Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/812811
Teri Roots, 2017 Paula J. Monroe ESP of the Year, center, with CTA officers Theresa Montaño, David Goldberg and Eric Heins. Senate president pro tem and former CTA staff Kevin de León thanked members for all they do for California's children, and promised that the state will hold firm on our values and protect the right of every child to a quality education. Making It the Best of Times State Council highlights from March 2017 A t CTA State Council's March meeting, CTA P resi d ent Eric Heins dre w a c ompari s on between Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and the current political environment in our country, and encouraged CTA members to work in union to make it the best of times. "Educators have always worked together to achieve amazing things and overcome obstacles on behalf of our students, our communities and our profession," Heins said. "And that's not going to stop." Heins noted the challenges, including the current White House administration's proposed education budget, which cuts more than $9 billion from schools and colleges, and its threat to withhold federal dollars from cities providing sanctuary to immigrants. Both would have a tremendous impact on California students, communities and schools. Specifically, the proposed education budget: • Includes a 13.5 percent cut to education, rolling back federal education funding to 2002 levels, despite having 8.6 million more students in our classrooms. • Includes $250 million for a new private school voucher program, and a $168 million increase for corporate charter schools. • Calls for eliminating $2.3 billion for professional devel- opment, teacher training and class size reduction. • Eliminates $1.2 billion from after-school programs, and slashes grant aid for low-income students to attend higher education. "is budget is designed to siphon money away from neighborhood public schools and give it to unregulated corporate charters and private schools," Heins said. "CTA is not going to stand by and watch our students be targeted, our schools be defunded, and our progress be threatened." Educators are encouraged to reach out to their con- gressional representatives and ask them to vote no on this anti-public education budget — it is wrong for students and educators, and wrong for taxpayers. "We are engaging our members," Heins said. "We 41 April 2017 CTA & You