Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1500904
that resonate with people. And that 's what has changed: The fight for issues of the common good, such as equity and social justice, is huge. For us to really win what we deserve will take a move- ment. Our biggest asset is our members. On his objectives as CTA president: There are a few overarching goals: I want to continue to engage with and make common good issues the core of CTA work , where we bar- gain not just around salary and healthcare but around issues that impact our students and communities. We've got to deal with funding for public education — we can't continue to meet any of our goals for members and students with devastating cuts and generations of disin- vestment. And we must work on respect for our profession, especially with salaries and teaching and learning conditions. But the bigger goal that helps us get there is CTA build- ing a deeper connection with our members at every local, every level, every school site. As CTA has grown over the decades, some of these connections, our bottom-up vitality, got lost. We need to make our union resonate and have relevance around the everyday issues that our members confront at school sites. This includes curricular issues, disrespect from supervisors or principals, the ability to con- nect and work in coalition with families and students to get what they deserve. The democratic disagreements and working through issues that we have at CTA State Council should mirror what's going on at our work sites. The business we take up at State Council should be driven by that work. We all must think this out together. On the challenges: Our most basic needs are not being met. Funding for schools impacts our members' ability to have the mid- dle-class lives that they, and all workers, deser ve. It 's par ticularly intense in California because after Prop. 13 so much of our state income doesn't come from prop- er ty taxes, which are more stable, but from income tax , which is sporadic. So when the economy goes bad we make devastating cuts that set back our workers, fami- lies and communities. We need to make corporations pay their fair share, which they do not. We also need to extend or make permanent initiatives such as Prop. 30 and Prop. 55 — the latter of which expires in 2030.** Regarding the teacher shortage, I look forward to recommendations from CTA's New Educator Pipeline and Support Workgroup for concrete steps we can take to both bring folks into this profession and create an environment where members who have dedi- cated their lives to [teaching] want to stay. Beyond that, we must be part of the movement to fight back against attacks on us as workers and unionists, and targeted attacks on, for example, trans students, librarians and our members. I'm sure I'm going to be humbled on day one as pres- ident. The struggle is so big, the scale is so big. But I've spent years building connections to members and member leaders as a local leader, board director, officer, etc. I've done enough to both be humbled and to have some ideas on how we can work together in new and exciting ways. I look forward to continuing to engage with you — our members — to lead with you, not in a position of power over you but in power with you. Onward and upward, let's keep building the union that we deserve and our students deserve. "I've done enough to both be humbled and to have some ideas on how we can work together in new and exciting ways." ** Propositions 30 and 55 were ballot measures to fund schools and healthcare. Prop. 30 (approved in 2012) increased the state's personal income tax rate on earnings over $250,000 (expired in 2018) and the states sales tax rate (expired in 2016). Prop. 55 (approved in 2016) extended the personal income tax rate on the wealthy through 2030. Goldberg with CTA President E. Toby Boyd at a March rally in Los Angeles supporting UTLA and SEIU local 99. 14 cta.org Spotlight