California Educator

OCTOBER 2010

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“The Rodda Act, which allowed teachers to collectively bargain their contracts, also allowed us to have input in the governance of their schools,” says CTA President San- chez. “Most of us teaching now take that for granted, but it certainly made us stakehold- ers in our schools.” In what CTA Action called “a prolonged ses- sion of verbal fencing, punctuated by sharp hu- mor and sharper questions,” at a May 1977 State Council of Education appearance, Brown him- self termed the Rodda Act an important gain. “I don’t know what you think of it,” Brown told Council at the time, “but from all I hear from the school boards, you must be doing something right.” In that same appearance, Brown also ac- knowledged that teachers were being given “more and more of the work that was done in homes and elsewhere. Either we have to get everybody to do more for themselves or get everybody to accept they’ve got to pay more money in the public sector.” Importance of higher education His beginnings as a trustee for the Los Angeles Community College Board also gave him an understanding of the value of higher education in California that has fol- lowed him throughout his career. A product of the state’s university system (he’s a UC Berkeley grad), Brown understands the im- portance of California’s Master Plan for Higher Education and how it fits into the an ‘F’ for Whitman Meg Whitman’s plan to “fix California’s schools” would put our students and schools in a really big fix. Here is a short summary of the dangers she poses to public education and all public employee union workers: MORE EDUCATION CUTS: Her plan to cut $15 billion from the state budget could mean gutting education funding by another $7 billion. Our schools are already reeling from $17 billion in cuts over the past two years. TV stations airing a CTA ad expos- ing her budget plan were threatened with lawsuits by Whitman’s lawyers. MORE JOB CUTS: She is calling for reducing the state’s thin public employee workforce by another 40,000. MERIT PAY: She backs it for teachers — and the using of unreliable standardized test scores to cut the checks. MANDATORY CHARTERS: Instead of giving our schools of greatest need the resources they must have to succeed, Whitman will force them to convert to charter schools, which she sees as a panacea for the situation. SHAMING SCHOOLS: She prefers to stigmatize struggling schools by imposing Joining more than 200 fed-up nurses, firefighters and other San Mateo County union activists, CTA members pushed back at a Meg Whitman fundraiser in late September at the Burlingame Hyatt, where Condoleezza Rice helped Whit- man raise $350,000. Jed Burnham, president of the San Bruno Education Association, holds a large homemade re- port card giving Whitman an ‘F’ grade for her voting record and her budget plan’s threats to education. INSET: CTA Board member Curtis Washington addresses the crowd. A-F letter grades based on test scores on all campuses. RETIREMENT ATTACKS: Her mandatory two-tier retirement system for new employees would dump secure defined-benefit pen- sion plans for shaky 401(k) plans subject to the whims of Wall Street. SILENCING UNIONS: To muzzle the political power of CTA members and all public employee unions, she backs anti-union “paycheck protec- tion” proposals that would silence the voices of union members who must be heard in Sacramento. Why I’m voting for Jerry I think we need someone with political experience in Sacramento at this time. Jerry Brown brings with him a lifelong dedication to public service. He is more in touch with the common person than most politicians are, and if anyone can get the Legislature to work together, he can. He has also promised to protect edu- cation, which should be at the top of every politician’s list. Don Hendricks Government Teacher Torrance Teachers Association SPECIAL ELECTION ISSUE OCTOBER 2010 | www.cta.org 13 CTA photos by Mike Myslinski

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