Teachers begin gathering signatures to qualify funding initiative by April 7

With a historic chance to bring new money to California's public school classrooms, veteran teacher Nancy Waltz and her Sacramento County colleagues are eagerly collecting signatures to qualify the Improving Classroom Education Act for the November ballot.

"This is the most brilliant idea CTA has ever come up with," says Waltz, president of the 3,000-member San Juan Teachers Association. "This measure will make a huge difference. We are really hitting this hard."

CTA has joined with children's advocate Rob Reiner to sponsor the initiative, which would provide more than $4.5 billion a year in new funding for education - with a third of the funds going to provide voluntary universal preschool statewide for the first time in California.

"Passing an initiative that raises taxes on commercial property will not be easy, but getting the resources our students and teachers need is the right thing to do," CTA President Barbara E. Kerr told the 800 teacher delegates at the January meeting of State Council. "Our students and schools can't wait any longer."

"The Improving Classroom Education Act offers us an historic opportunity to bring our schools back to their glory and make a real difference for millions of California kids," says producer/director Reiner. Studies show that preschool leads to success in education and in life, he says.

April 7 is the deadline to gather the one million signatures needed.

In a massive, grassroots petition campaign that originated with CTA's State Council of Education, each of CTA's 335,000 members is asked to turn in at least two signatures - their own and that of one other registered voter.

According to CTA polling, 62 percent of Californians believe schools do not have the resources they need to provide a quality education. By nearly 2 to 1, voters favor increasing taxes to prevent cuts in school programs. More than 57 percent of voters say they would raise their own taxes to invest in education.

The polling also shows that more than two-thirds of California voters support the idea of increasing commercial property taxes to provide funding for schools.

Funds raised by the initiative could only be spent to reduce class size in K-12 classrooms; purchase textbooks and supplies; increase teacher salaries and benefits as a way to help recruit and retain quality teachers; provide quality training for teachers; and provide voluntary universal preschool for all children the year before they enter kindergarten.

The initiative would generate new education funding by raising the tax on commercial property from 1 percent to 1.55 percent. Ten percent of the funds raised would be set aside to provide a personal property tax exemption for small business owners. The measure would not raise property taxes for owner-occupied residential property at all.

"Fighting for this initiative to provide a quality education is the most vital thing we can do for our students' future, and for the future of our state," says Kerr. "With the March elections over, this initiative is the top political priority of CTA for the rest of the year. Teachers are working hard to win this one for the kids."

Carrying the message, "2 Make a Difference," an action package containing a brochure explaining the initiative, an official petition and instructions for collecting legal signatures has been sent out to all CTA members. Two signature areas are highlighted to remind members that CTA needs two signatures per member in order to meet its goal. There's room for six additional signers.

For a petition to meet legal requirements, only registered voters residing in the same county can sign on the same petition sheet. Extra petitions are available to those collecting signatures in more than one county. All signers must list a residential address. The person collecting the signatures must fill out a declaration at the bottom.

Signatures are already pouring in from across the state, and many teachers are obtaining more than just the obligatory two. Members of the San Juan Teachers Association are being asked to get at least five, says Waltz.

The 5,000-member Teachers Association of Long Beach is offering incentives if teachers bring in more signatures, says President Tony Diaz.

"We are pushing our members to get the whole petition filled out, and that's eight signatures," Diaz says. "We're finding it's not difficult to get family and friends to support something like this. Teachers are very excited about this campaign."

Kerr sees the success of the signature-gathering as a sign that teachers, in these uncertain economic times, are taking matters into their own hands to protect public schools.

"California public schools continue to rank below the national average in per-pupil spending," Kerr says. "Our funding has been cut by more than $4 billion over the past two years. The Improving Classroom Education Act is the best investment we can make to keep public schools improving."

Mike Myslinski

The ABC's of gathering signatures

You must be a registered voter to sign or circulate a petition.

a -- A county must be listed at the top of the petition. Print the name of your county on your petition. All voters who sign must be registered in the same county. You may collect signatures from voters in any California county as long as each petition represents voters from the same county.

b -- Be sure all signers list a residential address. Post office boxes are NOT acceptable for petitions. Signatures listing a post office box as an address will not be counted. Use only black or blue ink.

c -- Complete the 'Declaration of Circulator' portion at the bottom of the petition. If you leave it blank, the petition will not be counted.

Return your completed petition to the local CTA representative at your school or to the local CTA office. If you need more petitions, check with the local or regional CTA office, or send an e-mail message to the ICEA Petitions mailbox. Be sure to include your name and address.

The deadline to return petitions is April 7. Turn it in even if yours is the only signature. Doing your part makes you eligible for prizes.