Fighting for the Public Schools and Communities All Students Deserve

An educator since 2005, CTA Secretary-Treasurer Erika Jones is an elementary school teacher at Los Angeles Unified School District and member of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA). She was elected as secretary-treasurer in 2023 after serving eight years on the CTA Board of Directors.

In addition to teaching kindergarten through fifth grade, Jones is a national professional development trainer specializing in classroom management, culturally responsive teaching, racial equity and supporting school communities. Her experience supporting educators and schools includes working on multiple school plan writing teams in Los Angeles.

On the state level, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Jones to the California Charter Schools Task Force in 2019. The group’s work led to a series of CTA-sponsored bills to reform charter school law that won approval in the Legislature and were signed by the governor, bringing much-needed transparency, accountability and regulation to a previously unregulated California charter school industry. Jones currently serves on the California Department of Education (CDE) Advisory Committee on Charter Schools as well as the CDE Foundation Board of Directors.

Jones served in a variety of elected and appointed positions in UTLA, including as a member of the bargaining team during UTLA’s historic strike in 2019. She also co-chaired UTLA’s Racial Justice Taskforce, collaborating with fellow educators, students, parents and community organizations. A representative to the CTA State Council of Education for five years, Jones was chair of the Civil Rights in Education Committee and also served on a strategic planning workgroup that crafted a vision for CTA centered around the goals of organizing, advocacy, community engagement and social justice.

“Educators change the world every day, supporting more than 6 million students in California’s public schools and community colleges,” Jones says. “When we organize and build together to fight for equitable, inclusive and racially just schools, we have the power to win the resources our communities need and our students deserve.”

Born in New York and raised in Kentucky, Jones has lived in California since 1991. She holds a Bachelor’s in International Business from Mount St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles, and earned her teaching credential and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from California State University, Northridge. She also holds an Administrative Credential and has completed the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education Program: Leadership, Organizing and Action.

Jones lives in Los Angeles with her husband Alex and daughter Josephine. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, painting and creating ceramics.

Contacting Erika Jones 

California Teachers Association, P.O. Box 921
1705 Murchison Drive
Burlingame, CA 94011-0921

ejones@cta.org | Twitter: @Erika78Jones