From the Education Policy Institute - AUTOGRAPHED COPY
Send your check for $30 for each paperback copy to:
4401-A Connecticut Avenue, NW
PMB #294
Washington, DC 20008-2322

The Politics of the PTA is a fascinating account of the transformation of the National PTA from a mothers-only organization to an NEA-dominated one that explicitly denies that it is an educational organization. In fact, as Haar shows, the PTA has adopted policies that prohibit local and state affiliates from challenging union positions on the issues of greatest concern to parents. Consequently, on issues of concern to parents, the PTA does not and cannot represent parents whenever parent interests conflict with teacher union interest, as is often the case.

The Politics of the PTA also shows that parent membership in independent parent/teacher organizations (PTOs) not affiliated with the PTA greatly exceeds PTA membership. When the PTA asserts that it "speaks for parents," it is merely repeating an indefensible claim about its support. For parents who are unhappy about, or unaware of, the PTA's hardcore left educational and social agenda, The Politics of the PTA provides practical suggestions on how to leave the PTA and become a PTO.

EducationWatch is a free web-based service that monitors and reports on the leadership, activities and funding for kindergarten through 12th-grade education advocacy groups, particularly those that take a position on school choice issues.

At the heart of the EducationWatch web site is a searchable database presenting profiles and financial information on approximately 200 non-profit public policy and advocacy groups that seek to influence the direction of education reform. Some of these include: Association of School Administrators, NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union, National Center for Policy Analysis, American Federation of Teachers, National PTA, Black Alliance for Educational Opportunity, National School Boards Association, Center for Education Reform, Progressive Policy Institute, Center on Education Policy, and United Federation of Teachers.

CRC knows that some of these non-profits provide education-related services at the same time that they lobby government to satisfy their special interests. They may apply for government grants in the name of the former but use them to support their own political advocacy. The CRC database aims to track both private and public funders of these organizations. It is searchable by non-profit name, grantmaker name, FEIN, and state. It replicates Green-Watch.com, the CRC database established to monitor the environmental movement.

EducationWatch hopes to provide useful information for the media, policymakers and parents on school choice and education reform. CRC will look at advocacy regarding school vouchers, privately-funded education scholarships; tax-credits for education, charter schools, privatization of services, homeschooling, curriculum options, merit pay for teachers, and unionization.

The Education Policy Institute welcomes the Capital Research Center as it joins the campaign for education reform by presenting EducationWatch, a source of information on nonprofit organizations fighting the battle for the education of our children.

EPI's bookstore, in association with Amazon.com, is now open for business at EPI Bookstore. Dr. Lieberman's newest books are also available through EPI. See ordering links to the right. 

Other recent books by Myron Lieberman include Understanding the Teacher Union Contract: A Citizen's Handbook, Teachers Evaluating Teachers: Peer Review and the New Unionism and The Teacher Unions (1997). They are available now through EPI, or through Amazon.com. In them, he offers an in-depth analysis of how the teacher unions block reform, pursue a liberal social agenda, conceal their political expenditures, and more.