Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1017146
Compiled by Mike Myslinski QUOTES & NUMBERS QUOTES & NUMBERS 82.7% California's high school graduation rate in 2017, using new, rigorous methodology, according to a July 26 news release by the California Department of Education (CDE). Nearly 50% Percentage of Class of 2017 graduates who met all requirements for admission to the University of California and California State University systems, the CDE reported. 157 Number of current teachers nationwide estimated to have filed to run for their state legislative seats this year, based on research by Education Week reported Aug. 8. 21 Number of new California charter schools that opened in the last school year, only a 1.6 percent growth rate, according to an Aug. 5 EdSource article about a slowing of once-rapid charter expansion in the state in recent years to the current 1,275 schools. 8.96% Annual return on investments announced in July by the California State Teachers' Retirement System for the fiscal year ending in June, beating the pension's 7 percent goal for the second year in a row, the Sacramento Bee reported July 20. " They are coming in like vultures after what they think is a dead carcass. But they are going to be very surprised. We are very alive and we are not going away." — CTA President ERIC HEINS, quoted in a July 11 EdSource story about the unfair Janus v. AFSCME U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June, which unleashed union-busting efforts by out-of-state conservative groups targeting educators. " No, thank you — I'm sticking with the union!" — Loud response by nearly 1,000 educators attending CTA SUMMER INSTITUTE at UCLA, during the part of President Heins' keynote speech July 29 about not being conned by union membership drop campaigns. " The district has chosen a path of austerity and cuts, and we are fighting to reinvest and save public education. Enough is enough." — United Teachers Los Angeles President ALEX CAPUTO-PEARL, in an Aug. 3 UTLA news release about reasons negotiations deadlocked with Los Angeles Unified. At press time, a strike authorization vote was scheduled for Aug. 23-30. " We have a lot of great ideas to improve the district, but we're ignored." — Banning Teachers Association President ANTHONY GARCIA, in an Aug. 7 Riverside Press-Enterprise story about BTA voting to hold a three-day strike starting Aug. 8 over an unfair labor practice charge that has cost Banning Unified teachers more than $500,000 in unpaid wages. The strike was settled on Aug. 10. " Angry and frustrated by OUSD's incompetence." — Oakland Education Association President KEITH BROWN, describing educators' reactions to a payroll blunder by the Oakland Unified School District in failing to withhold state income taxes for the first six months of this year for thousands of district employees, as reported July 20 in the San Francisco Chronicle. 14 cta.org In the Know Q U O T E S & N U M B E R S