Contact: Mike Myslinski at 408-921-5769
LOS ANGELES – In a unanimous vote today, educator delegates of CTA’s top governing body elected Dean E. Vogel as the next president of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association.
Vogel, 63, of Davis in Yolo County, is the current CTA vice president and doesn’t assume his new leadership position until this summer. CTA President David A. Sanchez, who will be termed out after serving four years, remains president through June 25. Terms are for two years. Vogel faced no challengers and received the strong vote of confidence from the nearly 800 democratically elected teacher delegates who comprise the union’s State Council of Education.
“President Sanchez and I are more hopeful for the future of public education now that we have a governor who understands that state budgets should not be balanced with more devastating classroom cuts,” Vogel said. “Jerry Brown’s balanced approach of cuts and revenues are what teachers and all Californians need to help resolve the budget crisis and get the state back on track.”
Vogel’s education career spans 37 years. His diverse experience comes from working as a public school teacher and counselor at the elementary and higher education levels. He has taught all elementary grades, including kindergarten, and has trained counselors and student teachers.
He chairs CTA's vital Public Education Funding Workgroup, which is focusing on changing California's tax structures to provide adequate funding for our schools. Vogel is a longtime elementary school counselor in the Vacaville Unified School District in Solano County. He speaks out strongly about the negative impact on students from California having the fewest counselors per student of any public school system in the nation.
As a master counselor for university field study students, Vogel trained many pupils who went on to become school counselors. For his commitment to counselors, he was named “Advocate of the Year” by the California Association of School Counselors in 2006.
He’s also taught extended education courses at three California State University campuses in Sacramento, Sonoma, and Hayward, and at the University of California at Davis. He lives in Davis with his wife, Nancy Hiestand, who is a retired teacher from the Vacaville district, where the two educators met on the job. Vogel has three grown daughters and eight grandchildren.
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The 325,000-member CTA is affiliated with the 3.2 million-member National Education Association.