Mar 31

Top 10 from March 2017 CTA State Council

 

1.    President Heins on These Times
CTA President Eric Heins draws a comparison between Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities and the current political environment in our country, and encourages CTA members to work in union to make it the best of times. READ FULL SPEECH
2.    Show Your Support for April 4th
CCA set aside a day to say, “Thank You!” to the local communities they rely on for support and is inviting all educators to join in the action. CTA urges members to show their support by wearing blue on Educators United with Our Communities Day. LEARN MORE
3.    Take the Bilingual Teacher Survey…Por Favor!
We’ve got a teacher shortage—especially when it comes to bilingual teachers. CTA and Californians Together are working together to lead a policy agenda to tackle this issue. We need to hear from you to better address the existing shortage of bilingual teachers in the state. TAKE THE SURVEY
4.    Suffragettes and Rapping Execs…Mic drop!
Colleen Briner-Schmidt brought the history of women’s suffrage to life with a rousing call to action for modern day women and men to stand up for healthcare and par equality for girls and women. And CTA Executive Director Joe Nuñez honored Women’s History Month by sharing this video from Kid President and finishing off the rap CTA style. <<< Click here. It’s worth it.
5.    Planning May 1 Makes Perfect
A funny thing happened on the way into the planning forum…we ran out of 6,000 posters to celebrate diversity. At the May 1 CTA Statewide Day of Action forum, participants heard from three colleagues about how they are planning their Day of Action. Then participants brainstormed and reviewed the online resources. USE MAY 1 PLANNING RESOURCES | DOWNLOAD POSTERS | JOIN CTA DAY OF ACTION FACEBOOK GROUP
6.    Promoting the Pledge for Public Ed
Delegates attending the Day of Action forum left with materials to promoting the CTA Pledge for Public Ed back home. Retweet Jason…or take your own photo to promote.
7.    These Bills Were made for Watching
231 of them (to be exact) were reviewed, debated and voted on. More than 160 of those bills received a “support” or “oppose” position or made our “watch” list. View them all here. And follow them through the legislative session here.
8.    Teachers & ESP of the Year Were Here
Four Teachers of the Year and the CTA ESP of the Year were honored at State Council. Teachers of the Yearincluded Shaun Bunn, Isela Lieber, Corinne (Corrie) Traynor, and Jenny Chein Anderson, a STEM teacher who addressed the crowd. ESP of the Year Teri Roots also talked to Council about the importance of working hand in hand with ESPs. Check out some other rising ESP stars that attended the ESP Leadership Academy during Council.
9.    De León Comes Home
The Senate Pro Tem and former CTA employee, Kevin de Leon thanked members for all they do for the children of California and promised that California will hold firm on our values and protect the right of every child to a quality education.
10.    NEA was in the House
NEA Secretary-Treasurer Princess Moss addressed State Council and attended the Cesar Chavez celebration.

Mar 30

Take two minutes to send an email to your senators. Tell them to vote NO on Neil Gorsuch.

During Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing last week, multiple senators asked about Gorsuch’s cruel rulings against students with disabilities. They were horrified to hear that Gorsuch had ruled that these students are only entitled to slightly better than no education at all.
 
In reality, just more than the minimum means no education at all for most students with disabilities. Our students deserve better.

Now the momentum is on our side. More and more senators are saying they will vote against Gorsuch’s confirmation. Your senators need to hear from you again – click here to tell your senators to vote NO on Neil Gorsuch.

Cameron, a special education teacher from Gorsuch’s home state of Colorado, traveled to Washington, DC last week to meet with his senators and keep pushing this important message.

Watch what Cameron had to say:

Millions of educators and parents have been saying since this nomination was announced that Gorsuch is wrong for our students, and senators are getting the message: Gorsuch is wrong for our students, and wrong for the Supreme Court.

Take two minutes to send an email to your senators. Tell them to vote NO on Neil Gorsuch.

 
Alice O’Brien
NEA General Counsel

 

Mar 30

Here’s the March report from your board member, Jerry Eaton!

Click here to read the report.

Mar 29

Meeting minutes from the March 28th Rep Council Meeting

March 28 Rep Council Meeting Minutes

Mar 29

March state council report

May 1 Day of Action – CTA is asking our local chapters and members to hold actions with parents and community members at their local school sites. Actions may include “walk-ins” with parents and community members, unveiling new safe zone policies and safe zone resolutions, taking the pledge, hosting community meetings, and more. Please join our Facebook groupand fill out our form to let us know how you are participating.

Why May 1st? May 1st has been historically linked to international worker’ rights. On May 1, 1886, the U.S. Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions (including immigrant workers) ruled that an 8-hour work day, would be a full and legal work day. NEA and the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) are also holding a national day of action on May 1. May 1, or May Day, continues to be a national day of action to raise awareness about immigration rights and the need to keep families together as they fight for a better life.  There is a toolkit available on the CTA website, go here to check it out.

There were 200 (!) bills on education and education-related issues reviewed for this legislative cycle. CTA has co-sponsored three of them. They are:

  • AB 1360: EQUITY AND STUDENT ACCESS AT CHARTER SCHOOLS- Assembly Member Rob Bonta has authored AB 1360, which prohibits discriminatory admissions practices and ensures due process in pupil discipline at charter schools.Read CTA’s letter to bill’s author | Details 

 

  • AB 1478: ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY AT CHARTER SCHOOLS-Assembly Member Reggie Jones-Sawyer has authored AB 1478, which expressly states that charter schools and the entities managing charter schools are subject to the Brown Act (open meetings), Public Records Act (open books), and two laws preventing conflicts of interest: Political Reform Act and Government Code 1090. Read CTA’s letter to bill’s author| Details

 

  • SB 808: LOCAL CONTROL AT CHARTER SCHOOLS-Senator Tony Mendoza has authored SB 808, which requires that all charter school petitions must be approved by the school board of the school district in which they reside.Read CTA’s letter to bill’s author | Details

 

These are some of the bills we will be opposing

  • AB 20 (Kalra) D-27 Requires CalSTRS and CalPERS divest funds and refrain from making additional investments in a company constructing or investing in the Dakota Access Pipeline.

 

  • AB 950 (Rubio) D-48 Permits a charter school to bypass school boards in the petition process, submitting a petition for establishment of a charter school directly to the county office of education or State Board of Education (SBE) without reasonable justification for why the charter school could not be established locally and permits a charter school petitioner to skip the county board of education on appeal, filing directly with the SBE when a petition is denied by a school board.

 

  • AB 586 (Holden) D-41 Allows a tax credit for teacher professional development expenses paid or incurred.

 

  • AB 624 (Maienschein) R-77 Allows a tax credit not to exceed $10,000, to a robotics club at a school in California during the taxable year

This is one bill we will be watching:

  • Senate Bill 807, introduced by Democratic Sens. Henry Stern of Los Angeles and Cathleen Galgiani of Stockton, offers an incentive for teachers to remain in the classroom. After teaching for five years, California educators would be exempt from paying a state income tax. The bill would also provide a tax deduction for the cost of attaining a teaching credential. The Legislature has not yet calculated the estimated loss in tax revenue to the state if the measure is approved.

 

Other issues you should be aware of:

  • State Board of Education – The Dashboard metrics has not been finished. The Parent Trigger group wants one single score to be prominent, they would like more weight for Test Scores, CTA will be watching. California Dashboard is online and everyone needs to continue to advocate for a dashboard and not a single score for sychool accountability.
  • Public Employment Relations Board – This agency is vital to the work of our locals in contract struggles and it is incredibly understaffed. This could result in a delay for getting rulings in ongoing disputes.

Remember that CalSTRS Annual Progress Reports are only delivered electronically via www.mycalstrs.com.  If you have not created your mycalstrs.com account, YOU NEED TO!  Anyone that wished to continue receiving a hard copy must make that request directly to CalSTRS at 800-228-5453.  Forms must be received by July 1st.

Finally, watch for a survey to be emailed to all CTA members to strengthen the rationale for State support to address the bilingual teacher shortage.  It will also be on the CTA website, and will be pushed via Facebook and Twitter.  The Language Acquisition Committee would like surveys to be completed by April 14th.

SOL-1 Representatives:  Corey Penrose, Alyson Brauning, Jeanette Wylie

 

 

 

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