CTA President David Goldberg delivered a lively and inspiring report at this morning’s CTA State Council of Education meeting. Here are a dozen takeaways from that speech:

1. Cuts Hurt: “Since we last met in January, nearly 2,000 of our colleagues – our union family, received a layoff notice. Classroom teachers, school librarians, special education educators, classified colleagues, counselors, school social workers, and other educators who bring life to our schools and change the lives of students. Each one received a letter that told them their livelihood is in jeopardy.”

2. The Funding Roller Coaster: “This year’s budget problem is only part of the picture. This roller coaster for education funding has become far too normal in California. Until we bring more consistent and long-term revenue solutions to our system, we can expect more disruptive RIF (Reductions in Force – layoff notices) and steeper cuts to student services and resources in the years to come. It’s not just our school budgets that are under attack – it’s all essential services.”

3. Broke on Purpose: “We are now living in a state of deep inequity. And it doesn’t have to be this way. Corporations are paying around half of what they did a generation ago in state income taxes. In fact, California’s budget would have billions more revenue over the last few years had corporations paid the same share of their income in taxes that they used to pay in the 1980s.”

4. We Can and Should Do Better: “We spend billions on corporate tax cuts every year. Yet we consistently rank towards the bottom in spending on our students – when factoring in the varying costs of labor, one report put us at 38 out of 50. For many who don’t have a career in education, this is simply a stat. For educators, we see our students’ faces. We think about the times when there haven’t been enough desks in our classrooms for all the students who showed up. We think about the crumbling infrastructure and the old textbooks.”

5. There is Hope in Our Union: “I’m grateful for the gift of having a union. There is an important place for our anger. Without a response, anger turns into bitterness, but there is also another path. That is the path that I have been talking about in every single speech, the one where we take these feelings of hopelessness and pour them into collective action where it is needed most – where we live our lives, in our schools and worksites.”

6. Solidarity is a Verb: “There is something powerful that happens when you refuse to give up on people. When you refuse to become complacent, even when times are tough. When the person who hears you say ‘An injury to one is an injury to all,’ and knows that you mean it and you’re willing to act on it. This is how our power grows, moves, and builds.”

7. Ready to Fight: “What are we willing to do to stop these layoffs? Quite simply: there is power in our union. In our connections to each other. In our commitments to each other. At CTA, we’re dedicated to devoting resources to local chapters to build that power and connection at every worksite.”

8. Defending Community Schools: “Chapters around the state are also gearing up for our first ever statewide week of action for community schools. Without our union behind Community Schools, it’s possible that promised funding – $4.1 billion dollars could be cut. Putting valuable resources and a future for public education that our communities are calling for into jeopardy. Local chapters are refusing to accept that reality.”

9. Organizing is our Lifeblood: “Local organizing and the energy from locals working together is needed at the state level in order to win the victories we all deserve.”

10. AB 2901 – Pregnancy Leave Now: “Women earn on average $100,000 less in retirement compared to male colleagues, due to lack of sick leave they are able to convert into earnings. This is pregnancy discrimination. Women are struggling to make ends meet due to pregnancy, and this struggle follows them well into retirement. It’s a disrespect in a predominantly-female led profession and it must end. CTA’s sponsored legislation AB 2901 will fix this broken system and grant 14 weeks of paid pregnancy leave to educators.”

11. Statewide Fights, Powered by Local Unity: “While our legislative battles underscore our concentrated power in the Capitol, it’s our power at the local level – in every worksite that fuels our union and keeps us moving forward. And it’s that power that will determine whether or not we are victorious in the fight to fix our broken school funding system.”

12. United, We Are Unstoppable: “We – our students – deserve more than survival mode. The corporations with the most profits can pay more. And it’s time to do away with unfair tax loopholes and tax havens. With every educator willing to take action – we can make the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share. When we’re connected with each other, organized with a plan of action, there’s nothing that can stop us.”