A California teachers union celebrated National Parents Day on Sunday, only to be called out for the group’s apparent hypocrisy when it comes to parents’ desires for their children.
The California Teachers Association tweeted, “Happy [National Parents Day]! A major factor in student success is an involved support system outside of school. When parents are involved in their children’s education, kids do better in school!”
Happy #NationalParentsDay! A major factor in student success is an involved support system outside of school. When parents are involved in their children’s education, kids do better in school! #WeAreCTA
— California Teachers Association (@WeAreCTA) July 24, 2022
Parents, however, have not been happy with the CTA over the course of the pandemic as children were forced to stay home and miss out on schooling, leading to dropping test scores around the state. The union also pushed for more time to keep kids masked, even as Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom appeared ready to end the school mask mandates earlier this year.
Last year, a petition was started to get rid of the union, with the organizer stating, “We need a constitutional amendment to abolish collective bargaining in our public school systems in California!” The petition has collected almost 2,000 signatures.
“We are not friends. Cut the crap!” the LA Parent Union, a Los Angeles-based parents group, said in response to the group’s acknowledgement of National Parents Day.
Edunomics Lab, a research facility based out of Georgetown University, estimated how much time certain school districts lost through the fall of 2021. It estimated that Los Angeles Unified students lost an average of 22 weeks of learning in math and 18 weeks in reading.
The costs to fix this amount of loss “depend on the intervention utilized,” the group noted, adding, “Tutoring is considered a higher impact investment.” Its predictions on costs suggest the district would have to spend an estimation of over $851 million for tutoring in math, and almost $467 million for tutoring in reading.
Corey DeAngelis, the national director of research at the American Federation for Children, thanked the union “for the accidental endorsement of school choice.”
“This gaslighting is beyond parody,” he told Fox News Digital. “The organization that has fought against parental rights in education for decades now wants us to believe they support parents? Get out of here with that noise. Parents aren’t dumb. They are never going to forget how the teachers union held children’s education hostage and put politics before the needs of families.”
“The California Teachers Association has some nerve in suddenly pretending to respect and care about what parents want after working tirelessly to keep kids locked out of schools for nearly two years,” Erika Sanzi, Director of Outreach at Parents Defending Education, told the outlet.
“They also fought hard to keep children masked. Despite overwhelming parents demand for more educational options for their children, the union puts up roadblocks at every turn to ensure that low income families have zero options outside of their residentially assigned school. The brutal truth is that the unions do not want parents engaged in what’s happening in schools at all unless it involves bake sales and potlucks,” she added.