Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/3058
Voluntary dues support CTA advocacy and scholarships left : Julia James holds a “Stand Up for Schools” sign to passing traffic at the Pink Friday rally last March at the state Capitol building. INSetS: Benjamin Quiñones Jr., member of the Association of Colton Educators and recipient of a 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Scholarship, with President Sanchez; (from left) Joy Cornish-Bowden, an art teacher at West High School in Tracy, along with students Shannon French and Nicole Tellier, César Chávez Award recipients, and CTA Board member Marty Meeden. Teaching and Learning was able to greatly increase the number of grants and scholarships awarded to members and students across the state, and fund advocacy programs such as the successful Pink Friday campaign, which brought awareness to last year’s attacks on pub- lic education. “The voluntary dues fund has been vital in B helping CTA create advocacy campaigns such as Pink Friday, a major statewide movement that brought attention to educator layoffs,” said CTA President David A. Sanchez, “and in fund- ing the TV campaign to bat- tle the governor on the state budget. And soon after, when class size reduction was be- ing attacked, CTA was able to mobilize and launch a TV campaign within two days.” The CTA Foundation for Teaching and Learning con- sists of the CTA Institute for Teaching (IFT) and CTA’s scholarship and grant Learn more about CTA advocacy efforts and the CTA Foundation for Teaching and Learning by going to www.cta.org/mycta/services/ Voluntary+Contribution+article.htm. 34 California Educator | september 2009 ecause of CTA members’ contributions last school year through the voluntary dues donation, CTA’s Foundation for programs. IFT works to research and promote teacher-driven reforms that work to improve public schools, with a mind toward cre- ating better teaching and learning conditions in all schools and helping struggling students and schools. The grant programs include the CTA Di- saster Relief Fund; CTA Scholarships for Members; CTA Scholarships for Dependent Children; the L. Gordon Bittle Memorial Scholarship for Student CTA Members; Mar- tin Luther King Jr. Memorial Scholarships; the CTA César E. Chávez Memorial Education Awards Program; and the GLBT Safety in Schools Grant and Scholarship Pro- gram. “The fact that CTA would help to alleviate some of my financial burden with the MLK scholarship is very sig- nificant to me,” said Benja- min Quiñones Jr., a member of the Association of Colton Educators and a recipient of a 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Me- morial Scholarship. “I appreciate this support immensely, and it reaffirms my strong belief in union membership.” CTA advocacy includes promoting policies to improve public education, such as additional funding for our public schools, smaller class siz- es in all grades, and affordable college for all stu- dents. It also includes fighting back attacks on teachers and public schools, such as massive budget cuts, voucher programs, NCLB, legisla- tion to decrease education employees’ pensions or attack teachers’ professional rights, and the current push to accept funds for the faulty Race to the Top program. The dues contribution is voluntary and flex- ible. New members are automatically enrolled in the default allocation of $10 to support CTA advocacy efforts and $10 to the CTA Founda- tion for Teaching and Learning. No action on your part is needed to contrib- ute the suggested amounts to support CTA ad- vocacy efforts and the CTA Foundation. To re- allocate or opt out of a portion or the full amount of your contribution, CTA’s interactive Voluntary Member Contribution Change Form is available. Also available is a download- able change form. To make a desired change to your contribution, use CTA’s online form at www.cta.org/mycta/ services/Voluntary+Contribution.htm. • • • • Options for changing your donation CTA members can choose to contribute the suggested amounts to support CTA advocacy efforts ($10) and the work of the CTA Foundation ($10). This is the default choice for new members. If this is your choice, you do not need to use the form. CTA members can choose to opt out of a portion of the $20 contribution by requesting a partial refund or by simply choosing to contribute to only one of the two categories. CTA members can choose to allocate the entire $20 contribution to support either CTA advocacy efforts or the work of the CTA Foundation CTA members can choose to opt out of the entire $20 contribution by requesting a full refund. There is no need to make a selection if you want to retain the same selection that you had last year. Photo by Scott Buschman