After a lengthy battle, California teachers have won the right to form a union in their online charter school network.
Rachel M. Cohen
Rachel M. Cohen is a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C., and a former American Prospect writing fellow. Follow her on Twitter @rmc031
Posted inEducation in America
Can Affordable Housing Help Retain Teachers?
With pay and benefits on the decline, districts from San Francisco to Newark aim to attract teachers through subsidized housing.
Posted inEconomic Policy
Goodbye Public Housing?
Billed as an effort to save public housing, the new RAD program may ultimately hasten its demise.
Posted inEducation in America
Judge Issues Restraining Order After an L.A. Charter Network Interfered with Teachers Union Drive
Drama has escalated for teachers organizing at the Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, the largest charter network in Los Angeles. Since the teachers, organizing with United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), first went public with their union drive in March, they allege the administration has erected illegal barriers to organizing, including intimidating their employees. (Alliance denies these […]
Posted inEnergy and the Environment
Pushing Civic Tech Beyond Its Comfort Zone
By all means, let’s use technology to improve government services. But the real promise is greater political accountability.
Posted inEnergy and the Environment
Why Hundreds of Thousands of Recalled VW Cars May Not Be Repaired
Despite Volkswagen’s massive recall, no laws currently exist that would require owners to actually fix their vehicles.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
We Don’t Know What Kind of President Hillary Clinton Would Be on Public Education
Clinton’s ties to both education reformers and teachers unions leave many observers guessing.
Posted inEconomic Policy
To Protect Public Housing, Maxine Waters Calls For Greater RAD Oversight
Earlier this week, Maxine Waters, the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to the GAO requesting a review of the Rental Assistance Demonstration program (RAD). RAD, as I’ve written about previously, is the Obama administration’s plan to save public housing by injecting private capital. Currently 185,000 public housing units across […]
Posted inEducation in America
Challenges to John King’s Integration Pilot
In August I wrote about the Obama administration’s record on school integration, and while it’s been mostly disappointing, there have been some encouraging recent developments. Specifically, the administration has moved to include diversity as a funding priority in more of its smaller grant programs. At the end of 2014, New York’s education commissioner, John King, […]
Posted inWorking in America
An Uber Union?
Last Friday, the Seattle City Council finance committee voted unanimously to advance a bill that would allow drivers for companies like Lyft and Uber to form a union. The final vote has yet to be scheduled, but if the proposed legislation were to become law, it would be the first of its kind in the […]