I couldn’t be more honored to be your President. I was raised in a union home. Growing up, I saw the power of educators coming together in their union and the impact that can have in our schools and communities. I see that same power today — at the state level and down into every local chapter throughout our state. I believe every single member of CTA is critical to that power and I look forward to working alongside you in the years to come.

Over the summer, many of you took opportunities to sharpen your skills and build our union together at CTA Summer Institute, Presidents Conference and NEA Representative Assembly — it was great to see so many of you there. Whether you spent your break at one of these events with us, on vacation with your family or just sleeping in, I hope that you are refreshed and ready to work together to build a stronger CTA for each other and for our students. We’ve got an exciting year ahead!

The new year has me thinking about who we are and what we do. Together, we are more than 310,000 union educators across the state, and we power public schools and community colleges in communities from Calexico to Crescent City — northern, central and southern California; urban and rural; small towns and major cities. CTA is in nearly every community in our state, and we are united in our struggle for public education because we care.

We care that our students, who we dedicate our lives to, aren’t getting the resources they deserve.

We care that we live in a state that is the fourth largest economy in the world, while we still rank 37th in the nation for per-pupil spending.

We care that far too many of our colleagues can’t afford to live where they work.

We care that we see incredible educators leaving our profession due to stress, low pay, unsafe working conditions and racial discrimination in our schools.

We know that the best way to make real change in our working conditions and our students’ learning conditions is to come together and organize at every school site across our golden state. This is how we bargain strong contracts, strengthen our skill sets as educators, and fight for the resources our students deserve.

Just this last school year, we saw local organizing power being used in incredibly powerful ways. In Los Angeles, educators went on a solidarity strike with classified colleagues, while Oakland educators worked with their community to strike for the common good for all students and families. Educators in Montebello, Richmond, Anaheim, Natomas and more are leading the fight for Community Schools. Every single victory can be traced back to strong school sites — where colleagues are engaged, active and ready to take action. I’m grateful that we know how to win — because the threats facing public education and unions today are simply unprecedented.

As we embark on a new school year, let’s commit to not just fighting back against what’s wrong in our schools but fighting forward for our shared values — forward for the public education all students deserve; for fair salaries, healthcare and affordable housing; for the dignity and respect educators deserve in their classrooms, including the books we use to teach; and fighting forward for racial and social justice for all!

Thank you for all you do to power schools for your students, communities, our profession and our union. Have a fantastic school year.

Onward and upward,

David B. Goldberg
CTA PRESIDENT