Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1525262
O U R U N I O N H A S B E E N B U S Y this summer working with law- makers in the State Capitol to shepherd these three important pieces of legislation to the governor 's desk to be signed into law. AB 2901: Paid Pregnancy Leave for Educators Thousands of CTA members across the state have sent emails and signed a petition to support the fight for paid pregnancy leave for public school educators. CTA-sponsored AB 2901 (Aguiar-Curry) would provide public school employees up to 14 weeks of leave with full pay when they are pregnant or experience pregnancy-related health issues. "Women are struggling to make ends meet due to pregnancy, and this struggle follows them well into retirement," CTA President David Goldberg said. "It's a disrespect in a predominantly female-led pro- fession and it must end." Status: Approved by the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee. Scheduled for a hearing by the Senate Appro- priations Committee on Aug. 5. SB 1263: End the TPAs The California Teaching Performance Assessments (TPA) may soon be no more if our union successfully passes CTA-sponsored SB 1263 (Newman). The bill would eliminate the requirement to pass the TPA to receive a preliminary multiple-subject, single-subject or education specialist teaching credential. "Over the past 20 years, the TPA has evolved into a high-stakes, time-consuming, costly barrier for aspiring teachers," CTA Cre- dentials and Professional Development Committee Chair Mandy Redfern told the Senate Education Committee. " The current iteration of the TPA has been proven to be ineffective at preparing educators for the realities of the classroom — data shows that TPAs dispropor- tionately harm aspiring BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and other people of color) educators." Our union supports high standards for teaching and accountabil- ity. CTA's New Educator Pipeline Workgroup, which spent several years researching and evaluating TPA impacts, recommends that performance-based assessment instead take place within teacher preparation coursework or practice. Status: Approved by the Assembly Education Committee. Awaiting a hearing by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 1955: The SAFETY Act On July 15, the CTA-supported SAFET Y Act (Support Academic Futures & Educators for Today 's Youth) was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom. California is the first state in the country to pass legislation that explicitly protects LGBTQ+ students from dangerous forced outing school policies. Intro- duced to counteract such policies adopted by some extremist school boards, AB 1955 (Ward) reinforces current state law, strengthening educators' ability to protect students' sexual orientation or gender identity and prohibiting the enactment or enforcement of any policy, rule or administrative regulation requiring such disclosure. The SAFET Y Act also provides resources for parents and families of LGBTQ+ students, and provides safeguards to prevent retaliation against teachers and school staff who foster a safe and sup- portive school environment for all students. "With LGBTQ+ young people under attack in Cal- ifornia from extremist politicians and school boards seeking to prevent them from safely being themselves at school, the SAFET Y Act could not be more timely or necessary," said Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang. Status: Signed into law To get the latest on these and other bills, visit cta.org/our-advocacy/cta-bill-positions. CTA-Sponsored Bills Advance Push toward governor's desk continues for important legislation By Julian Peeples 37 A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 24 Advocacy L E G I S L A T I V E U P D A T E