Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1546952
able to catch up because I had four children and lost almost a complete year of service. I am so excited for the next generations of educators who won't fall behind just because they choose to have a family." Following the State Council vote, our union began a major public education campaign. We learned quickly that most people — including some members and many of the 120 elected state legislators we needed to convince to support our bill — were unaware that educators didn't receive paid pregnancy leave or were forced to pay for our own substitute teachers. Ruiz says in the early days of the campaign, many assembly members and state senators expressed shock upon learning about the lack of pregnancy leave, "so it took time to bring people along." The fight for paid pregnancy leave kicked off in the Legislature in Februar y 2024 when Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) introduced CTA-sponsored AB 2901, joining our union in a press event on the steps of the State Capitol that included Sacramento-area educator Lydiana Alfaro and her newborn. According to CTA Board of Directors member Mara Harvey, this was the first of many educators bringing their babies to take part in our union's efforts to win the leave. "at really helped people understand 'this is what a 14-week- old baby looks like,'" Harvey says. "I had to come back to the classroom when my kids were six weeks old, so I think this is just an incredible life-changing win for people. To be able to see the next generation of educators come into the pro- fession to a system that respects them as parents makes me emotional." For Unit ed Teach ers L os Angeles (U TL A) leader Maya Suzuki Daniels, this ongoing fight for equity and access has roots in Los Angeles, where she led a 2021 grassroots campaign center- ing working parents that culminated in a contract win of four weeks of paid parental leave for all LA Unified educators. Suzuki Daniels says she appre- ciates the focused and continued effort our union's leaders put into centering the issue and staying on it despite setbacks. "If it's a problem for members, then it's a problem for the union," Suzuki Daniels says. "It was a need and we "As a woman educator and CTA leader, this is a moment where we can look ahead to a time where we are no longer penalized for starting a family. As a mother ... we are leaving the profession better for the next generation." —CTA Secretary-Treasurer Erika Jones More than 20,000 educators signed our union's online petition in support of PPL. Thousands told their stories in text and video, which were shared with elected officials and the media to help build the movement. 35 F A L L 2 0 26 Stacie Thurman