Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/712197
quotes & numbers "Because we are educators, I believe we have a special role to play in creating understanding. In building community. In the coming weeks, I challenge all of us to think about what we can do and how we can be beacons in this nation that all of us love so dearly. We owe it to our students. They are watching us." — CTA President ERIC HEINS, quoted in a July 5 EdSource story about CTA members and communities already mobilizing to pass Proposition 55 on November's ballot to prevent billions in education funding cuts. "Our students can't afford to go back to those dark days." — Bay Area teacher DAN REYNOLDS, urging lawmakers to support Prop. 55 at a June 29 joint legislative hearing where he spelled out recession-era damage done in his Mt. Diablo Unified School District. More than 200 educators were laid off, libraries were shuttered, all elementary music programs were eliminated, and budget chaos reigned. Proportion of U.S. teenagers who think they are addicted to their mobile devices, according to "Harper's Index" in the August Harper's. "I believe supporting educators means supporting unions that help create the strongest middle class in the history of the world. You see, I know you're not just fighting for your members. You're fighting for your students and for families across America. So here's what I want you to know. For anyone who has faced a hostile state legislature, a union-busting governor, or both, help is on the way." — HILLARY CLINTON, speaking on July 5 to more than 7,000 delegates at the NEA Representative Assembly in Washington, D.C. "Whether it disrupted class or not, if students were afraid to come to school or were afraid for one another, that's a problem. Why would they err on the side of caution of freedom of speech when students are feeling intimidated? It's concerning." — Desert Sands Teachers Association President MONA DAVIDSON, in a July 12 Desert Sun story about a probe of students at one high school who were allowed by Desert Sands Unified to wear anti-gay badges to protect their freedom of speech rights. The LGBTQ+ community at the school felt targeted, an independent investigation later found. — NEA President LILY ESKELSEN GARCÍA, in her heartfelt July 8 blog in the wake of shootings in Orlando and Dallas. The blog was titled "What Will We Tell Our Children This Time?" Sixth 1 in 5 ½ 32,000 $4 billion Ranking of California's economy in the world last year, according to a July 5 Associated Press report about a new World Bank study. The only five nations with economies ahead of California's were the U.S., China, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. Number of students in Indiana's flawed but growing school voucher program, which was expanded by Gov. Mike Pence, the vice presidential running mate of Donald Trump, as reported by the New York Times on July 19. Proportion of University of California students who went hungry in the past year, according to a new UC survey, as reported July 13 in the Mercury News. Another 23 percent were "food insecure." Estimated cuts to California education funding in the first year alone if Prop. 55 is not approved by voters in November. Compiled by Mike Myslinski "There'll be an incredible amount of interest." 12 cta.org in the know