Volume 45 Number 4
Candidate appears at State Council
With the June primary behind us, CCA/CTA will be working hard over the next few months to make sure that state Attorney General Jerry Brown is elected governor…again.
Brown, a former two-term governor, appeared before CTA’s State Council of Education in June to an audience of almost 800 delegates.
Take back California
“When we invest in our people and in our schools, when we pull together, then we know that we don’t just defend the land of our fathers – we defend and protect the land of our children. That’s the future, that’s our future, and together we are going to take back California,” Brown said.
“Jerry Brown gets it,” said CTA President David Sanchez. “Jerry Brown knows that California’s future depends on a world class, quality public school system, K-16. He understands that schools must have the resources they need to succeed. And he knows that Proposition 98 must be preserved to do that. Jerry Brown is not only the Democratic candidate for Governor, he is the Education Candidate for Governor. He is someone we believe can lead this state out of this fiscal crisis and bring collaboration back to Sacramento.”
Devoted public servant
Unlike mega-billionaire Meg Whitman, Jerry Brown has spent a lifetime devoted to public service, from his first elected position as a trustee for the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees to his current position as state Attorney General. Along the way, of course, he has held positions as secretary of state, two-time governor, and mayor of Oakland. His early years were spent organizing farm workers and anti-war groups during the Vietnam War.
“In his first term as governor, Jerry Brown signed California’s landmark collective bargaining bill that permitted educators to be full partners in educating our students,” Sanchez said. “That alone has strengthened us as educators and I believe, strengthened our schools.”
Because Brown will be facing off against a candidate who has spent more than $90 million of her own money in the Republican primary, he must rely on the strength of his supporters to win the election.
“That’s why we will mobilize and do what it takes to get out the vote in November,” Sanchez said.
Educators vote
California’s educators, always among the most “voting-est” of groups in the state, once again showed up at the polls on June 7 to help a number of pro-education candidates earn a spot on the ballot for the November General Election.
Educators joined other voters to select two former K-12 educators – state Sen. Tom Torlakson and Larry Aceves – to be in the November runoff for the office of state superintendent of public instruction. In so doing, voters rejected state Sen. Gloria Romero, who has been a champion of the federal “Race to the Top” reform guidelines that punish struggling schools and promote misguided policies such as paying educators based on student test scores.
“As faculty in California community colleges, we know what kind of education reforms work and what don’t. It’s good to see that CTA-supported Tom Torlakson will be on the November ballot,” said CCA Vice President Lynette Nyaggah. “As a legislator, Tom not only sponsored the Quality Education Investment Act, which has directed nearly $3 billion for proven classroom reforms to assist lower- performing schools, he has been a friend to community colleges and was CCA’s ‘Legislator of the Year,’ in 2009.”
To keep up with campaign information, please see the election section on CTA’s website at www.cta.org/Issues-and-Action/Election-2010/Index.aspx.