More than 30 CTA members flew to Washington, D.C., to meet with California's congressional delegation on April 30. Their mission was to discuss concerns about the implementation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and urge lawmakers to push for full funding of the program.
"With ESEA, the Bush administration made funding promises and then immediately broke them," said CTA President Wayne Johnson. "The law has placed additional burdensome and grossly underfunded demands on our schools. If Washington is serious about improving education, it is going to have to help provide the resources to get the job done."
Amended in January 2001, the ESEA imposed massive changes on state testing, accountability and teacher quality standards. Although infusions of federal education money were promised, the current federal budget comes up short by more than $11 billion, leaving states already beset by budget problems struggling to make up the difference.
In addition to urging full funding of the measure, the CTA representatives planned to press for more local flexibility on accountability issues imposed under the new law.
"California already has some of the highest curriculum and teacher credentialing standards in the nation," said Johnson. "We want to fix this law so that our schools are not punished because we have set the bar higher for them than schools in most other states."
Following the meeting with the California delegation, the CTA members joined other NEA members in lobbying the full House and Senate on ESEA issues.