Looking for media sound bites rather than good school policy, California lawmakers approved and the Governor signed two bills designed to help California apply for federal Race to the Top funds. CTA opposed both of these bills, SBx5 1 and SBx5 4 as they went far beyond the requirements for RTTT and will drain scarce resources from lower-performing schools, lower standards for teacher credentialing and create chaos for local school districts.
Thanks to the lobbying efforts of CTA and the phone calls to lawmakers from all of you some of the most disingenuous provisions of the bills were reduced and limited to a smaller number of schools. CTA supports, welcomes and encourages parental involvement in our schools. Unfortunately, these bills encourage abandonment, rather than involvement in creating quality public schools for all kids. Once again lawmakers passed legislation without thinking about how it would be implemented in local school districts, and our students and teachers will be forced to live with the consequences.
The state has also failed to release a full or final version of California’s Race to the Top plan. Without those details, CTA recommended that local chapters not sign the state’s RTTT Memorandum of Understanding. Local chapters should be assured that because of language CTA secured in the state MOU, districts must bargain over RTTT implementation, regardless of whether or not the local association signs the MOU. California must submit its RTTT application by January 19.

It’s certainly not the beautiful magic that James Cameron created with “Avatar”, but the governor’s proposed state budget for 2010-11 is definitely a land of make-believe. Filled with more gimmicks and funding tricks, the governor’s promise to “protect” public education will cost K-12 schools and community colleges more than $2.4 billion in additional budget cuts. He proposes to increase funding for higher education by privatizing state prisons and eliminating union jobs. While another budget fantasy relies on the federal government to give California more than $6 billion to offset the state’s $21 billion deficit.
Rather than smoke and mirrors, and more cuts to public schools, it’s time for real changes to the state’s tax structure, and those start with repealing the corporate tax breaks that were handed out to big businesses last year. In these tough economic times, everyone should be paying their fair share.
In addition, the governor is again mixing policy proposals into his budget package with a series of changes that would make it harder to recruit and retain quality teachers, including changes to seniority rights and layoff notification processes. These proposals will not save one dime and do not belong in the budget proposal.

Educators and working families need health care reform not higher taxes. The proposed excise tax on health care benefits would impact thousands of CTA members and cost California school districts millions of dollars. Join CTA and the California Federation of Labor in calling your member of Congress this Wednesday, January 13. Call toll free at 1-877-323-5246. Tell Congress to support health care reform that eliminates the excise tax, does not cause further budget cuts to local schools and includes a public health option to reduce costs. Make your voice heard!

More than 60 initiatives have been filed for the November 2010 election, including proposals that would reduce our secure retirement benefits and limit our participation in the political process. CTA has filed an initiative that would repeal three tax breaks given to corporations last year. The State Council of Education, CTA’s governing body, will decide if CTA moves forward with this initiative at their meeting later this month.

Need resources and tools to develop lesson plans and set strategic goals for your classroom? Be sure and check out the new Learning and Resource Center from the CTA Institute for Teaching at www.teacherdrivenchange.org. Whatever your grade level or subject matter, the IFT has books and resources for you. The IFT has joined with Amazon.com to provide hundred of books, materials and classroom supplies that have been selected and grouped into three Learning and Resource Centers: Professional Development, Elementary Education and Secondary Education.