CTA Launches Statewide TV and Radio Advertising Campaign Exposing Governor's Broken Promises

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BURLINGAME – The 335,000-member California Teachers Association today announced the launch of a television and radio ad blitz across the state that features classroom teachers taking the governor to task for an education agenda that is just more broken promises to our public schools.

"Keeping your word," a teacher in the TV ad begins. "It's a cherished principle we teach our students. So how can Governor Schwarzenegger break his promise? Borrowing two billion dollars from the education budget he now says he won't pay back."

"California teachers feel betrayed by this governor and want the public to know just how devastating his budget and education proposals will be on our students and schools," CTA President Barbara E. Kerr said today. "His broken funding promise and his attacks on the voter-approved law that guarantees minimum school funding will mean larger class sizes, fewer textbooks and more teacher layoffs. That's not reform, that's revolting."

The TV ad shows a concerned teacher talking about the governor's proposed changes to weaken Proposition 98, the voter-approved funding law, and his broken promise about making sure that schools get their fair share of any additional state revenues.  The combined impact of these proposals shortchanges every classroom in the state by $25,000.

Teachers conclude both the TV and radio spots by asking the same question: "So, when you hear the governor talk about 'reform,' ask yourself if that really means breaking his word to our schools and kids?"

Classroom teachers from Sacramento, Auburn, Loomis, Concord, Compton, Goleta, Long Beach and other cities speak out in the radio and TV ads, which are running in every major media market in the state. The Spanish version of the radio ad is also on the CTA website.