Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/17719
schools less than ordinarily re- quired under Proposition 98, the state’s minimum funding guar- antee to public education. “This is a bad budget for students, teachers and school support professionals, and for California,” emphasizes Sanchez. “Our joint efforts protected schools from even harsher cuts, but our students are going to suffer because of the failure of the governor and lawmakers to do the right thing — raise the revenues the state needs to fund schools properly.” This year’s efforts to finalize a budget that provided more fund- ing for public education were hampered by both the worst state economy in recent memory and current laws that require the Leg- islature to approve a state budget by a two-thirds supermajority. CTA is backing initiatives on the Nov. 2 ballot aimed at addressing both of these issues. CTA-sponsored Proposition 24, the Tax Fairness Act, will close re- cently opened loopholes that allow the state’s wealthiest corporations to escape paying their fair share. This measure is expected to raise more than $1.3 billion for the state’s gen- eral fund, helping to boost funding for education, public safety and other critical services. A second measure, Proposi- tion 25, addresses the two- thirds supermajority hurdle. It would speed up the budget pro- cess and allow a simple majority of legislators to approve the state’s annual spending plan. Had that measure been in effect this year, it is highly likely that schools, social services, public safety and other programs would have fared better. LEN FELDMAN For a more details on the budget deal, visit www.cta.org. election to take back our class- rooms and protect students from more cuts by electing Jerry Brown governor, a handful of persevering California educators worked hard this summer to return laid-off col- leagues to their classrooms. They helped accomplish what seemed like a long shot — secur- ing billions in federal funding to rehire thousands of pink-slipped educators. The dedication of these few laid-off teachers — who went to Washington to lobby in person — was rewarded. As California school districts begin this fall to receive their share of $1.2 billion from the $10 billion federal Edu- cation Jobs bill, Santa Ana Unified teacher Clarissa Barragan is com- ing to terms with her role in CTA’s massive mobilization to fight for the money. “I knew that we made history and that we were able to make a difference in California, and in Santa Ana,” says Barragan. “I am happy to think that I had some- thing to do with something so crit- ical to us.” How critical? While California’s $1.2 billion is one-time federal money, it will help districts rehire thousands of California teachers and education support professionals laid off this year due to state budget cuts. The stimulus funds can also be used to eliminate local furlough days or to restore pay cuts that teachers ne- gotiated to avoid some layoffs around the state, which totaled about 15,000 this school year. The funds cannot be used for school districts’ administrative expenses or support costs such as equip- CTA members help win Education Jobs bill J ust as teachers are working diligently in these final weeks before the November ment, utilities, renovations or transportation. “In California, public schools have been cut by $17 billion the last two years, so the $1.2 billion in federal money is a good step to- ward restoring some of the dam- age to our classrooms,” says CTA President David A. Sanchez. “In- dividual teachers helped make a huge difference in this victory — as did the pressure from thousands of CTA members who called Con- gress to demand this relief.” Action pays off Several California teachers with pink slips hanging over their heads went to Washington in late June as part of a national push by NEA in Congress that led to Presi- dent Obama signing the urgent funding bill on Aug. 10. Barragan was joined in Wash- ington by Brianna Clegg of Stockton and former Los Ange- les Unified music teacher Chris- topher Rieder, among others. Luckily, they all found teaching jobs by September. Barragan went to Congress de- spite having just been laid off for a fourth year in a row. She did stress- ful substitute teaching and tried to stay in Santa Ana, where she had grown up, attended local public schools and become the first in her family to finish college. In Washington, as part of the CTA delegation, she met with the staffs of Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and spoke with her representative, Loretta San- chez, about the impact on students and teachers from so many layoffs. “I felt that I could have a voice for other teachers in California going through the same thing.” Pressure from CTA members led to Barragan’s Santa Ana Uni- fied getting about $10.2 million, according to preliminary estimates released by the California Depart- ment of Education (CDE). All dis- tricts, charter schools and county offices of education will get some funding according to a base reve- nue limit formula (see sidebar). Clegg says lobbying in the halls of Congress was “an incredible ex- perience” that she won’t forget. “Leaving the offices of different Congress members and senators, I felt inspired that we might actu- ally have been the voices they needed to hear to pass the bill.” Clegg was pink-slipped on the same day last spring that she was named one of three teachers re- ceiving an award from the San Joaquin County Office of Educa- tion as a “Teacher of Excellence” in English instruction. Fortunately, she was rehired at her same Stock- ton Unified school, though reas- signed from fourth to fifth grade. Rieder, the music teacher from Los Angeles, wasn’t so lucky. He could not afford to wait around for the district to decide whether to rehire him, so he uprooted his life and took a teaching job in the CDE’s estimates of allocations for larger districts: (in millions) Los Angeles Unified, $114.7 San Diego Unified, $21.3 Long Beach Unified, $15.9 Fresno Unified, $13.1 San Bernardino City Unified, $9.5 San Francisco Unified, $9.4 Sacramento City Unified, $8.4 Oakland Unified, $7.1 Mt. Diablo Unified, $6.4 Source: California Department of Education SPECIAL ELECTION ISSUE OCTOBER 2010 | www.cta.org 33