Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/13098
than 1 million members to urge legislators to support the As sembly’s proposed state spending plan — the “Jobs Budget” — which pro- vides schools with $5.1 bil- lion more than would come t h r o u g h Go v. Ar n o l d Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget. “Ca lif o r ni a’s p u b lic schools and our students have been devastated by more than $17 billion in cuts al- ready,” says CTA President David A. Sanchez. “The ap- proval of the Assembly Jobs Budget would mark a crucial turnaround and a move to- ward restoring desperately needed funding.” Pink-slipped Bay Area teacher Niko Villars knows firsthand about the human toll from so many cuts to ed- ucation. He is one of about 16,000 educators with no job to come back to in the fall, according to CTA layoff esti- mates at press time in mid- June. For the third year in a row, the Concord High School teacher in the hard-hit Mt. Diablo Unified School Dis- trict got a pink slip — never thinking it would be perma- nent. He made life-changing plans. He recently bought a house in Oakland, and is due to get married on July 10. Then he got word he was one of nearly 200 Mt. Diablo edu- cators to lose their jobs. “This is a huge blow,” Vil- lars said. “I thought losing my job was not a likely pos- sibility this year.” 30 California Educator | SEP MBER 32 JUNE CTA mobilizes in support of Assembly’s Jobs Budget C TA and its Educat ion Coalition partners are mobilizing their more Like so many teachers, he is fed up with the roller- coaster layoff ride disrupting his personal life and his com- mitment to teaching. “I love teaching. But last year I found out about three weeks before the first day of school that I was going to have a job.” The Jobs Budget was un- veiled by Assembly Speaker John Perez May 25 at CTA Pres- idents Lobby Day. Under the Assembly proposal, education and other critical children’s ser- vices would not suffer any additional cuts. In fact, public schools would receive $5.1 bil- lion more in vital education funding than the governor’s May Revision proposes. The Assembly budget pro- posal increases revenues, honor s the commi tment made less than a year ago by the governor and the Legisla- ture to California’s students, and does not suspend or manipulate the Proposition 98 cons t i tut iona l fund- ing guarantee. By contrast, the governor’s proposal would cut another $4.1 billion from schools, on top of $17 billion cut in pre- vious years. The Assembly plan would also increase funding for the CSU by $365 million without enacting dra- conian cuts to basic state ser- vices and K-12 education. While the Senate’s budget version also contains more school funding than the gov- ernor’s, it falls far short of the amounts in the Assembly version. As the Educator went to press, members of a joint conference committee on the TE 2010 2009 text-to-call system Use CTA’s new CTA members can get in touch with their state senator and the members of the joint conference committee on the budget and mobilize their colleagues, friends, family members, and school supporters to do the same. Urge your senator to support the Assembly’s Jobs Budget, which protects schools and colleges from additional budget cuts, boosts education funding by $5.1 billion over the governor’s May Revision, and protects the state’s minimum school funding law. Tell lawmakers how the cuts are affecting your students! Call your lawmaker by using CTA’s new text-to-call system. Text 69866 and enter Prop98 You will be prompted to enter your name and voting address, and then you will be connected to your senator. (Your phone carrier may impose a slight text message charge.) budget were deliberating over each provision of the separate Assembly and Sen- ate spending plan versions. The conferees’ job is to forge a compromise budget that will go back to each house of the Legislature for approval. CTA advocates emphasize that educators get t ing in touch with their state sena- tor can help ensure that the As sembl y’s proposa l for funding public schools is in- corporated into the f inal spending plan. CTA members are also being urged to sign up for budget news bulletins and calls to action that may come when most schools are closed for the summer. To sign up, send an e-mail from a non-school account to summeradvocate@ cta.org. LEN FELDMAN, MIKE MYSLINSKI