President David A. Sanchez brings a commitment to seeing that all of our public schools – where the 340,000 members of CTA work every day – get the resources they need to continue to provide a quality education for every student.
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David A. Sanchez
President |
Sanchez has a strong record of accomplishments over his 27 years in the teaching profession. The first Latino president of CTA, Sanchez's leadership skills caught the attention of La Opinión newspaper, which named him one of 80 Latino “Leaders of the Future” in California in 2006.
He has testified in Sacramento on class size reduction and other vital legislation, and campaigned for three successful statewide school bonds passed by voters since 2002 that provided $35 billion to renovate our schools and relieve overcrowding. He helped lead the historic CTA campaign against the governor’s measures in the special election of 2005, which would have destroyed teachers’ due process rights and the education funding protections in Proposition 98.
Sanchez is bilingual and has been the voice of CTA radio commercials in Spanish for the past eight years. He believes that our society’s diversity makes us whole. He takes the helm of California’s largest teachers union at a time when nearly 48 percent of the student population is Latino, and 25 percent are English learners of many ethnicities. He believes we have to close the school resource gap if we are to close the student achievement gaps that challenge our schools of greatest need.
He believes all schools deserve adequate and equitable funding and wants to build on CTA’s Quality Education Investment Act of 2006. This law will provide nearly $3 billion over seven years for proven intervention reforms such as smaller classes, more counselors and better training for teachers and principals at hundreds of our most disadvantaged schools.
Sanchez’s knowledge about education is also drawn from his parents, whose careers as educators inspired him to carry on a rich family tradition.
Since 1980, he has been a kindergarten teacher for the Santa Maria-Bonita School District in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara County, and has also worked as a community college instructor. He still calls Santa Maria home.
His mother, Amparo D. Sanchez, is a former teacher of the year who retired after teaching elementary school for more than three decades in San Luis Obispo County.
His late father, Dr. David J. Sanchez, for 23 years headed the Department of Ethnic Studies and Multicultural Education at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. An elementary school in Santa Maria was named after the senior Sanchez in 2004.
David Sanchez’s CTA leadership experience includes serving four years as the union’s statewide secretary-treasurer and four years as vice president, plus several years on the Board of Directors representing a coastal region that includes about 20,000 teachers.
He holds a bachelor of science degree in early childhood education from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, and also earned a bilingual cross-cultural multiple subjects teaching credential from Cal Poly. His master's degree in education is from the University of La Verne in Los Angeles County.
Contacting David A. Sanchez
California Teachers Association
P.O. Box 921
1705 Murchison Drive
Burlingame, CA 94011-0921
Phone: (650) 552-5305
FAX: (650) 552-5007
E-mail: dsanchez@cta.org