L.A. Teachers’ Union Demands Medicare-For-All, Defunding Of Police, Ban On Charter Schools, And More–BEFORE Schools Can Reopen

These teachers aren’t bothering to hide their leftwing agenda. It’s right there in their demands.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) released a “research paper” that includes a giant leftwing wish list–another federal bailout, funding for illegal aliens, defunding the police, medicare-for-all, wealth taxes, banning charter schools, and housing as a human right that all needs to be in place before schools can reopen in the fall.

If these demands aren’t met, then schools can’t “safely” open.

How convenient.

It’s just a little shy of one month before school is slated to open on August 18 in Los Angeles, but that’s in jeopardy with the teachers’ union position.

These are activists who are demanding a vaccine before schools can reopen.

While we can be hopeful that a vaccine is forthcoming, that could be years away–or never. After all, we don’t have a vaccine for the common cold which is also a coronavirus.

But it’s not just a vaccine that they’re demanding. It’s a whole host of leftist agenda items that are now absolutely necessary before schools can open.

United Teachers Los Angeles recently released a research paper on steps needed to safely reopen public schools amid the coronavirus outbreak and pointed to the need to free up additional funding by defunding the police.

“Police violence is a leading cause of death and trauma for Black people, and is a serious public health and moral issue,” the paper said, citing the American Public Health Association. “We must shift the astronomical amount of money devoted to policing, to education and other essential needs such as housing and public health.”

Teachers unions have long been criticized by Republicans as an extension of the Democrat Party. Republicans will likely use the paper to support that claim. The union’s paper also took aim at charter schools and reportedly called for a federal Medicare-for-All program.

Source: Fox News

Here is just one list of demands (there are several) from the LAUSD’s “research paper”:

1. Defund Police: Police violence is a leading cause of death and trauma for Black people, and is a serious public health and moral issue. We must shift the astronomical amount of money devoted to policing, to education and other essential needs such as housing and public health.
2. Housing Security: There is no “safer at home” for those who do not have a home. Students need stability, and cities have the power to pass ordinances to prevent evictions and provide rental relief funds. Instead of just one-time relief, as was passed by the LA City Council in June 2020, housing can be a human right assisted by the state. Additionally, as Project Roomkey has demonstrated, sheltering the homeless community is a matter of political will, not scarce resources. Over 15,000 homeless students in LAUSD need permanent shelter.
3. Paid Sick Leave: Parents should not have to decide between staying home with a sick child or going to work in order to be paid. All cities in LAUSD’s boundaries should follow LA City Council’s lead and require ten additional sick days, and expand those sick days to require it of all businesses.
4. Charter Moratorium: Privately operated, publicly funded charter schools drain resources from district schools — and many have “double-dipped” during this crisis by taking federal small business bailout loans even though state funding did not decline this school year. In addition, colocation adds students to campuses when we need to reduce the number of students to allow for physical distancing.
5. Financial Support for Undocumented Students and Families: California’s more than 2 million undocumented residents are by and large ineligible for state and federal benefits. Even if their children are US citizens, in the era of ICE raids and mass deportations, many undocumented parents are too fearful to apply for benefits for their children. California undocumented immigrants disproportionately pay taxes without benefits, paying an estimated $4.5 billion in federal taxes and $2.5 billion in California state taxes in 2018. Immigrant students and workers, so vital to our schools and our economy, must be supported during this crisis.

The paper concludes, “Normal wasn’t working for us before, we can’t go back.”

No matter the scenario in August, it’s clear that it will not be a “normal” school year. But when “normal” means deep race and class fissures that result in increased infection and death rates in Black, Brown, and high-poverty communities; when “normal” means increasing police budgets even as schools, libraries, and public health face catastrophic cuts; when “normal” means corporations receiving trillions in bailout funds as federal commitments to support special education and high-poverty students remain unfulfilled; when “normal” means working families lining up for miles for food banks while US billionaires increased their wealth by over $584 billion — it is clear that going back to normal is not an option. This crisis presents an opportunity to create a new normal that supports all students.

Source: UTLA

And here I was thinking that this was all about the spread of a deadly virus.

This looks like a perfect example of why teachers’ unions are terrible, terrible, horrible things. They’re no better than thugs who are willing to hold children hostage so that they can get their Marxist agenda implemented.

“Nice education system you got there. It’d be a shame if something were to happen to it.”

No wonder more and more parents are choosing charter schools and homeschooling as an option.

Fox News‘s Steve Hilton drops some truthbombs about children, COVID, and reopening schools:

The country cannot stay locked down forever, and children are losing in this situation. As Hilton pointed out, it seems that children are at low risk for both contracting and spreading the virus, but are at high risk for learning loss and the social and psychological damage of long-term isolation with lockdowns in place.

President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have stated that schools should reopen in the fall with in-person classes, and they’re right. Other places are doing it, and so can we.

If not, then let the money follow the child and let parents find another educational option other than a public school that is making demands that are irrelevant to actual education. Besides, with many of these public schools, the education outcomes aren’t so great anyway. That’s why they hate charter schools so much–when people can vote with their feet, they do.

Secretary DeVos said that the funds should go to parents if schools don’t reopen. Amen, sister!

Betsy DeVos just said "if schools aren't going to reopen, they shouldn’t get the funds.

Give it to the families to decide" pic.twitter.com/F5IVWPez3y

— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) July 12, 2020

And hey, while we’re on this topic, the reason that teachers’ unions have so much leverage is because in today’s two-income society, schools aren’t just for education, they’re de facto childcare.

Who is hurt most when public schools are shut down? Low-income workers who don’t have flexible hours and cannot afford childcare, and single mothers.

But hey, let’s make sure that we defund the police and get Medicare-for-All passed.

Clowns.

If I were a parent in L.A., I’d be looking into charter schools or weighing the viability of homeschooling.