Teachers unions have inadvertently done a lot to advance school choice
States looking to pass universal school choice in the new year: 'School choice revolution'
American Federation For Children Senior Fellow Corey DeAngelis told Fox News Digital that the teachers unions 'overplayed' their hand and awakened a sleeping giant, the parents, as red states look to pass universal school choice next year.
We’re in the middle of a school choice revolution. Eleven states have passed universal school-choice policies since 2021, and there are no signs of letting up.
This year, Alabama passed a universal school-choice bill. Georgia and Wyoming passed their first education savings account initiatives. And just last month, Louisiana’s House passed a universal school choice bill by a supermajority vote of 72 to 32.
At this point, education freedom advocates are winning so much, they’re tired of winning. Almost.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten (Reuters/Aaron P. Bernstein)
As I discuss in my new book, "The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids from the Radicals Ruining Our Schools," a school choice wave is sweeping the nation because families have woken up and are pushing back against the special interests that wish to selfishly protect their monopoly over the classroom at the expense of our children’s knowledge and development.
FLEXIBILITY FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS IS THE NEXT STEP FOR SCHOOL CHOICE
I dedicate the book to the many parents across the country who are courageously fighting for the essential right to choose the education that their children receive. But I also dedicate it to those who motivated these parents in the first place: the teachers unions.
Power-hungry unions held children’s education hostage to extract billions of dollars in ransom payments from taxpayers during COVID. In particular, the American Federation of Teachers, of which Randi Weingarten is president, threatened strikes over reopening schools in 2020. It even lobbied the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make it more difficult to reopen in person in 2021.
AFT’s local affiliates engaged in pathetic fear-mongering every step of the way. Chicago Teachers Union posted and later deleted a tweet claiming, "The push to reopen schools is rooted in sexism, racism and misogyny." The same union also made an embarrassing interpretative dance video to protest going back to work.
United Teachers Los Angeles included unrelated socialist demands in their report on reopening schools, including "Medicare-for-all," a wealth tax, and police-free schools. Teachers unions across the country used fake body bags, caskets and tombstones to fight to keep schools closed.
The teachers unions’ plan backfired. They overplayed their hand by fighting to keep schools closed. Through union-induced "remote learning" (which we should have called "remotely learning," because not a lot of learning was actually happening), families finally got to see first-hand what was happening in the classroom.
What many discovered is that the values of the schools were drastically out of line with their own.
Parents were shocked to find out schools were focused more on leftist indoctrination than education. That realization mobilized families to take back control of their children’s education. The radicals ruining our schools were not happy. They cut off mics at school board meetings and demonized parents, calling them "Nazis" and "domestic terrorists." They also dismissively instructed frustrated and upset parents to "leave."
Well, parents happily heeded that guidance. Millions exited public education – which should really be called the "government school system." Private school, charter school and homeschool enrollment skyrocketed. Families that didn’t have those options looked to legislation that would grant them the education freedom. Thus, the parent revolution kicked off.
SCHOOL CHOICE IS THE RIGHT ANSWER FOR A ‘FREE, DIVERSE, EQUAL, SOCIETY’: NEAL McCLUSKEY
I believe that Randi Weingarten knows she’s the person most singularly responsible for waking the sleeping giant. For the last few years, she has only rarely opened her posts on X (formerly Twitter) for comment. When she does, she’s rapidly bombarded by parents pushing back against her left-wing agenda. She then shutters her replies like she did schools.
I mailed Weingarten a signed, advance copy of the book. Hopefully she doesn’t close it as well. If she doesn’t learn from her mistakes, her neglect of parental rights in education will only further debilitate our democracy and devastate our children – the future of our nation.
To Randi Weingarten and the teachers unions.
You’re doing more to advance freedom in education than anyone could have ever imagined.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
Thank you for overplaying your hand, showing your true colors, and sparking the Parent Revolution.
America is beyond grateful.
I’d also like to dedicate this book to the sleeping giant awakened by the power-hungry unions: parents who want more of a say in their children’s education.
For far too long in K-12 education, the only special interests represented the employees – the adults – in the system.
But now, the kids have a union of their own: their parents.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE BY COREY DEANGELIS
Corey DeAngelis is a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children and a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He is the author of "The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids from the Radicals Ruining Our Schools" (Center Street, May 14).
