ACROSS CALIFORNIA , UNION educators are all-in for Yes on Proposition 3 to help ensure our public schools have the resources they need and that our students deserve. With almost $15 billion a year on the line for public education, educators are knocking on doors in communities across the state to spread the word and get out the vote for Prop 3.
The choice is clear: Support our public schools or cut taxes for the rich. Failure to extend this funding before 2030 would mean devastating cuts, with one in six educators — roughly 50,000 people — potentially losing their jobs statewide.
As our campaign rolls on from Yucaipa to Eureka, we checked in with members in seven CTA locals to see what’s at stake in their communities and how educators are mobilizing to fight for Yes on 3.
What is Canvassing?
IN THIS ARTICLE, educators call it knocking on doors, precinct walking, canvassing and more.
It’s all the same: We meet at one of CTA’s offices to coordinate who goes where, heading out to a neighborhood and walking door-to-door to knock and urge folks to vote Yes on Prop. 3.
This is how we’ve won campaigns throughout our history. It’s also how we help share information on how to vote. This is about protecting public education and democracy.
Chaffey College Faculty Association
(CCFA) PRESIDENT DAVID RENTZ (Funding at risk: $31.8 million)
Why is Prop. 3 so important?
“ This funding provides our college about 15% of our budget, which essentially means the difference between being able to offer the classes our students need and not. We won’t be able to compensate our instructors at levels that honor their skills and work, and a lot of part-time faculty would lose their jobs entirely. And our TK–12 partners stand to lose hundreds of millions, which is a tsunami that would hit us.”
What’s at risk in your community college if this funding expires?
“ The biggest is a reduction in the number of classes we’re able to offer and that means longer waitlists and a draconian reduction in access to education for our students, many of whom are from underserved populations. They rely on these classes to be able to get through college in two or three years to move on to university or get a job.”
What are you doing to ensure Prop. 3 passes?
“We are participating in CTA-organized canvassing throughout the campaign. I drafted a Chaffey-specific resolution, sent it to our governing board and urged them to adopt it. We also sent representatives to division meetings at the beginning of the academic year to share a video we made and talk about Prop. 3 — and not just the importance of voting oneself but for families, neighbors and friends. It’s really important that we focus on educating that this is extending a tax on the wealthiest because details about different propositions can get conflated.”
Thoughts as we push onward to victory?
“ This is an existential push for the students we serve, their families and for the dignity and viability of our profession.”
Coachella Valley Teachers Association (CVTA) PRESIDENT CARISSA CARRERA (Funding at risk: $59.6 million)
Why is Prop. 3 so important?
“Our district has made some extreme cuts over the past couple years, the majority of which were to teachers and staff. This year, we have a historically high number of combo classes and if we were to lose another $60 million, I don’t even want to know what would happen. The deficit we’re facing now is already impacting students every day. We have a population with very high needs, so it would be pretty drastic.”
What’s at risk in your district if this funding expires?
The district has already decimated classified staff, so they’d have to go after programs. All of the extra duties teachers do like sports, after-school tutoring and other programs outside the school day might be at risk of elimination. Our CTE programs are so necessary for our students, but they’re not required, so they would likely go — we’d have to cut everything down to the required classes.”
What are you doing to ensure Prop. 3 passes?
“We visited every school site for bargaining and talked about Prop. 3 with our members. We’re going to be precinct-walking for Prop. 3 and our school board candidates every Saturday through Election Day, as well as weekdays in neighborhoods around our schools after students get out for the day. We also have a social media campaign and two of our member-leaders have a very popular TikTok account that is focusing on Prop. 3 and the election.”
Thoughts as we push onward to victory?
“I hope all CTA members will band together and help pass Prop. 3 even if it’s not a huge drain on their own district because it impacts our students across California. Don’t just look at what you stand to lose but what California stands to lose.”
Fresno Teachers Association PRESIDENT MANUEL BONILLA (Funding at risk: $284.8 million)
Why is Prop. 3 so important?
“We are some of the most under-resourced communities with the highest concentration of poverty in America. Any additional cuts to education funding would devastate generations, their upward mobility and their opportunities, whether that be in college or career. We need to ensure those funds remain intact, that our students and communities are given the opportunities they were promised through public education.”
What’s at risk in your district if this funding expires?
“More than $200 million in cuts would be devastating not only to our school system but to the entire region. It would start with cuts to essential programs for our students, and then there would be a tidal wave of layoffs to our custodians, bus drivers and other classified staff, and then it would turn into closure of schools, which is going to have a profoundly negative impact on our communities in the Central Valley.”
What are you doing to ensure Prop. 3 passes?
“We need to educate all of our members and the community on the potential threat for this. On the local level, to ensure that those monies are allocated in the correct way. Doing work on both educating and getting the vote out to make sure that these funds do not go away, but also to make sure our decision makers are making the right choices on what to do with that money.”
Thoughts as we push onward to victory?
“Our calling as educators is to provide quality education for our communities. To do that, we need to ensure there are resources to provide the academic and social-emotional supports that our kids deserve now and for generations to come. These are well-worth investments, so we need to do our part to inform, educate and take action to ensure this passes.”
Porterville Educators Association (PEA) VICE PRESIDENT ENRIQUE CHAVEZ (Funding at risk: $58.5 million)
Why is Prop. 3 so important?
“There are a lot of people who live at the poverty line here in the San Joaquin Valley, so we need additional support. This funding directly supports our students, so they have equitable opportunities. I was hired in 2010, when there were teacher layoffs. After my first year, Prop. 30 was on the ballot, and if it wasn’t approved, I would’ve gotten fired.”
What’s at risk in your district if this funding expires?
“Close to a quarter of our funding will be gone and if a quarter of our educators and classified disappear, it’s going to be very difficult to meet the needs of our students. They won’t be able to hire teachers, and all rookie teachers are going to get let go. Our classroom sizes are going to increase, and with students with a lot of needs, it’s going to be very difficult. I worry about our teachers’ mental health because this would burn a lot of teachers out.”
What are you doing to ensure Prop. 3 passes?
“We’re going to walk door-to-door in our neighborhoods and educate folks about Prop. 3 as well as our candidates for school board. Email and mail are impersonal, but when you see educators at your door sharing their stories about the impacts of your vote, it really goes so much further. We’re going to talk to the community and do public education — and we’re going to be strategic about it.”
Thoughts as we push onward to victory?
“Regardless of where you‘re from, we need to support the needs of all our students. I’m fighting for the same opportunities that were given to me to be provided to the next generations of kids.”
Redlands Education Support Professionals
Association (RESPA) PRESIDENT LIZ HUERTA-BREWSTER (Funding at risk: $71 million)
Why is Prop. 3 so important?
“If Prop. 3 doesn’t pass, that’s major for our district and means less money available for wages and benefits and increased workloads — and that’s already an impact on us.”
What’s at risk in your district if this funding expires?
“We have 500 paraprofessionals who work directly with our students and if we lose one-in-six jobs, that will be a big impact. All of our classifications are already short-staffed. Schools aren’t going to look as good, maintenance requests will go unfilled, professional development will be cut and we won’t get the crucial training we need. It will impact every single position in all nine families of ESP jobs — layoffs, positions left vacant, reduced hours. It’s going to be bad.”
What are you doing to ensure Prop. 3 passes?
“We circulated and collected commitment cards. We’re canvassing our neighborhoods, going out and talking about Prop. 3. We’re doing all our canvassing efforts together with
Redlands Teachers Association to hit the most people and make sure our members and community see the importance of passing Prop. 3.”
Thoughts as we push onward to victory?
“Prop. 3 protects school funding, which protects ESP jobs. Our students depend on us every day and our voices matter. Our ESP voices need to be very loud and we need to vote!”
San Jose Teachers Association (SJTA) PRESIDENT RENATA SANCHEZ (Funding at risk: $4.5 million)
Why is Prop. 3 so important?
“Losing more than $4 million in our district would be a hit for us and the services we provide for our students — it’s the equivalent of 30–35 educators, which is a whole school site of people likely providing student-centered services who would be cut. There could be impacts to supplies, mental health support and social-emotional learning. It’s our students who are going to suffer the most.”
What’s at risk in your district if this funding expires?
“Our early intervention reading program and other services that help students catch up to grade level could be at risk. Our district pays for school meals for every student and that could be under threat. Current funding being used to support student programs already is not enough. Failing to pass Prop. 3 would exacerbate that problem.”
What are you doing to ensure Prop. 3 passes?
“We are hosting canvassing walks every weekend through Election Day to make sure we get the word out. We know that our voters trust teachers when it comes to deciding how to vote on issues about education, and we’re excited to make connections with our parents and community. If we vote, we win, and we only lose if we don’t turn out, so we have to work to ensure turnout is high.”
Thoughts as we push onward to victory?
“Prop 3 is a no brainer — school funding is not a partisan or controversial issue and it affects every single one of us. Whether we’re parents, we work in schools or even just as informed citizens, it’s really important to make sure our schools get adequate funding so our communities can thrive. It’s something we can all rally around and I hope everyone does.”
Santa Barbara Teachers Association (SBTA) PRESIDENT YORK SHINGLE (Funding at risk: $2.25 million)
Why is Prop. 3 so important?
“Continuing these funds is crucial to continuing to have the number of classes and amount of support that currently comes from the district. We are a basic aid district so we won’t be hit as hard, but we know our neighboring districts will be and we don’t want to see any of that happen.”
What’s at risk in your district if this funding expires?
“It would depend on how our district would work to absorb it. They don’t always have a track record of making cuts in the right places. An attack on education anywhere is an attack on education everywhere, and we want to make sure we secure as much funding as possible for our kids. Failure means we would see massive layoffs and cuts statewide. It would be a really dark time for public education in California to lose all that funding. We would see class sizes get bigger, less teachers working. These cuts will hurt everyone.”
What are you doing to ensure Prop. 3 passes?
“We’re canvassing our community and talking to our neighbors about Prop. 3, Richard Barrera and our endorsed school board candidates.”
Thoughts as we push onward to victory?
“A lot of us got into teaching because we wanted to work with kids and it’s hard to focus on the big picture. Prop. 3 is a way we can impact the big picture in a positive way to make sure we are in the best position to support our students for a long time into the future.”
CTA President David Goldberg (fourth from left) and CTA Board Member Ken Tang (fourth from right) along with Little Lake Education Assn. members canvassing in September.
Saddleback Valley Educators Assn. President Mandy DeGroote, right, with fellow union members knocking on doors in September.
Southwest Teachers Assn. President Vanessa Barrera (at bottom) canvasses with members — note the Prop. 3 balloon!
Jeraldo Martinez, Sanger Unified Teachers Assn. (SUTA); Judee Martinez, Fresno/Madera Service Center Council Chair and Central Unified Teachers Assn.; and SUTA President Janelle Reetz ready to canvass for Prop. 3.
San Diego Education Assn. Rep Council members commit to Yes on Prop. 3 on Sept. 2, preparing to talk to coworkers, colleagues and communities about the crucial need to protect school funding.
West Sacramento Teachers Association members with flyers that let colleagues and community know that Washington Unified — their school district — will lose $25.7 million each year, making Prop. 3 a must-win this November.
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