Latest news with #RandiWeingarten
Newsweek
a day ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
To Fight Antisemitism and Preserve Democracy, Educators and the Jewish Community Must Partner Closely
There is no question: Antisemitism is on the rise. From acts of mass violence, to efforts to marginalize or target Jews in schools, on campuses and in other key spaces, this threat is real. It comes alongside a broader rise in hate and extremism—and it threatens all of our communities and the core of our democracy. The loudest and most extreme voices are exploiting this moment to further pit our communities against one another, fueling division and polarization rather than constructive solutions. AFT President Randi Weingarten speaks to members of MomsRising during a day of action on Capitol Hill on June 25, 2025, in Washington, D.C. AFT President Randi Weingarten speaks to members of MomsRising during a day of action on Capitol Hill on June 25, 2025, in Washington, MomsRising There are rightfully strong feelings—and important debate and criticism—about events in the world, including the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But we have also seen deliberate efforts on both extremes to explicitly pit Jewish Americans against teachers' unions, academic institutions, and public education itself. These efforts aim to divide communities and institutions that have historically worked together. That's why our organizations, the AFT and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), recently launched a new partnership designed to model constructive engagement. It began in 2024, when JCPA spoke about antisemitism to an overflowing room at an AFT Higher Education meeting. It was immediately clear that educators were hungry for real information and dialogue to understand and combat hate. This year, we've grown our partnership. Our engagement has become all the more crucial as the Trump administration, seeking to exploit the Jewish community's legitimate concerns, has advanced an extreme agenda that guts federal funding for universities, arrests and seeks to deport students without due process, and fundamentally attacks core democratic principles including academic freedom. At the same time, the administration is also destroying the very institutions and tools we need to protect Jewish and all vulnerable students. This month, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can move forward with laying off over one-third of the Department of Education's staff. While the administration claims to prioritize the fight against antisemitism, it has decimated the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, which investigates discrimination in schools and on campus. The administration's harmful actions don't take away from the fact that Jewish educators and students are experiencing real hate and bias—from harassment or ostracization over real or perceived connections to Israel, to efforts to discount the urgency of increasing antisemitism, to explicit violence. Real concerns over antisemitism—and how best to fight it—were spotlighted just recently, with a vote at a National Education Association (NEA) convening on a resolution that sought to boycott Anti-Defamation League (ADL) resources. We applaud the NEA for ultimately rejecting this divisive resolution. What got lost in the controversy was the constructive resolutions the NEA passed aimed at protecting Jewish, and all, students and educators. Neither of our organizations are in lockstep with the ADL, but the solution to antisemitism and broader hate isn't to cut off engagement. On the contrary, we need to build the strongest possible coalitions, even across lines of disagreement. The ways in which antisemitism and anti-democratic extremism reinforce one another threaten not only the Jewish community but all of us. These threats require us to foster an approach that brings people together, recognizing our safety is inextricably linked. Our joint work is premised on three pillars: to create safe and welcoming environments; to challenge and counter all acts of hate, including antisemitism; and to protect people's rights to both their own expression and safe classrooms and campuses. We need to fight hate speech, but we must also change hearts and minds. Through programs and workshops, we are empowering educators and union leaders to recognize and combat antisemitism, as well as broader hate and extremism, and to constructively navigate nuanced issues related to Israel and Palestine. We are also bringing together local unions and Jewish communities to advance shared priorities. We are not naïve; we know that this work is difficult and that the challenges are real. Too many Jewish students and educators in K-12 schools, and on our university and college campuses, feel marginalized and unsafe. That is completely unacceptable, and it needs to change. As we tackle these problems, we fundamentally reject the idea that robust public education and academic institutions, thriving teachers' unions, and strong democratic values are somehow at odds with Jewish safety. On the contrary: Educators, working together with Jewish community leaders, have a critical role to play in fighting antisemitism and all hate. The safety of the Jewish community is intimately connected with a strong public education system, a thriving labor movement, and an inclusive democracy that protects the rights and freedoms of all. The extreme voices who say that we should not or cannot work together are wrong. For the sake of our collective future, we can't let them be victorious. Randi Weingarten is president of the AFT. Amy Spitalnick is CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Corey DeAngelis slams Randi Weingarten over 'big, beautiful bill' freak out: 'She needs to stay in her lane'
American Culture Project senior fellow Corey DeAngelis weighs in on Randi Weingarten's criticism of the 'big, beautiful bill,' the Trump administration eyeing education cuts and Sen. Bernie Sanders' remarks on the education system.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
White House releases $5.5bn in education funds it had withheld
The White House has announced that it will release $5.5bn in frozen education funds back to US states. That announcement came on Friday after Donald Trump's administration decided to abruptly withhold the congressionally approved funds a day before their 1 July release for the 2025-26 school year. The funds include money for educator training, arts and music education, and additional English as a second language support for children from immigrant families. In a statement to USA Today, Madi Biedermann, a deputy assistant secretary for communications at the White House, confirmed the release, saying that the federal office of management and budget (OMB) will begin to release the funds to states next week. 'OMB has completed its review of [the] funds and has directed the Department to release all' of them, Biedermann told the outlet. At the time of the White House's decision to withhold the funds, the OMB claimed that it had discovered instances of federal funds being 'grossly misused to subsidize a radical left-wing agenda'. One of the examples cited was a seminar on 'queer resistance in the arts', as the New York Times reported. The decision to withhold the funds had triggered widespread outrage from educators as well as pushback from several Republican lawmakers. Earlier in July, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called the Trump administration's decision 'another illegal usurpation of the authority of the Congress'. She added that 'it directly harms the children in our nation'. Meanwhile, 10 Republican senators, including the former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, penned a letter to the White House, urging it to release the funds. In the letter, the senators wrote: 'Withholding this funding denies states and communities the opportunity to pursue localized initiatives to support students and their families.' 'We share your concern about taxpayer money going to fund radical left-wing programs,' they added. 'However, we do not believe that this is happening with these funds. These funds go to supporting programs that enjoy longstanding, bipartisan support like after-school and summer programs that provide learning and enrichment opportunities for school aged children which also enables their parents to work and contribute to local economies.' In response to the White House's decision to release the funds on Friday, the Republican congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska – who also wrote to the White House expressing concerns over the freezing of the money in question – hailed the announcement. 'Exciting news to announce!' he wrote on X. 'All frozen education funding for the upcoming school year have been released, following my letter to the OMB! It helps centers … and our schools!' Similarly, the School Superintendents Association hailed the decision, with its executive director, David Schuler, saying: 'We are pleased public schools will receive the funding as appropriated by Congress for the 2025-26 school year. 'We appreciate their tireless advocacy, communication and outreach to the administration about the importance of releasing these critical funds.'
Fox News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
'Star Wars Bar of leftists': Weingarten, Hunter, Mamdani prove Democratic Party led by extreme figures
The prominence within the Democratic Party of AFT union boss Randi Weingarten, New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and Hunter Biden proves it is being led by "a Star Wars bar of leftists," Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said Wednesday. Weingarten's appearance with democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., at an event midday Thursday, the viral Hunter Biden interview broadcast over the weekend, and Mamdani's upset of more moderate former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayoral primary show Democrats don't have the leadership to bring together Middle America, Schmitt said. "You look at the players right now with Randi Weingarten and Hunter Biden, you know, the communist in New York, I mean it's just a Star Wars bar of leftists that are in charge of that party," Schmitt said. "And so I think they do not know how to get back to a place where they can appeal to mainstream America. Whether Bernie Sanders is talking to her or if other casts of characters are reaching out to radicals – and by the way [Randi] should be ashamed of herself for what she did to kids during COVID." Weingarten had advocated for keeping schools closed during the pandemic, while parents criticized the fact that their children appeared to be suffering socially and educationally from remote learning. Schmitt said it's up to Democrats themselves to figure out how to craft a message that will appeal to the middle. "But for us [Republicans] I think we stay focused on the accomplishments. The 'big, beautiful bill' delivered for working-class folks, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. We front-loaded that money to secure our board. We front-loaded that money for our military to keep people safe. You look at the rescissions package, where we save $9 billion in taxpayer money cutting off these woke outlets. So, there's a lot for us to talk about – there's a lot to be proud of," Schmitt went on. When asked about Biden's interview and revelations, including former President Joe Biden's reported use of Ambien ahead of his disastrous debate, Schmitt said he couldn't attest to whether that is the main explanation of the Delaware Democrat's "mental decline that everyone covered up." "I do think that sort of unhinged interview is kind of emblematic of the state of the Democrat Party at this point, and they're just blaming everybody," he said, as Hunter Biden blamed numerous top figures, including former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, actor George Clooney, Obama aides-turned-podcasters Tommy Vietor and Jon Favreau; however not by name in their case. "They don't have a message. They don't have a leader. So, I'm sure Democrats don't like having Hunter Biden be their spokesperson right now. But they also have a Communist that they just elected in a primary in New York." Ahead of the Thursday town hall with Weingarten, Sanders said it remains "unacceptable that, in the richest country in the history of the world, 40% of teachers have to work extra jobs just to make ends meet." A statement from Sanders' office said he, Markey, Weingarten and NEA union vice president Princess Moss will join 100 other teachers to discuss "burnout and disinvestment" affecting the "quality of public education."
The Hill
16-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump's challenge to Democrats on school choice: Put up or shut up
On Independence Day, President Trump signed into law the biggest expansion of universal private school choice in American history. In its reporting, the New York Times inexplicably characterized a last-minute amendment limiting Education Savings Accounts only to states that opt-in as a ' win for Democrats and teachers' unions,' because blue states would presumably choose not to participate. Although American Federation of Teachers president and recently resigned DNC member Randi Weingarten may view the denial of school choice to blue state parents as a 'win,' I doubt working class voters would agree. In fact, that 'win' represents a political landmine for Democrats. I am skeptical about the wisdom of Trump's Education Savings Accounts plan, but I must admit that I am only typing this sentence because of a scholarship I received to attend a private school many years ago. When I was 16, my alcoholic father committed suicide. I vividly remember going to school the first day after my dad's funeral feeling overwhelmed, numb and embarrassed. And I remember how my teachers made me feel safe and seen in a way that altered the trajectory of my life. My younger brother wasn't so lucky. He went to a different school when our dad died and joined a gang after dropping out. I have seen firsthand the impact of education dancing on the razor's edge of a child's life. That's why I do what I do. So I respect leaders like Democrats for Education Reform chief Jorge Elorza, who are driving the voucher debate. But I have a healthy skepticism about the public policy implications of scaling a wild-west national Education Savings Account plan with few regulatory guardrails to ensure educational quality — not to mention separation of church and state red flags or my belief in the promise of public education. Policy concerns aside, voters now face a stark color-coded national split-screen. In red states, you get free money for the school of your choice. In blue states, you get what you get and you don't get upset. Listening to teachers union leaders like Weingarten and her allies, you'd think charter schools were created in an underground right-wing laboratory as part of a secret plot to ' privatize ' public education. In fact charter schools were originally proposed in 1988 by her own American Federation of Teachers predecessor Al Shanker. I worked in the White House for President Bill Clinton, who proudly ran on charter schools when only one existed in America. President Barack Obama later scaled high-quality charters as part of his bold Race to the Top agenda. Charters are public schools, which means they are free and secular, cannot have admission requirements, and have strict regulatory controls on educational quality. That doesn't sound like a Republican plot to destroy public education to me. I am a longtime public school parent. My daughters have attended our great neighborhood Los Angeles Unified School District school, as well as multiple high-quality public charters. But we literally had to win a lottery to get into their charter schools. That's because California caps charter growth, since many charters are not unionized, as a Democratic Party favor to teachers unions. Amongst progressive issues outside education that Weingarten and I agree upon is that Trump is a threat to democracy. That's exactly why the time is now for a Democratic moonshot to translate 'high-quality public schools' from a soundbite into a civil right. In debating this abundance moonshot, the onus is on Democrats like me who are skeptical about Education Savings Accounts to articulate a compelling alternative that can win back working class voters. Weingarten, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have rightly championed universal preschool, free community college and student loan relief. But the entire K-12 experience of a child is conveniently missing from that agenda. In addition to scaling high-quality public school choice, our moonshot must span preschool to post-secondary, pivot from 'equity' to 'quality,' and put parents — not party interests — at the center. This begins with eliminating school attendance boundaries that trap children in failing schools; expanding high-quality career and technical education; universal tutoring for the COVID generation; endorsement of science of reading; and finishing the job of Brown v. Board of Education by codifying high-quality public schools as a civil right for all children in America. The good news for my party is that Democrats have a strong bench of national leaders with a record of challenging party orthodoxy. That was a feature — not a bug — of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama's success as the only two-term Democratic presidents since Franklin Roosevelt. The bad news is that while Democrats have dithered for a decade under Biden, Harris and Weingarten, Republicans have been formulating a bold vision for American education with obvious appeal for the same working class voters Democrats need to win back. The ball is decidedly now in our court. Democratic leaders must volley with a viable vision that speaks to the urgent needs of working-class parents — not just to do the right thing for kids, but also to win back power. For the sake of American democracy, Democrats must not concede education Independence Day to Trump.
