Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/575770
Back To School 2015 | WEAnews 4 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Kathy Vetter WEA President kvetter@wyoea.org Welcome back to another school year. I hope everyone's year is off to a great start. I want to thank you for being part of WEA, your professional organization. The best way to get the most out of your membership is to be involved. Get involved in your local Association, and ask others to join the Association. Participate as we continue to be the voice for children and public education here in Wyoming. The number one reason people do not join the Education Association is because no one has asked them to join, so I challenge you to talk to everyone at your worksite and find out if they are a member. If they are a member, invite them to become more involved; if they are not a member, tell them about the Association and ask them if they would like to join and become involved. One way you can get more involved is to contact your legislators and tell them about all of the great things that are happening in your school. Invite them to your classroom or worksite to see firsthand all of the wonderful things you do for your students every day. To find out more about how you can invite your legislators into your classroom or worksite, look at the information about GLEE, Give Legislators an Educational Experience, on page 5. One of the main education issues that the legislature is working on this year is school funding for both K–12 and community colleges. In K–12 education funding, they are working on recalibration of the whole K–12 funding system. Every five years the legislature must look at the K–12 education funding model and determine what changes are needed; this is happening right now. It is important that your senator and representative hear from you about the importance of keeping our small class sizes and the positive impact it has had on your students. Tell them about the great things you have been able to do for your students because you have the time to spend with each individual student. Explain how having smaller class sizes improves student learning because of the individual attention that you are able to provide to your students. To find out more about this legislative issue, read the article on page … As for community college funding, the subcommittee is looking at ways to provide a more stable and reliable funding source for all of our community colleges. You can find out more about this by reading the article on page 19. It is important that WEA remains a strong voice for the students of Wyoming, to ensure every student receives a great public education no matter where they live in Wyoming. We must ensure that we continue to appropriately fund education so that we can continue to have a great education system pre-K through graduate school. Together we can ensure that this happens. Get involved, and ask others to join and get involved, so that we can continue to have a great public school system in Wyoming. Together we can and do make a difference. The best way to get the most out of your membership is to be involved.