"Last year we proved to ourselves that 300,000 teachers united and fighting for what is right can't be stopped," said CTA President Wayne Johnson at the February meeting of CTA's State Council of Education. This year, "we are going to show the public school bashers and the bloated school bureaucracy that they can't stop us from taking control of our own profession.
"They can't stop us from bringing quality education to all our kids."
Shortly after being elected to a second term in office along with Vice President Barbara E. Kerr and Secretary-Treasurer David A. Sanchez, Johnson said, "The test of our progress will be to make basic changes in our public school system - changes that will make significant improvement in the education of all our children, but especially our poorest and most disadvantaged children."
Unfortunately, he said, socio-economic status and ethnicity have a major impact on a child's success in school. "Twenty-five to 30 percent of our kids are not making it. We have to lead the fight to make sure these kids get the education they need," said Johnson.
Noting that 30 percent of all new teachers quit within three years and 50 percent quit within five years, Johnson said school improvement would not come without changes in the teaching profession.
"Why do teachers quit? Low pay. Overcrowded classes. Tremendous amounts of paperwork. Endless meetings. Old, run-down, dirty schools. Incompetent or hostile administration. Teachers dictated to and treated like assembly line workers. An unrealistic and absurd student testing policy."
It quickly becomes obvious, he said, that kids and teachers and the classroom are not the top priority in district budgets.
Johnson delivered his address the day after the 700 State Council representatives attended focus groups designed to provide input on how to improve low-performing schools and help students who have been left behind.
CTA now plans to reach out to local communities around the state and join hands in the effort to bring quality education to all the state's schoolchildren.
"CTA is going to lead this fight," said Johnson. "We have to; no one else will. We are going to win like we won that $1.84 billion in increased educational funding last year. We are going to win like we won when we beat billionaire Tim Draper and his $31 million Prop. 38 voucher initiative."