Cuts and Layoffs to Bay Area Public Schools
In the wake of dozens of California teacher strikes across the state, cuts to public education were announced. Many school districts, such as San Francisco Unified School District, timed these cuts to happen immediately following the teachers’ strike. This made it appear as if the cuts were required because of the teachers’ salary raise and improved health […]
Trump Administration Rolls Back Protections for Trans Youth
Recently, The U.S. Education Department (ED), under the Trump administration, announced the ending of Title IX agreements with five school districts and one college that protected transgender students from discrimination. Title IX is a 1972 civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education programs receiving federal funding. Under previous administrations, its regulations were further extended to transgender and gay students. […]
Another California School District to Go on Strike
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) teachers and staff will strike on April 14, unless the two unions representing 68,000 LAUSD employees reach an agreement with the school district. United Teachers Los Angeles, representing roughly 38,000 teachers, and SEIU Local 99, which represents more than 30,000 workers, such as cafeteria workers, bus drivers, and special education assistants, […]
NYU Faculty Win New Contract
New York University faculty celebrated a major win on March 25th after reaching a tentative agreement following a two-day strike. Their new contract would provide a substantive 20% raise, bringing their salaries closer to meeting the cost of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities. If the contract is approved by union members, 95% […]
Trump, AI, and the Capitalist Restructuring of Education
download .pdf A major restructuring of education is underway nationwide, at both federal and state levels, to better align education with shifting economic needs. There are several converging factors increasing the momentum and magnitude of this restructuring, including declining birth rates, low enrollment, federal and state budget cuts, greater curriculum control and political repression. And […]
UC Berkeley Suspends Lecturer Peyrin Kao After Pro-Palestine Advocacy
In August 2025, at the start of the fall semester, UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) lecturer Peyrin Kao went on a 38-day hunger strike to protest the genocide in Gaza and bring greater awareness onto the university campus. Kao states that he ate only 250 calories a day to represent the famine Gazans are currently experiencing. […]
Justice for Tom Alter now!
Tom Alter, a university professor at Texas State University, was fired for expressing his political views. We demand his reinstatement.
France: The Lecornu Budget: A Fierce Attack. Our Only Defense: Ourselves!
October 20, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. On October 17, Standard & Poor’s downgraded France’s credit rating due to “high uncertainty” surrounding its public finances. The financial world is reminding [President] Macron and [Prime Minister] Lecornu that it’s their duty to crack down even harder on workers. […]
Trump’s Attack on Education: An Acceleration of a Decades-Long Assault
Introduction As part of the Trump administration’s overall strategy of gutting federal programs and social services, suppressing free speech, and criminalizing resistance, they have especially targeted education at every level. They have placed the Department of Education on the chopping block, whose funds primarily serve students with disabilities and low-income school districts. They have used […]
Stand Together against Government Repression!
In recent months the United States government has launched a multitude of attacks on migrants, women, and LGBTQ+ people. It has fired or otherwise forced out of work hundreds of thousands of federal employees and attacked their unions. It has imposed severe cuts to essential government payments (including Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and Social Security), medical […]
More Pain From Budget Cuts Will Hit Soon
As Trump has issued executive order after executive order and his billionaire bureaucrats have cut the federal workforce by tens of thousands, millions more are waiting anxiously for the pain to begin. While those who have lost their jobs are already feeling the emotional and financial stress of their loss, the rest of us know […]
Film Review: Radical (2023)
Radical (2023) is a film based on the true story of Sergio Juárez Correa, a grade school teacher in the border town of Matamoros in Northeastern Mexico. Known by the locals as a “school of punishment,” the students live in poverty amid drug cartel violence. After losing faith in the education system, Sergio arrives with a plan to try a radical new way of teaching. He challenges […]
Reseña de la película: Radical (2023)
Radical (2023) es una película basada en la historia real de Sergio Juárez Correa, un maestro de escuela primaria en la ciudad fronteriza de Matamoros, en el noreste de México. Conocida por los lugareños como una “escuela de castigo”, los estudiantes viven en la pobreza y rodeados por la violencia de los cárteles del narcotráfico. […]
Argentinian Students and Workers Rise against Right-Wing Policies
In Argentina, massive student protests are being held against Milei’s cuts to public universities.
France: Start of the School Year: Okay Class, Let’s Struggle!
September 2, 2024 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French On the night of August 19-20, at least 2,043 children slept on the street. Unicef’s count only takes into account calls made to 115 (the emergency accommodation service) that found no solution. Hundreds, if not thousands, of other minors are […]
Lead in the Water of Our Oakland Schools
Lead has been found in Oakland schools’ water, and the response by school district officials has been inadequate.
New Student Loan Relief Makes No Dent in Crisis
Biden announced a cancellation of $7.4 billion of student loan debt, but he is still part of the system that produced that debt in the first place
Standardized Tests Don’t Fix Education Inequality
For the first time, the college entrance exam SAT will be fully online, in a newer, shorter version. Top institutions will reinstate the SAT in admissions, reversing the pandemic-era decision to make the test optional. The shifts surrounding the exam have started a debate on the benefits and disadvantages of the SAT for students impacted […]
Texas Court Discriminates Against Black Hair
In the midst of a climate crisis of epic proportions, an ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the rise of the far right across the world, and many other life-changing problems and crises, the Barbers Hill School District (BHISD) in Texas has decided that the best way to spend their energy is by…harassing Black students […]
CSU Contract – What Happens Next Will Depend on What the Members are Ready to Do
The California State University (CSU) system found itself in a clash with the California Faculty Association (CFA), representing a diverse body of 28,000 faculty employees, including tenure-track and lecturers, counselors, librarians, and coaches. On January 22, the CFA launched a statewide strike, targeting all 23 CSU campuses. This coincided with the start of the spring […]
California State University Faculty Go On Strike
California State University faculty went on strike for better working and learning conditions.
School Libraries Under Threat in Houston
Houston Independent School District is converting school libraries into student discipline centers.
Florida’s Revised History Curriculum: Same Old Racism in New Form
Florida’s new standards for African American History downplay the historical oppression of Black people, even saying that slavery benefited slaves.
A Pitiful Reduction of Student Debt
If you were only reading the bombastic headlines from the past few weeks, you might believe that, despite the recent Supreme Court setback to student debt relief, Biden has still been able to cancel a titanic amount of student debt – $39 billion. The White House announced last week that it was going to erase […]
Oakland Teachers’ Strike — A Balance Sheet
On May 4 teachers in Oakland, California, went on a seven-day strike that ended with a tentative agreement. Many teachers felt that the contract was mediocre at best. The timing of the strike was very difficult for students, teachers, staff, and families, since the end of the school year is a special time for field […]
Rutgers Faculty Win Victory, But The Fight Isn’t Over
Rutgers workers won pay increases, but they will need to continue to fight against future challenges.
Student Loan Debt SCOTUS Case Update
The Supreme Court is hearing a case to determine whether or not Biden’s student loan forgiveness program can continue. The Supreme Court’s decision is expected in June, but it is very likely that the court will overturn Biden’s program, given the reactionary political perspectives of the Supreme Court Justices and their continuous assault on our […]
Los Angeles School Staff and Teachers on Strike
On Tuesday, school staff represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 99, in the Los Angeles school district launched a three-day strike. In solidarity, the teachers, organized by the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), have refused to cross the picket line. This puts the entire school district out of commission, with 30,000 school […]
Students Protest DeSantis’s Attacks on Academic Freedom
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida is creating a blueprint for reactionary control of public colleges and universities that will affect Florida first, but possibly the entire United States if he or another right-wing Republican is elected President in 2024 or after. Over the past month, students have organized protests to oppose this attempt to take […]
Five-Year Anniversary of the West Virginia Teachers’ Strike
February 22, 2023 marks the five-year anniversary of the West Virginia teachers’ strike.
Education Workers in Portugal Fight Back
After a month-long, rotating strike that began in mid-January, 150,000 teachers and supporters staged a major demonstration in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday, Feb. 11. The demonstration by teachers was probably the largest single action by educators in Portugal’s history, and showed the anger that has been building for years among education workers. In all, eight […]
Black History Under Attack
In August 2022, the College Board announced a new course offering: AP (Advanced Placement) African-American Studies. Many eminent scholars participated in crafting the course and celebrated the proposed new curriculum. In January, however, a pushback began when Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, preparing to run for president, announced that, after viewing the draft version, […]
Abbott Elementary – A TV Sitcom that Reflects Real Issues
The Emmy award-winning show, Abbott Elementary, brings comedic light to serious problems within public schools – problems caused by severe underfunding are presented through humorous and, at times, heartfelt moments, making the show educational but entertaining. Abbott Elementary is set in a predominately Black public school in Philadelphia and focuses on the experiences of five teachers. […]
Oakland Schools Saved From Closure…For Now…
On Wednesday, January 11th, the School Board for the Oakland Unified School District voted to keep the five schools open that were originally under plans to be shut down at the end of this school year.
Largest Ever Higher Education Strike in UK
In November, an estimated 70,000 researchers, academics and administrators went on strike at 150 different university campuses across the United Kingdom. These strikes are the largest in the history of higher public education in the UK. This struggle has been brewing for some time. Over the past four years, universities have been shut down several […]
4th Baltimore Area School Bomb Scare in 3 Weeks – Children’s Mental Health is Suffering Under Capitalism
On Wednesday, October 12, faculty, staff, and students at Chadwick Elementary School were rushed from the building after a bomb threat was called in to the front office. This comes after two threats and consequent evacuations of River Hill High School the week before, and a suspicious car forcing a frantic evacuation of Pine Grove […]
Oakland: The Consequences of School Closures Today
The case of a lost 9-year-old is one of the consequences of school closures, such as that of Parker Elementary school.
France: Back to work: time to fight back
August 31, 2022, Editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the NPA, Translated from French. For kids, it’s the end of summer vacation. With inflation rising and wages at rock bottom, summer spending had to be monitored closely – for those, that is, who were able to take time off, if the […]
Back to School: Year 3 of COVID-19
Thoughts from an elementary school teacher about 3 years of the pandemic.
UCLA Students Win Safety Measures
UCLA students won safety measures after a 16-day sit-in.
Oakland: The Fight Against School Closures Grows
The struggle to keep the school doors open may not be easy, but it is winnable. But it will take an even larger, more organized and continued mobilization by Oakland parents, students, teachers and staff to win this fight.
Education – Another Covid Casualty
In a society that prioritized the life and health of all people, every person would have access to a free education that empowered them to reach their full potential. But under capitalism, the purpose of education is to keep schools open so that the economy keeps going and the profits keep rolling in.
Oakland School District Threatens to Shut Down 16 Schools Within Two Years
While there may be some people who look at our schools and see them as a money-making opportunity, these schools are our schools. It is not their decision to make — it is ours. We must link up across school communities to stand side by side and say, “no school closures!”
France: Let Them Hear Our Anger!
On January 13, teachers in the National Education system went on strike en masse. Even the leading parents’ federation had called for children not to go to school.
A Report from the Frontline: Teaching during COVID in a Baltimore County Public School
A teacher in Baltimore gives a report about conditions in schools during the pandemic.
UC Berkeley Lecturers Win Contract
Lecturers across the University of California system are going on strike for better working conditions.
The 1968 San Francisco Student Strike
On November 6, 1968, the students of San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University) began a strike against racism on their campus. Just over four our months later it ended in educational reforms across that began to be mirrored around the country.
Update from an Oakland teacher: “Our safety depends on us”
It is now almost the middle of October, and we’ve been back at school since the beginning of August. The Oakland School District had the entire summer to prepare for our return in the middle of a pandemic, but little was done to guarantee the safety of students and staff. Currently, there are only ten […]
Safety in Oakland Schools: The Fight Continues
Six weeks into the school year, and many COVID safety measures are still not in place.
Oakland Schools: Safety Is Up to Us
If the district is going to provide every school the safety measures being demanded, it’s going to be because they were fought for.