Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1509126
Legislative Update By Julian Peeples I N S E P T E M B E R , Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law several pieces of legislation, among them bills directly related to education and educators and co-sponsored or supported by CTA, as noted. AB 5: Cultural Competency Training for All Educators All public schools serving students in grades 7-12 will be required to provide one hour of paid LGBTQ+ cultural competency training to all certificated employees starting in the 2025-26 school year, after Newsom signed CTA co-sponsored AB 5 (Zbur) into law on Sept. 23. " This is a great day for public edu- cation," said CTA President David Goldberg. " The Safe & Supportive Schools Act will bring opportunities to expand our LGBTQ+ cultural compe- tency with annual training for educators across California, a strong step forward for our schools and communities." AB 897: Allowing Adult Ed Teachers to Obtain Permanent Status Newsom signed this bill into law which will allow adult education teachers to obtain permanent status, starting in 2024. CTA-co-sponsored AB 897 (McCarty) details and codifies how adult ed teachers become per- manent employees. ACA 13: Protecting the Majority Vote Legislators acted to protect the principle of one person, one vote in approving CTA-supported ACA 13 (Ward), which is currently awaiting Local President Release Time for Organizing CTA is launching a release time program for local presidents to lead and carry out a site-based organizing program within their chapter. The goal of these efforts is threefold: • To increase union membership, expand site leadership and member participation, and run successful campaigns to win on issues that members, students and communities care about; • To take effective collective action to solve site-based issues and win strong contracts; • To join together with other CTA chapters to more effectively address key statewide issues like school funding, educator recruitment and retention, and attacks on public education. The program will launch in January 2024 and run through June 2025. Presidents can join the program at the start of each new semester (Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025). Online application for the January 2024 start opens in mid-October; application for the Fall 2024 start will open next spring. The president release time for organizing will be by formula with up to certain amounts that don't exceed full-time release. Chapter leaders can contact their PCS or board member for details and to apply. Newsom's signature. ACA 13, the Protect and Retain the Majority Vote Act, requires that any future ballot measures that propose increasing voter approval requirements pass by at least the same margin being proposed. It would also preserve the right of local government agencies to place advisory questions on the ballot to ask voters their opinions on issues. AB 1078: Protecting Textbooks From Censorship Gov. Newsom signed CTA-supported AB 1078 (Jackson) into law on Sept. 26, requiring instructional materials to accurately portray the history, view- points and experiences of California's diverse and underrepresented racial, ethnic and other groups, including LGBTQ+ Californians. The new law states that school boards that refuse to include materials or remove library books or textbooks that would inter- fere with the FAIR Act (which requires schools to teach about contributions of women, BIPOC, and other underrepre- sented groups) would be committing censorship and discrimination. AB 1078 creates a new process to request that the state superintendent of public instruction investigate and over- rule a local school board's book ban if it is found to violate the FAIR Act or other anti-discrimination laws. 38 cta.org Advocacy