jail the innocent.

Kamala Harris has baggage: The press portrays Sen. Harris as a moderate, smart pick. Please. She has a significant history of statism that will alienate conservatives, liberals, and especially libertarians.

The Wall Street Journal explains ([link removed]) in an editorial this week how Harris used her political power as California AG to block a hospital rescue because her union paymasters opposed the deal. Reason magazine has a great profile ([link removed]) of Harris’s longstanding violations of civil liberties, including supporting jailing parents of truant kids.

And the Daily Mail has a splashy piece ([link removed]) (as if the Mail has any other kind) recounting how Harris embarked on a romantic relationship as a 29-year-old with Willie Brown, 31 years her senior, California’s then-State Assembly Speaker and one of the state’s most powerful politicians. The article explains how she used this relationship to springboard her career with plum political postings received from him.

The mainstream media gatekeepers claim that mentioning this political relationship is sexist. Perhaps. It’s certainly the case that, traditionally, far more men have been in positions of political power. Ultimately, though, that decision will be made on Election Day by the overwhelming majority of voters who didn’t receive special favors to get to where they are.

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Jordan Bruneau
Communications Director
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])



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