We're in this together

In what seems to have become a new back to- school tradition, we start this year like the last four, hoping for a better future and facing a very important November election. It’s as if the preparation list now reads: classroom supplies, wall decorations, pencils, papers, vote in November. And while I do want to talk about the upcoming election, first, we need to celebrate.

CTA — that’s all of you — did it once again. Two days before the state Assembly and Senate were set to adjourn, lawmakers approved CTA’s Quality Education Investment Act, which provides nearly $3 billion over seven years to help students and teachers in our schools of greatest need. It will provide assistance, not sanctions, to the schools that serve higher percentages of low-income students and English language learners, and help close the achievement gap. It also settles the lawsuit we filed against Governor Schwarzenegger after he took money from public education and refused to pay it back.

The Quality Education Investment Act provides assistance in ways that we as educators know are important. In grades K-3 of targeted schools, it will maintain a maximum class size of 20 students, and in grades 4-12, it will reduce class sizes to an average of 25. We are actually reducing class sizes in our upper grades — imagine that!

In the targeted high schools, it will provide at least one counselor for every 300 students. It will provide quality training not only for teachers, but also for paraprofessionals and principals. It will give teachers time to collaborate with their colleagues. And it will give local school districts the flexibility to support programs that best fit the needs of their students.

Finally, it will provide additional money to help our community colleges expand vocational education programs, so students can continue their vocational and career education studies for an additional two years.

All of this is what we fought for in last year’s special election battle. During that campaign, our critics were quick to charge that CTA doesn’t care about kids. Well, the Quality Education Investment Act is all about our students and ensuring that every one of them has an equal opportunity to learn. I’m proud to be the president of the teachers union that was willing to fight to get this money, sponsored this legislation and ensured its passage in the Legislature.

But the fight isn’t over. Last year’s struggle continues with this year’s election. On Nov. 7, we have an opportunity to elect a governor who will not make us file a lawsuit to provide our schools the minimum funding guaranteed by Proposition 98. We have an opportunity to elect a governor who won’t waste $80 million on a special election for his pet projects. We have an opportunity to elect a governor who won’t blame teachers for all the problems in our schools or try to gut our secure pension system.

We have the opportunity to elect Phil Angelides. Phil Angelides stood up for education when Gov. Schwarzenegger attacked Prop. 98 and tried to cut school funding permanently. Phil believes California should rank at the top of the 50 states in the resources we provide our students, and he was the first elected official to step in and say no to Schwarzenegger’s plan to force teachers into a risky 401(k) system.

Some of the political pundits say Phil doesn’t have a chance, but these are the same people who said Gov. Schwarzenegger was so popular, his special election agenda could not be stopped. We proved them wrong in 2005 and we can prove them wrong again.

If you are not registered to vote, register today. Read more about CTA’s recommendations for candidates and ballot initiatives in this magazine or on the newly redesigned CTA website [www.cta.org], and then contact your local chapter to see how you can get involved. Working together, we have the power to change the future of public education and the teaching profession. It starts with this school year, this election and you.