California Educator

December / January 2017

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CTA's primary candidate recommendations I N O C T O B E R , CTA State Council of Education voted to recommend candidates for key statewide offices in the 2018 election, including governor and state superintendent of pub- lic instruction (SPI). is year all offices are up for election, including state Senate, Assembly and local school board seats. "Who wins these races and their views on public education will have a direct impact on students and educators," says CTA President Eric Heins. "To fight the attacks on public education that are coming from multiple fronts, we need leaders, we need champions, and we need allies." California's top two primary system applies to statewide constitutional, legislative and congressional races. e top two vote-getters advance to face off in the general election. In the SPI race only, a candidate who gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary wins office outright. CTA teams interviewed and evaluated candidates for each office over a two-day period in a democratic and member- driven process (see sidebar, page 45). In the months ahead, the E du cator will present more information about CTA- recommended candidates and their platforms. Gavin Newsom for Governor Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has long been a strong supporter of public schools, colleges, students and edu- cators. He shares the core values of CTA members and educators across the Golden State who believe in the mission of providing a quality, well-rounded education to all students. Every student deserves the same opportunity to achieve success regardless of ZIP code, background, where they come from or who they love. Newsom supported CTA-backed state propositions that increased the state income tax on the wealthy to generate billions for public education. Newsom's top priorities are education, economic development, protecting the environment, and social justice. Educators support his vision of creating more full-service community public schools. Like CTA, Newsom opposes the privatization of public education and the proliferation of charters, especially those run by private management companies that want to profit off our kids. He considers community colleges "the backbone of our economy " and supports two years of free community college tuition to help drive our economy, reduce student debt, and create better pathways to quality jobs. Tony Thurmond for Superintendent of Public Instruction As a state Assembly member, school board trustee and city councilman, Tony Thurmond has served in elected office for more than 12 years. As a social worker, he is also a respected leader of nonprofits for youth and a champion of disadvantaged students. At every step, he has kept California's kids as his top priority. He passed legislation to provide millions of dollars to school districts to keep kids in school and out of the criminal justice system. He's fought for money to ensure that California youth in foster care can go to college. He is an advocate for affordable housing for teachers and other incentives to attract and retain quality educators. He is fighting to shift $450 million from our criminal justice system to early education and after-school programs. He's working to expand school-based health, mental health and social ser- vice programs, and support students who are homeless or hungry, or have experienced trauma. Creative Commons Your questions answered: Have a question for or want to know more about Tony Thurmond? We'll ask for you when we interview him for an upcoming issue. Let us know at editor@cta.org. 43 D E C E M B E R 2 017 / J A N U A R Y 2 018 Advocacy C A M P A I G N 2 0 1 8

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