Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/649572
Council Votes to Support Funding and Multilingual Initiatives In other actions, State Council: • Elected NEA Directors Krista Patterson (District 4), Colleen Briner-Schmidt (District 5), Mel House (District 6), and Tracy Lee Taylor (District 13). • Voted to support the Children's Education and Health Care Protection Act of 2016, which would temporarily extend the income tax rates created under Prop. 30 for 12 more years (aer Prop. 30 sunsets) to fund public schools, colleges and health care for low-income students. • Voted to support the California Education for a Global Economy (Ed.G.E.) Initiative, which would expand mul- tilingual education programs to better prepare students for college and careers in a global economy. It would also overturn Prop. 227 (1998), which mandated English- only education. • Affirmed and strengthened policy regarding teachers' and parents' rights around opting out of standardized tests (see story on page 50). • Recommended candidates for the June 2016 primary elec- tion, including Kamala Harris for U.S. senator. • Voted to write a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown in response to immigration raids happening in California. More info at cta.org/iceraids. • Voted to actively support Student CTA's "Resist Teach for America" campaign, by denouncing and organizing against the methods of Teach for America, similar programs and other privatization efforts. • Approved immediate action for a letter of support to be written by the CTA President to the Detroit Feder- ation of Teachers, regarding the dire water situation in Flint and other Michigan cities, as well as unacceptable school conditions. • Held a reception honoring Martin Luther King Jr. on Sat- urday night, sponsored by the African American Caucus, including a repeat performance by the Inner City Youth Orchestra Los Angeles. • Heard from Loriene Honda, author of The Cat Who Chose to Dream, a California Reads recommended book for spring 2016. are instrumental in promoting assessment literacy at the local chapter level. Breakout groups convened the next day to discuss key compo- nents of assessment systems that CTA will use to build our public narrative around learning over testing, and to address changes this year and in the future. P R E S I D E N T TA K E S P R I D E I N C TA' S S U CC E S S E S CTA President Eric Heins recounted how he was privileged to rep- resent members at the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for Friedrichs v. CTA earlier in January. No matter what the outcome, CTA will continue its mission. "We're going to continue to work for the students and educators of California," Heins said. "One court case is not going to change that. ere will be more attacks after this one. We're going to keep speaking out, because America's labor movement is the strongest voice we have to speak up for the middle class and against corporate special interests seeking to diminish our rights." Heins urged members to celebrate our successes, such as the passage of ESSA. e new law gives all students a real opportunity to succeed, Heins said, allowing states to limit testing time, decou- pling test scores from high-stakes decision-making, and making it unlawful to tie teacher evaluation to test scores. In California we have already moved decision-making to the state and local level with the Local Control and Accountability Plan, for example. Heins said we should also celebrate how our work passing Prop- osition 30 in 2012 increased state education spending by 50 percent in just five years. But this is money needed after years of devastating cuts. "Reve- nues from Prop. 30 are set to expire soon. If we want t o k e e p u p t h e p r o g re s s , w e m u s t p a s s a f u n d i n g extension initiative in the November election," Heins said. "We have the responsi- bility to step up and to lead once again." E xe c u t iv e D i re c t o r Jo e Nuñez spoke about the importance of one-on-one organizing and member engagement at the local level. "If you believe, as I do, that our power comes from our member- ship, we must tap into that power and create distributed volunteer leadership," Nuñez said. "We're going to keep speak- ing out, because America's labor movement is the stron- gest voice we have to speak up for the middle class and against corporate special interests seeking to diminish our rights." —CTA President Eric Heins California Faculty Association member Erma Jean Sims speaks with author Loriene Honda. 49 March 2016