California Educator

FEBRUARY 2010

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Sanchez calls for statewide actions on March 4 ACTION LEFT: NEA President Dennis Van Roekel (second from left) joins CTA Vice President Dean Vogel, Secretary-Treasurer Gail Mendes, and President David A. Sanchez at State Council. State of the State address earlier this month, his budget would actually cut $2.4 billion from K-12 schools and community colleges, CTA President David A. Sanchez told State Council at its January meeting. “This is on top of the $17 billion in cuts we’ve endured over the last two years.” The governor’s proposed budget A is just more gimmicks and tricks that involve moving money from lthough the governor promised to protect public education funding in his one program to another. Still, San- chez said, it’s not entirely fair to blame the governor when the entire state’s economy is “in the tank,” with the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression. And so far, the Legislature has refused to show any willingness to raise reve- nues, deal with our failing tax struc- ture, or require big corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. Sanchez urged Council to take the lead in planning activities for “Start the Day for Students” — a statewide day of action on March 4 to support public education. He en- couraged Council to promote ac- tivities such as staging before- school leafleting and protests, and even coordinating a school disaster drill with an event to demonstrate education funding is “a disaster.” (Ideas for activities can be found at www.standupforschools.org.) “On March 4, we have an op- portunity to mobilize with other unions up and down the state in a massive protest against further ed- ucation cuts and for changing the debate around the need for addi- tional revenues,” said Sanchez. Some of those revenues may be obtained by closing corporate tax loopholes and rescinding the $2 billion in tax breaks that were given to big corporations and wealthy oil companies last year. “When the state is slashing bil- lions from public education, cutting health care for poor children and • • • •• 28 In other actions, State Council: Elected Ron Edwards as NEA Director, District 15; Roberto Rodriguez as CTA/ABC Committee Member At-Large; and waived the ballot to elect KC Walsh as NEA Director, District 4; Carol Mathews as NEA Director, District 5; and Sergio Martinez as NEA Director, District 13. Voted on a list of friendly incumbent candidates to support in upcoming primary elections for state Assembly and Senate. Council also recommended that the list be available on CTA’s members-only website. Previously “friendly” incumbents who voted for state Sen. Gloria Romero’s Race to the Top bill — a bill CTA opposed — will be re-interviewed before a decision to recommend or not is reached. Celebrated “Serve Up a Good Book,” the theme for the upcoming Read Across America Day March 2, by welcoming Will Terry, illustrator of this year’s book, Armadilly Chili. Recognized Rachel Jarvis, a recipient of CTA’s 2009 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Scholarship. Recognized two chapters, United Teachers Los Angeles and San Joaquin Delta College CTA, for winning the Jose Colmenares Award for their outstanding communications programs. raising college fees, corporations and oil companies should not be getting tax breaks,” said Sanchez. “In these tough economic times, every- one must be paying their fair share.” March 4, Sanchez said, will be “a day for all of us — parents, ad- ministrators, school board mem- bers, college faculty, education support professionals and teachers — to be united against the state budget cuts that are destroying a generation of students.” Five initiatives Amid news of the governor’s anemic budget proposal and a downward spiraling economy, State Council took positions on five initiatives that may be heading toward the ballot in November, and authorized up to $4 million from the initiative fund to support those positions. Council unanimously voted to support two measures that would repeal corporate tax loop- holes bestowed by the Legisla- ture a year ago and require cor- porate executives to get stock- holder approval for annual po- litical spending budgets. “Big corporations are paying less, while middle-class families continue to pay more,” said San- chez. “Lawmakers can’t continue to give breaks to large corpora- tions — without any require- ments for these companies to create new jobs —and should re- quire corporate executives to make their stockholders aware of the money they pledge toward political endeavors.” Council voted to oppose two 30 California Educator | SEPTEMBER 2010 F BRUARY 2009 CTA photos by Dave Earl Carpenter

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