Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1543424
Sign Here: Gathering Signatures to Qualify Prop. 55 Permanent Extension One-on-one meetings, a little competition key to local chapters' success By Julian Peeples LUTA organized a signature-gathering site blitz at Lincoln High School, its largest site. Leaders met with members during prep periods and lunch to talk about Prop. 55 and collect signatures. " A S I W A S G O I N G from school to school collecting signa- tures, our members were waiting and ready, sometimes standing in line to sign the petitions!" says Margaret Palmer, president of Lowell Joint Education Association in Whittier. "I had teachers asking me how we were going to win and offering to walk pre- cincts and work to pass the extension." e movement to pass a permanent extension to Proposition 55 this year is rolling strong, with locals across the state putting in the work to gather the roughly 875,000 signatures needed to qualify the initiative for the November 2026 ballot. Without a voter-approved extension before 2030, our public schools would lose $14.6 billion in funding, which would impact students and schools in every district in California ( find out how much your district stands to lose at cta.org/Prop55Extension). Amid continued attacks by the Trump Administration and related uncertainty of federal education funding, it's even more important to permanently extend this state funding and avoid widespread cuts to our public schools. Even with the Prop. 55 funding today, school boards and district administrators are adopting a misguided austerity mindset and turning to extreme and unnecessary cuts at a time when our students need their schools to be safe, stable and fully staffed. "Make no mistake: is is a critical fight for our public schools — the impact of Prop. 55 expiring would be devastating," says CTA President David Goldberg. "at's why it's so important for all of us to get involved now and be prepared to carry a perma- nent extension to the finish line in November. Our students and communities are counting on us!" "That's 15% of our bud- get. [That's] one in six of our colleagues who will lose their jobs unless we pass an extension." —CVEA Site Rep Daisy Delacruz, on the impact of not passing Prop. 55 16 cta.org Feature