… it is political, and it is about tearing down society and implementing an agenda that will finish off our liberty, our freedom, for generations.

From the California Globe: LA Teachers Union: Schools Can’t Reopen Unless Charter Schools Shut Down, Police Defunded

In what appears to be a labor union power play, the United Teachers Los Angeles union announced Friday that Los Angeles Unified District schools effectively cannot reopen unless certain conditions are met: privately operated publicly funded charter schools are shut down, police are defunded, Medicare-for-All government-run health care is passed, a statewide wealth tax is implemented, housing for homeless is fully funded, “financial Support for Undocumented Students and Families,” and they want a federal bailout because “the CARES and HEROES Acts provided funding for K-12, both fell far short of what would be needed to rescue districts and state and local governments.” The source cited for this claim is the National Education Association, the largest labor union and special interest group in the United States.

The teachers were sent home because of the virus.  We’ve been told schools are to stay closed because of the virus. We are told that teachers in Texas schools are writing their wills because they claim that they will die if forced to have physical contact with students (yes, teach in classrooms!). We are told that teachers across the country are planning to have strikes and protests and file legal action against “life-threatening” conditions. Even in small and relatively rural districts in “red” states.

But this goes beyond that. This is NOT about public health but about political agendas. Look at the list:

1. Defund the police – which automatically means getting them out of schools, as Denver has already done.
2. Close all privately-operated charter schools (since by definition, ALL chartered schools are publicly funded).
3. Establish “Medicare-for-All” (a proposed FEDERAL, not state or local, progream).
4. Tax WEALTH – not income – in all of California: not a soak-the-rich, but a form of nationalization.
5. “Fully fund” housing for the homeless – really expanding the existing aid to homeless just as their government-funded single-payer health system expands Medicaid and Medicare.
6. Financial support for undocumented students and families – border jumpers. Obviously this is much more than just free education and free meals: presumably a massive expansion in welfare.
7. MORE Federal bailout money for schools – even while they do NOT actually teach anyone much, use their buildings, or do much work despite getting paid. This is in addition to the billions in the CARES and HEROES acts. Given the lack of classroom teaching, this amounts to massive welfare for the teachers and administrators.

This has nothing to do directly with the pandemic or their panic over reopening of schools closed to “flatten the curve.” This is just opportunism: they believe that with the Panic, the Lockdown, and now the Twenty-dollar Rebellion, the “progressives” have the upper hand and can demand this Santa Claus wish list.

(Either that, or they are actively encouraging the collapse of Los Angeles, their State, and out-migration of millions of Californians, Californian business and workers. Oh, dear, oh dear.)

At the same time, by refusing to return to personal teaching duties, they are accelerating the already rapidly growing movement to home-school students. And at the same time, likely facilitating the creation of “illegal” private, completely unregulated schools as parents seek something. Which means that they are, certainly unintentionally, seeking to destroy their own profession. Shocking! (And a good thing.)

Notice that many of these matters are NOT within the ability of the school district, or even the City of Los Angeles or Los Angeles County to do. They do not have the authority to do so. (Perhaps if they were to secede from the Union or California? THAT doesn’t hurt my feelings in the least.)

It doesn’t matter whether the School Board, or the County Board of Supervisors, or even Newsom and the General Assembly cave into their demands or not. If even half of these things are put into effect JUST as the State level, it is a severe blow to California’s economy and society.

Even if none of these demands are met, the teachers have further alienated parents and taxpayers, and many staffers who are wage-grade, not salaried, in the school system and supporting companies. In particular, more and more parents will be pushed into homeschooling, and private schooling (legally or illegally).

These are, of course, not victories in the short-term OR long-term for the teachers themselves, however their union spins it.

Again, that does not bother me or other lovers of liberty in the least. (I can feel concern for the drastic disruption families and communities will face, of course. But the benefits of getting out from under the burden and thumb of government-ruined, theft-funded schools are obvious. And far outweigh the inconvenience.)

It appears that these teachers – or at least their union bosses – really believe that they have the political clout and support of enough people to do this. Are they stupid, or has society decayed so much?

I don’t know, but I do know the less anyone – especially children – has to do with their kind, and with public schools in general – the better. If you haven’t already, get your children OUT.