At a press conference on the RA floor, California Teachers Association President David A. Sanchez told delegates and members of the media that CTA was preparing to march on Schwarzenegger’s office on Monday and deliver postcards from more than 10,000 RA attendees asking the governor not to suspend a state spending rule.Schwarzenegger had previously signaled that he was considering suspending Proposition 98, a state law that requires education funding to be based in part on what was spent the previous year. Suspending Proposition 98 would allow Schwarzenegger to make deep cuts to education, even though thousands of teachers have alread
y been laid off statewide.CTA delegates carried signs reminding the governor that successful education policy is not about doing what Schwarzenegger wants, but about making sure students have the resources they deserve. CTA members also have been calling their local legislators, and their activism may be paying off.
According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, Schwarzenegger may be softening his stance on suspending Proposition 98. CTA is keeping up the heat, working to ensure that all California students have access to quality public education.
(Photos, from top to bottom: CTA members rally for education on RA floor; RA attendees drop off postcards protesting funding cuts in Calif. Photos by Calvin Knight)
it was a strange happenstance: california delegates created a ring-around the stage in what seemingly was a rush to override the assembly. but, unfortunately not. true, the above blog post describes what the california assembly was based on. yet, the call to action might as well have been the action of a group of non-union workers telling the boss, "please sir can i have some more (jobs)?" unions facing mass layoffs should not ask, they should demand and forcefully organize.
ReplyDeleteAlong with CTA president Sanchez a group of teachers were presented on the stage who, as of the assembly, were to loose their jobs the coming year.
now enter: the NEA.
nothing but empty rhetoric....
as a body of the largest union in the country by a factor of three, the NEA can afford stronger action if not by physical means of support, but media, legislation, etc.
from Substance News:
"NEA has a $355 million budget for this year. They project difficult times and are cutting corners where they can, like extending the life of computers.
Dennis Van Rokel’s salary appears to be frozen. Still, cutting back is not exactly cutting back. The $355 million is a $9.8 million increase, up 2.8 percent. And, to close the finance issue for the day—many delegates, funded for $300 a night hotel rooms and living on fairly generous perks, are told that they are expected to kick back a given amount to the NEA “Children’s Fund,” a thinly disguised NEA political action committee."