November election brings shift in power that could benefit public education

CTA had plenty of cause to celebrate on Election Day.

Proposition 1D, the statewide school construction bond, is the third statewide school bond that CTA has successfully led the effort to pass since 2002. Those efforts have brought more than $35 billion to aid local school districts in their efforts to repair, upgrade and build new school facilities.

CTA was successful in 84 percent of the races for statewide office, legislative and congressional seats, and ballot initiatives on which it took a position.

In addition, with teachers’ help, 71 percent of local school campaigns were won, including 23 of 36 local bond and parcel tax measures and 162 of 236 school board races in which CTA/ABC, CTA’s political action committee, made contributions.

While the defeat of Phil Angelides for governor was disappointing, backing him was “the right decision,” says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. His stands on the issues meshed with CTA’s core values, especially in regards to a quality public education being the basis of a strong economy and the state’s future.

Above: Lt. Gov.-elect John Garamendi and his wife Patti share their victory with CTA.

“It’s also important to remember that our efforts last year sparked many of the changes in Governor Schwarzenegger’s tone this year,” adds Kerr. “Regardless of who sits in the governor’s office, the teachers of California will be fighting for what’s best for students and their future.”

CTA contributions helped John Garamendi win a hard-fought battle for the position of lieutenant governor, and helped John Chiang win the race for controller despite being targeted for defeat in the final days of the campaign.

Other winners at the state level include Attorney General-elect Jerry Brown, Treasurer-elect John Lockyer, and Board of Equal­ization members Betty Yee and Judy Chu. As for statewide ballot initiatives, Prop. 85, the parental notification bill that CTA opposed, failed, as did Prop. 89, the public campaign financing initiative, and Prop. 90, the eminent domain initiative. All five of the pieces of the govenor’s infrastructure package passed.

Public education was also a big winner at the national level, where a shift in power in both houses of Congress could open up opportunities to address the shortcomings of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (currently known as No Child Left Behind). “We now have an opportunity to get rid of President Bush’s punitive sanctions against struggling schools and replace them with assistance and support,” says Kerr.

Other issues that could come back to the table at the federal level include the Social Security Offset and Windfall Elimination Pro­­­­­vision, the Social Security Fairness Act and health care reform.

CTA Secretary-Treasurer Dean E. Vogel (top left) alerts the room as California’s Nancy Pelosi finds out she’s in line to be the first woman speaker of the House of Representatives. Watching the election returns in Sacramento are (clockwise from top left) Dorothy Chu from Montebello, CTA Board member Mary Rose Ortega, President Barbara E. Kerr, Marc Sternberger from Pittsburg, Vice President David A. Sanchez and Jim Rogers from La Habra.

Many CTA members took part in the federal election battles that led to Democrats taking control of Congress. In two high-visibility races, they worked to defeat Northern California Congressmen Richard Pombo and John Doolittle and replace them with CTA-recommended candidates Jerry McNerney and Charlie Brown, respectively. McNerney prevailed, but Brown did not.

Teachers in Pombo’s district settled on McNerney as their candidate partly because he showed a strong commitment to revising and fully funding ESEA (NCLB). “McNerney does not like the way they’re going about imposing NCLB,” says Stockton Teachers As­­­sociation member Charles Glenn. Even though McNerney had lost to Pombo by 22 points two years earlier, Glenn lobbied busily on his behalf, work­ing the phone bank, organizing chapter members and putting out lawn signs.

NCLB was also a major factor in the decision to recommend Charlie Brown in the race against Doolittle, says NEA Board member Janice Ault who was on the interview team. “He wanted to see changes in NCLB. He sees too many children left behind be­­­­cause of the law.”

House parties were a popular election strategy, especially in rural areas, says Mary Ann Luckinbill, president of the Nevada City Faculty Association. She worked with the Nevada County Democratic Central Committee to get the vote out.

Rocklin Teachers Association President Mary Dick was one of many teachers who hosted house parties for Brown. One of her guests was Sacramento radio personality Christine Craft, who broadcast her show from there.

South Lake Tahoe Teachers As­sociation political action committee chair Mike Patterson volunteered to help put up about 20 Charlie Brown signs “right up to the casinos.” As vice chair of the CTA Capital Service Center Council, he buttonholed just about every colleague at South Tahoe High School.

Nancy Pelosi, who is likely to be the new speaker of the U.S.House of Representatives, and gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides paid a surprise visit to the Sacramento City Teachers Association Oct. 18. In addition to thanking the 100 educators who were there working the phone bank for their support, they picked up phones and joined them in the effort.

Many teachers tried to set a record for phone banking in this year’s elections. Jan Graves, a member of the Kern High Faculty Association, made 1,200 calls for the local school board race and more than 600 calls for the statewide election. Chuck Denonn, a member of the Grant Teachers Association, made more than 3,000 phone calls.

Teachers Association of Long Beach members had a particularly keen interest in the passage of Prop. 1D and its $10.4 billion for school renovation. Even the passage of a local $300 million school bond several years ago did not pro­vide enough funding to take care of the myriad of facilities needs in the large urban school system.

The chapter used structures put into place for its successful 2005-06 initiative and school board campaigns. This year TALB leaders challenged their school site representatives to speak personally with every chapter member at their school and urge them to support CTA-backed candidates and positions.

“Frankly, our members were tired not only from their hard work in their classroom, but also from the extra efforts they undertook during 2005-06 to win school board and initiative races,” says TALB President Tony Diaz. “Even so, they rallied to our call and helped ensure that teachers voted for the bonds and the candidates who support public education.”