In her latest column appearing in the New York Times, AFT president Randi Weingarten advises lawmakers to consider voters’ priorities as they seek solutions to the so-called fiscal cliff. “When questions were on the ballot around public education,” Weingarten writes, “voters supported public education nearly every time.” Yet public schools and students could lose vital programs and services if lawmakers allow automatic spending cuts to kick in. “Voters’ wisdom—that neither deep cuts nor preferential tax policies for the super-wealthy will strengthen our economy or our country—should guide Congress to avert the fiscal cliff.” Read Weingarten’s column.

"Raising the Bar—Aligning and Elevating Teacher Preparation and the Teaching Profession," issued by the AFT Teacher Preparation Task Force, urges a move toward a systemic approach to preparing teachers and a more rigorous threshold to ensure that every teacher is ready to teach. The report says that all future teachers should be required to meet a universal and rigorous bar that gauges mastery of subject-matter knowledge, much like the bar exam lawyers must take before they can enter the legal profession.