This time of year, we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the rich and amazing history of Black Americans, and the ongoing work of the Black Lives Matter at School movement. Much of this work and history has involved successful organizing. For example, while not widely known, Dr. King’s deep partnership with union leaders and members and their powerful vision for public education helped bring people together to make change.

Dr. King organized working people to come together in collective actions. This paved the way for the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and more. It’s a struggle for equity and civil and human rights that all of us continue today.

This time of year is also when the State Budget is on our minds — part of the ongoing struggle as well. California faces a $38 billion budget shortfall in Gov. Newsom’s proposed 2024–25 budget. And while it largely reflects an ongoing commitment to public education, we must work together to ensure that our state budget delivers the schools and resources every student deserves.

CTA has three priorities. First, we must protect the gains we’ve made in recent years and allow school districts to continue to build on the progress they’ve made following decades of deliberate disinvestment in California public schools. California is the fifth-largest economy in the world, yet since the passage of Proposition 13 (a ballot measure that restricts property tax increases) in 1978, we’ve seen our state languish near the bottom of the country in per-pupil funding. Only over the past few years have we seen that start to turn around; we cannot allow ourselves to go back.

Second, we will work to make certain that the budget deficit is not balanced on the backs of educators and school employees with budget cuts and layoffs. At a time when financial markets are hitting record highs and the economy is booming, it would be unconscionable to lay off educators. Layoffs would not only be devastating to our impacted members, but to their students, class sizes, and the education profession as a whole. California is already facing a severe teacher shortage. Laying off staff would only make things worse, including creating a climate where young people don’t see teaching or other education jobs as viable careers. Now is the time to implement ways to keep educators in classrooms, not drive them away. That’s why CTA is working to remove barriers to entering or staying in the profession, such as the Teaching Performance Assessment, and why we’re working to change a broken system that currently offers no paid maternity leave for educators.

Finally, we must continue to fight for additional revenue sources for our schools and communities. That means the increased taxes on the wealthy under Propositions 30 and 55 mustn’t expire, and we need to look at other solutions, including ensuring wealthy corporations pay their fair share.

To reverse the years of deliberate disinvestment in public schools, it’s going to take good organizing on multiple levels. We’re going to need to convince voters to prioritize public schools, and elect state and local leaders to put the needs of students first. The March 5 election is an opportunity to do just that.

We’re also going to have to ensure that the resources we do have are used effectively, and that educators have a voice in those decisions. That’s one of the reasons why local CTA chapter organizing efforts around California’s historic investment in Community Schools are so important. The shared decision-making at the heart of the Community Schools model ensures that decisions about how best to use resources are made by parents, educators and administrators together.

This erratic system of starved school budgets during economic boom years mustn’t continue. We need to find lasting solutions to California’s broken budget system. Before we can do that, we need to build the democratic structures and strong local unions like the ones Dr. King so championed. Then we can win state funding for public education as one of the most important civil rights issues of our time.

David B. Goldberg
CTA PRESIDENT