“AS I WAS GOING from school to school collecting signatures, our members were waiting and ready, sometimes standing in line to sign the petitions!” says Margaret Palmer, president of Lowell Joint Education Association in Whittier. “I had teachers asking me how we were going to win and offering to walk precincts and work to pass the extension.”

The movement to pass a permanent extension to Proposition 55 this year is rolling strong, with locals across the state putting in the work to gather the roughly 875,000 signatures needed to qualify the initiative for the November 2026 ballot. Without a voter-approved extension before 2030, our public schools would lose $14.6 billion in funding, which would impact students and schools in every district in California (find out how much your district stands to lose at cta.org/Prop55Extension).

Amid continued attacks by the Trump Administration and related uncertainty of federal education funding, it’s even more important to permanently extend this state funding and avoid widespread cuts to our public schools. Even with the Prop. 55 funding today, school boards and district administrators are adopting a misguided austerity mindset and turning to extreme and unnecessary cuts at a time when our students need their schools to be safe, stable and fully staffed.

“Make no mistake: This is a critical fight for our public schools — the impact of Prop. 55 expiring would be devastating,” says CTA President David Goldberg. “That’s why it’s so important for all of us to get involved now and be prepared to carry a permanent extension to the finish line in November. Our students and communities are counting on us!”

Educators in their local unions across the state are collecting signatures every day to qualify the crucial initiative — and building a massive movement from Eureka to El Cajon to ensure victory on Election Day for California schools. Here’s a look at how some local unions are working to meet the goal of collecting signatures from 85% of their members and building structures at every school site to organize and win.

LINCOLN: Site Blitz Success Example of Growing Power
“There were times in the past that this would have been a tough ask due to needing to work on our site rep structure,” says Kadie Collette, president of Lincoln Unified Teachers Association (LUTA). “We have spent a few years working on that.”

LUTA organized a signature site blitz at their largest site, Lincoln High School, after the union’s executive board identified that the site needed additional support with collection. In early January, LUTA’s Executive Board members used release time to have targeted meetings with members to talk about Prop. 55 and collect signatures, creating a schedule and breaking into teams to reach members throughout the day.

“We jumped in and helped our largest school site — it was amazing! We visited teachers on their prep periods and lunch, and had one-on-one conversations,” Collette says.

A We Can’t Wait power-up local, LUTA has been organizing, developing relationships and building power over the past few years, flipping their school board and winning at the bargaining table. It all starts with a leadership team that refuses to leave any members behind and approaches their collective goals for their students and schools relentlessly.

“We listen to what our members want, and we fight to win those things to help them be better teachers,” says LUTA Vice President Tiffany Fuhrmeister. “We have learned that no doesn’t always mean no, and we just keep working and chipping away on important things. Our eyes on the prize is making things better for our teachers so they can serve our students.”

Lincoln Unified would lose $12.6 million in funding if Prop. 55 expired, which Collette says LUTA leaders have been repeating during their asks to members to help support and participate in the campaign (including a fun video they posted to YouTube). Site reps will continue following up with members until they reach their goal, and the LUTA executive board plans to text members who have not yet signed. Collette says she’s not surprised by the success of the blitz because LUTA leaders know their sites and have been organizing to win, whether it’s on Election Day or to defend their contract.

“In between signature gathering, we also filed two demands to bargain, initiated one grievance and informally represented a member over an evaluation,” she says.

LOWELL: Local Reaches Signature Goal, Eyes 100%
Lowell Joint Education Association (LJEA) members were waiting in lines to sign Prop. 55 petitions when President Margaret Palmer visited school sites in December, as the local was one of the first in CTA to reach the goal of collecting signatures from 85% of members.

The 32-year transitional kindergarten teacher says LJEA’s campaign started last year when its representative council adopted a resolution of support. Palmer said LJEA understood the importance of the campaign and also took it as a challenge. “It took us two weeks, but we did it,” exclaims Palmer. Palmer credits CTA’s Local President Release Time grant for a big part of the success, allowing her to visit all six schools regularly and build with her members at each site. She let educators know when she was coming, leaving with a stack of signed petitions.

“It was just about utilizing the time I had and my relationships with the teachers,” Palmer says. “The neat thing about meeting in the lounges is that they were filled with classified employees as well, who wanted to know what was going on — so I ended up gathering signatures from about 30 classified employees, too.”

Aiming for 100%, Palmer is planning follow-up visits to collect signatures from the members remaining who have yet to sign. With almost a quarter of their school district budget at stake with a Prop. 55 extension, Palmer says her members know that services for Lowell students are on the ballot this November.

“There aren’t extras to cut, so it would have to come from programs and supplies,” she says. “I can’t even imagine what that would look like.”

CAJON VALLEY: It’s All About School Site Structures, Relationships and Organizing
“The success of our effort reflects the strength of our internal communication structures, the dedication of our site representatives, and the trust members have in their association’s leadership,” says Cajon Valley Education Association (CVEA) President Stephen Davidson. CVEA site reps organized a signature collection blitz in December that resulted in almost two-thirds of their nearly 900 members signing petitions, in an effort that Davidson says was the result of a deliberate, structured and relationship-based approach. CVEA asked site representatives to lead the charge in engaging members and building a local movement for the campaign.

CVEA Site Representative Daisy Delacruz says the school district losing $21.8 million in Prop. 55 funding without an extension would be catastrophic for the district and community.

“That’s 15% of our budget, which impacts our students, our classrooms and our peers,” she says. “This is one in six of our colleagues who will lose their jobs unless we pass an extension.”

CVEA is also utilizing a combination of communication tools, including digital outreach through Hustle and direct follow-up with members who have not yet signed. Delacruz is inputting data to track progress toward the 85% signature goal.

Davidson says CVEA will use these same organizing structures that made their initial outreach successful as the campaign progresses, utilizing site reps to provide clear and consistent information and create easy, accessible ways for educators to participate.

“Most importantly, we will center the campaign on the impact to students and classrooms, so that members remain motivated by the shared goal of protecting educational quality and stability in our district,” Davidson says. “By staying organized, transparent and member- driven, we believe we can sustain momentum and help secure a successful outcome in November.”

WALNUT VALLEY: Building Union Power with Friendly Competition
“When people sign the petition, they’re taking ownership over it and building a vested interest in it,” says Joshua Henness, president of Walnut Valley Educators Association (WVEA). “Then, members become more comfortable as ambassadors for the initiative and talk to their neighbors and families.”

In Walnut Valley, educators organized a Prop. 55 extension signature-gathering drive in conjunction with a districtwide Day of Action late last year to continue building a buzz for the campaign. With two main asks for the event — wear red and sign a petition — site reps set out to gather across the district.

“There was a little bit of friendly competition going on — we had one elementary school that had 100% of members sign with one member who was on leave even coming in to sign. Between our three middle schools, there were only eight members who didn’t sign,” Henness says. “Our reps are why we did so well, because they know their sites. We have great site reps who attend our meetings and care about representing our members.”

With $20 million at stake, Henness says WVEA members know just how much it would impact their students and community if we fail to extend Prop. 55. Henness says it would mean drastic cuts to programs, services and people.

“It would leave kids under-resourced,” he says. “We’re a very high achieving school district and we have high expectations for our teachers and students — and without those funds, we’d be making it so they can’t achieve to their highest ability.”

The initial drive during the Day of Action resulted in 73% of WVEA members signing Prop. 55 extension petitions. Henness plans to do targeted follow-ups with members who have not yet signed — a task made much easier with the Local President Release Time grant, which provides Henness with an ultra-precious resource for any union president: time.

“With that time, I’ve been able to do site visits and talk to members about Prop. 55,” he says. “It’s been invaluable.”

Our Fight for School Funding

Prop. 55 is essential to our fight for school funding. It was approved by voters in 2016, extending Prop. 30’s personal income tax increases. It generates almost $15 billion annually for our schools and community colleges.

But Prop. 55 is set to expire in 2030. Extending it — permanently — is vital to preserve the resources we have and achieve more in the future. The tax extension would apply to couples earning more than $700,000. Without an extension, our schools and community colleges will be hit with an immediate 15% cut in funding.

Take action with our union now to secure permanent
funding:
• Find out how much funding your district stands to lose at
cta.org/Prop55Extension.
• Join your chapter’s signature-gathering campaign to qualify an initiative for the November 2026 election.
• Talk to friends, fellow educators, families, neighbors and more about this crucial school funding extension for the 2026 ballot.

Prop. 55 Extension: Advice on Engaging Fellow Members

“Focus on clarity, structure and relationships. Clearly explain what Prop. 55 does, what would be lost without it and how it affects students and classrooms. Use trusted site leaders to deliver the message, set clear timelines and make participation simple. Combine peer-to-peer outreach with consistent follow-up and always connect the campaign back to your shared commitment to students and public education.”
— STEPHEN DAVIDSON, Cajon Valley EA

“It’s important to start early. I made a TikTok video about why Prop. 55 is important — educating our young members!”
— DAISY DELACRUZ, Cajon Valley EA

“Ask for help from members you know are down for the cause, target meetings or PD that have large numbers of teachers in one place as a first pass. Log signatures and identify people who have not signed and do a second pass with one-on-one conversations. Make sure you work with your CTA staff — they are invaluable.”
— KADIE COLLETTE, Lincoln Unified TA

“I was president 20 years ago and we didn’t have release time. I see such a difference now that I do. Having that time and getting face-to-face with my members, that’s where it’s at. To any president who doesn’t currently have release time, get that CTA grant, go out and talk to your members because that’s been a gamechanger for us.”
— MARGARET PALMER, Lowell Joint EA

“What worked really well was running our signature gathering campaign in conjunction with a day of action, so we were already in our members’ ears.”
— JOSHUA HENNESS, Walnut Valley EA