America’s education system faces serious challenges, and the federal law governing K-12 classrooms is overdue for reform. But instead of working with Congress to rewrite the law, the Obama administration is using conditional waivers and pet grant programs to compel states to adopt the president’s preferred education reforms. In fact, just last week the administration announced plans to further exp... Read more »
THE PROBLEM: Over the last four decades, the federal government’s role in K-12 education has increased dramatically. Despite tripling federal funding since 1965, student achievement has remained flat. Meanwhile, the Department of Education currently operates more than 80 programs tied to K-12 classrooms. Many of these programs are duplicative or ineffective, and each comes bundled with its own se... Read more »
THE PROBLEM: Studies have consistently shown teacher quality to be among the most influential factors in student academic achievement. Unfortunately, federal teacher policies, most notably the “Highly Qualified Teacher” mandates, value a teacher’s credentials over his or her ability to boost student learning. Under current law, an educator is considered “highly qualified” if he or she has earned ... Read more »
THE PROBLEM: Any effort to provide students with a quality education must include parents. Parental involvement can help drive innovation, competition, and school improvement. However, current federal policies often ignore the important role parents play, and can stand in the way of state and local efforts to engage parents in their child’s education. For example, under current law, states and sc... Read more »
THE PROBLEM: Enacted under President George W. Bush's administration with the promise to focus on individual student achievement and overall school performance, No Child Left Behind was heralded as groundbreaking. But after a decade of the law, we can now clearly identify its weaknesses. The "Adequate Yearly Progress" measurement restricts states' and school districts' ability to effectively gaug... Read more »
“Speculation.” That’s how Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius described concerns about ObamaCare’s impact on workers and employers. According to the secretary, the law is still being implemented and there is nothing to fear until next year. Unfortunately, the secretary’s flawed theory stands in sharp contrast to the harsh reality reported across the country. A new survey is the l... Read more »
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is marking up the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), legislation to rewrite the nation’s K-12 education law. Despite critics’ best attempts to dismiss this responsible proposal, committee Republicans know H.R. 5 is an important step forward for students, families, and schools. It’s time to separate the myths from the facts in the K-12 reform debate. MY... Read more »
THE PROBLEM: Unions have long tried to organize small groups or “units” of employees as an incremental step toward organizing an entire workplace. A standard used for decades by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) required a different approach, one that promoted unity in workplaces by including in the proposed unit all employees that had a “community of interest.” The board considered basic... Read more »
THE PROBLEM: Under current federal labor law, workers choose whether or not to be represented by a union through a federally-supervised secret ballot election. However, workers can also organize through a ‘card check’ campaign, in which workers are asked to publicly declare their support for union representation by signing an authorization card. When a simple majority of workers sign a card – by ... Read more »
Dear Assistant Secretary Michaels: On February 21, 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a letter of interpretation allowing Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHO or inspectors) to be accompanied by third-parties who are selected by employees of the company being inspected. Rescinding a previous letter of interpretation from March 7, 2003, referred to as the “... Read more »
