Appreciate governor hearing educators’ concerns and providing for proper dyslexia, early literacy screening

SACRAMENTO — California Teachers Association (CTA) President E. Toby Boyd issued the following statement today on Governor Gavin Newsom’s revised budget proposal:

“We appreciate Governor Gavin Newsom’s ongoing commitment to California’s public schools and colleges considering the growing budget deficit. The proposed revision to the state budget reflects our values ensuring that our students, preschool and Transitional Kindergarten through Community Colleges, have the resources they need to succeed regardless of their race, zip codes or backgrounds. We must protect the progress we have made in recent years and commend the governor for fully funding the cost-of-living adjustment for the Local Control Funding Formula.

“We are experiencing a critical educator shortage and must address the obstacles getting in the way of recruiting and retaining qualified educators to ensure our students learn from a caring and qualified educator. It also means giving educators the respect they are due which includes a salary that allows them to live in the communities they teach and enables them to support and care for loved ones and sustain long-lasting careers.

“Governor Newsom maintains his commitment to protecting the historic $4 billion investment in developing and expanding Community Schools. We are proud of the transformational work educators are doing across the state. Many school districts are already well along the path to successful implementation of this thriving shared-leadership model, a school governance model that includes parents, educators, students, and community members working together to better meet the needs of students and families.

“We appreciate the governor hearing the concerns educators have expressed for the last few years and for including funding to properly address early literacy screening, including dyslexia in a manner that provides a realistic implementation timeline, professional development for educators and thoughtful policy that benefits students. The ongoing commitment to resources for special education, school meals and social/emotional support will provide comprehensive support for our students with a “whole child” approach.

“We look forward to working with the Legislature and the Governor in the coming weeks to finalize a budget that reflects our shared values.”

– E. Toby Boyd, CTA President

For more information on educators’ efforts around Community Schools and CTA’s informational campaign that launched this week, visit www.cta.org/communityschools.

###

The 310,000-member California Teachers Association is affiliated with the 3-million-member National Education Association.