2026 Region IV Leadership Conference
Join us for Region 4 Leadership Conference, March 6-8, 2026. Sessions are centered on "Future Forward: Leadership in a Changing World".
Event Description
This year’s Region IV Leadership Conference, Future Forward: Leadership in a Changing World, where we will come together to strengthen the structures and cultures our chapters need for local and statewide action. Let’s move beyond putting out fires. Let’s build the power to win.
Please consider joining your colleagues from across Southern California at this year’s conference as we hone the practice of building relationships by developing our skills and knowledge through multiple course offerings.
Program
AGENDA*: Click here to download the agenda.
WORKSHOP GRID*: Click here to download the workshop grid.
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS*: Click here to download the workshop descriptions.
Each session is crafted to inspire, inform, and equip you with the tools to lead confidently in today’s evolving landscape.
What to Expect:
- Dynamic Sessions: Practical strategies for effective leadership in a changing world.
- Collaborative Learning: Build relationships that drive impact.
- Tailored Content: Designed from feedback by local leaders, members, and staff.
*All program details and documents are subject to change.
Friday, March 6
8:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Presidents’ Meeting/Lighting a Spark Registration, Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Lighting a Spark Training
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Presidents’ Meeting w/Executive Officers
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Pre-Conference Lunch Buffet
4:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Conference Check-in, Business Partner Displays
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Service Center Councils’ Reception/Dinner, Friends of Bill W
Saturday, March 7
7:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Conference Check-in continues
7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Business Partner Displays
7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Buffet Breakfast, Orchestra (SRHS Chamber Orchestra)
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM
CTA Budget & Breakfast Forum
9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Welcome / Opening Session with Keynote Speaker David B. Goldberg, CTA President and Richard Barrera SDUSD President
10:15 AM - 10:30AM
Group Photo
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM
Session 1: Core Session
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM
Lunch Buffet
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Session 2: Electives
3:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Afternoon Break
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Session 3: Electives
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Caucus Meetings
6:00 PM
Dinner On Own
Sunday, March 8
7:30 AM - 8:45 AM
Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Session 4: Electives
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM
Brunch Buffet with Chapter Panel, Cultural Performance and Door Prizes
Venue
Conference Hotel – Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine
3777 La Jolla Village Dr
San Diego, CA 92122
Group Rate: $215+ tax
Resort Fee: $10/night
Parking: $25/night
Booking Deadline: February 13, 2026 (or until hotel block sells out)
The booking link will be provided during conference registration.
Traveling to the Conference
Please consider using public transportation to travel to the conference. Please visit https://www.sdmts.com/ for maps, schedules, fares, and more information.
Airfare Discount: United Airlines offers reduced rates for CTA members up to 10%. To take advantage of these rates, you must book online at www.united.com.
Enter the CTA Discount Code: ZRVW947785 in the Offer Code Box found on the left-hand side of the page. Please check with the other airlines to ensure that you are getting the best rate.
Fees
Early Bird Registration: $225.00 (Register by December 12, 2025)
Conference Registration: $250.00
Exhibitor Fee: $675.00
Please click on the link below to apply for an Incentive Scholarship or a Grant!
Deadline to submit is Friday, November 7, 2025.
Featured Presenters
David B. Goldberg
CTA President
An educator for more than 25 years, CTA President David Goldberg has spent most of his career as a bilingual teacher at Murchison Elementary in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). In addition to English, he is fluent in both Spanish and sign language. Goldberg has a long history of union activism. He previously served as CTA Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer for four years each, as well as two three-year terms on the CTA Board of Directors. Goldberg aso previously served as treasurer of United Teachers Los Angeles. He comes from a long line of Los Angeles educator union leaders—he was active in the UTLA strike of 2019 just as his mother “walked the line in 1989” as a UTLA strike captain and his grandmother did during the L.A. teachers strike in the 1970s. Goldberg is currently the lead on the Community Schools movement for CTA and is passionate about helping transform schools into places where families and students can be involved in a more democratic educational experience.
Richard Barrera
SDUSD President
Richard Barrera was first elected to represent District D on the San Diego Unified School Board in 2008 and then re-elected by overwhelming margins in 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024. During the 2008-2012 recession, he helped lead the District through the most devastating financial cutbacks in the history of California public schools, by pulling together a community coalition of students, parents, teachers, classified staff, neighborhood, business and civic leaders around a long-term vision of excellence in our public schools. Despite the budget cuts, over Barrera’s time on the Board students in San Diego Unified have achieved record high graduation and college eligibility rates, record low dropout, suspension and expulsion rates, and today rank at or near the top of large California Districts in reading, math, science and social science proficiency. On the most recent “Nation’s Report Card,” among all large, urban districts in the nation, San Diego Unified ranks number one in reading and number two in math.
Barrera’s focus continues to be on achieving equity and excellence for all public-school students in San Diego. He has led the District’s efforts in keeping class sizes low for our youngest students, in integrating the arts into traditional academic instruction, in making UC A-G courses and Ethnic Studies available to all students, in making strong bilingual education available to more students, in expanding successful science and career pathway programs, in partnering with community colleges to expand access to college courses for high school students, in protecting our strong International Baccalaureate programs, and in developing innovative approaches to cultural proficiency and restorative justice. Over the past two years, Barrera has led the District’s effort to create community schools and to expand transitional kindergarten to all four year olds.
Barrera has also led the District’s efforts in securing $11.6 billion dollars for school facilities, with successful voter approved bond campaigns in 2008, 2012, 2018 and 2022. These bond measures have provided breakthrough investments in 21st century technology and environmentally sustainable infrastructure. And he has led the effort to honor the work of our educators by increasing salaries, maintaining affordable healthcare, increasing effective training and providing affordable housing for the people who work directly with our kids.
A first-generation San Diegan whose father immigrated to the United States from Colombia and who’s grandparents immigrated through Ellis Island, Barrera has spent nearly three decades striving to improve the lives of working families in San Diego and throughout the United States. As a community organizer, he has worked with residents of high poverty neighborhoods to improve quality, affordable housing, access to living wage jobs, and to increase civic participation. As a labor organizer, he has worked with homecare workers, healthcare workers, nurses, teachers, construction and grocery store workers and thousands of others to fight for economic and social justice. As Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, he led the effort to increase the minimum wage and provide paid sick days to over 200,000 San Diego workers. As Deputy Superintendent/Senior Policy Adviser at the California Department of Education, Barrera leads initiatives to provide affordable housing to educators, to reduce chronic absenteeism, to protect our immigrant students, and to support student wellness and mental health.
Barrera, a resident of South Park, is married and a parent of two sons, both graduates of San Diego Unified. Barrera currently serves on the Board of the Center on Policy Initiatives, the California Immigration Policy Center and the Cesar E. Chavez Service Clubs. He is a graduate of El Cajon Valley High School, holds a bachelor’s degree in history from UCSD, and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 2022, Barrera was named School Board Member of the Year by the San Diego County School Boards Association.
Childcare
Childcare for the 2026 Region 4 Leadership Conference is available to CTA Members and Staff attendees who are the primary caregivers of the child(ren) attending. Click here for more childcare information.
2026 Camp CTA Schedule –
Friday, March 6, 2026
On-Site Activity Center – 5:15 p.m. – 9:15 p.m.
Saturday, March 7, 2026
On-Site Activity Center – 7:45 a.m. – 6:15 p.m.
Sunday, March 8, 2026
On-Site Activity Center – 8:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Childcare Contact Information:
Phone: (949) 301-9422
E-mail: newportbeachca@jovie.com
Documents
Session documents will be available in the conference app and attendee hub closer to the start of the conference. You must be logged in to the Event App to view session documents. Provided documents can be found at the bottom of each session page within the Event App and Attendee Hub.
Health & Safety Policies
If you are feeling sick, have tested postive for COVID-19, or are showing COVID-19 symptoms, do not attend the event.
Your wellbeing at CTA conferences is important to us, click here to read the conference health and safety policies.
As part of registration, all attendees are expected to abide by the Code of Conduct for CTA Events found here.
Animal Accommodation Policy
The California Teachers Association (CTA) is committed to ensuring that all attendees of its conferences and meetings have equal access and opportunity to participate in these events. CTA recognizes that some attendees with disabilities may require the assistance of animals for various reasons. This document outlines the policy and procedures for reasonably accommodating disabled attendees who require the use of assistive animals at CTA conferences and other events. This policy also recognizes that for the health and safety of all attendees and to avoid disruptions at CTA conferences and meetings, pets are not permitted in conference and meeting spaces.
Please click here to view the full Animal Accommodation Policy.
Credits
Professional Growth Hours: By attending this conference, you will earn 15 hours of Professional Development which can be used to claim (1) University Credit through our partner, CSU Chico. Conference attendance from start to finish is required to receive the Professional Growth Hours. After the conference, attendees will be emailed a certificate of Professional Growth Hours.
University Credit: The CTA University Credit Program is a benefit available to members who attend CTA Conferences or watch recorded sessions through the CTA Virtual Pass to Online Learning. Please visit www.CTA.org/Credit for all timelines and information on how to claim the credit.