When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger broke his promise to pay back the $2 billion he borrowed from California's public schools, Liane Cismowski was incensed. "He was our friend. He started after-school programs. We trusted him and believed he would keep his word. It was a crushing disappointment."

 

But what could she do about it? "I felt absolutely powerless!" She did what she figures most of her colleagues did. "We decided, oh well, we'll just have to keep on working our hardest to help our students and know that from here on out, we'll have to make do with even less - fewer supplies, fewer textbooks, fewer computers, less access to technology."

 

Then CTA gave her a way to fight back. The organization came looking for a teacher to participate in a television commercial asking the governor to give the money back.

 

The former Contra Costa County teacher of the year didn't really see herself as a spokesperson, but she "didn't want to be a hypocrite," she recalled in a Friday evening presentation at CTA's State Council of Education. "I tell my students that each one of them is important - that they can make a difference in the world - so if I am given an opportunity to show that I believe that, then I have to say yes."

 

Cismowski was such a natural, the commercial was filmed in one take. And she went on to make several more, becoming the person who has, perhaps more than any other, put a face on teachers in the current political campaign.

 

In the beginning, she honestly believed that the governor would "listen to our polite but impassioned pleas to return the money he borrowed. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Not only did he decide not to return the money, he decided to go ahead with his special election, wasting millions of dollars."

 

While the governor didn't learn, her students did. They were thrilled to see her on television, which afforded her an opportunity for a mini-lesson in grammar. Every time a student said, "Hey, Mrs. Cismowski, I seen you on TV!" she had a chance to explain that the past tense of "see" is "saw."

 

Cismowski told Council delegates that the three propositions in "Mr. Schwarzenegger's 'Seventies Show' - Props. 74, 75 and 76 - are all unfair, unnecessary, in-effective, misleading and counterproductive."

 

"We are public servants. We chose our profession because we want to make a difference in our society and we know how to do that - one child, one class, one day at a time. And because we are professionals, we act in good faith and conform to the requirements and demands placed on our shoulders by the government of the state of California.

 

"We have degrees and credentials and CLADs and certificates. We have HOUSSEd and BTSA'd and inserviced and outserviced. We are Open Courted and High Pointed. We are API'd and AYP'd, we carry the burdens of STAR and CSTs and CELDT and CAHSEE. We respond in good faith, and indeed, oftentimes even in good humor, to the myriad state-imposed tests and programs.

 

"But now, the governor of our state is telling us that he wants to make it even harder and less appealing for new people to enter our profession. This is not just unfair to probationary teachers and the unfortunate teachers who will be caught in this proposition retroactively and the high-poverty schools that predominantly serve students of color. No, this is unfair to all of us! It is a stinging slap to the thousands of teachers who serve this state right now - to all of us who are already giving our all to our schools and to our kids.

 

"We are doing what we're doing for our special interest group - our kids!"

 

In addition to outlining the reasons teachers need to fight the governor's initiatives, Cismowski gave Council delegates and CTA a big thank-you from the trenches. "The teachers you represent trust you and know they can concentrate their efforts in their classrooms while you come here and sacrifice your time and talents to watch our backs. Thank you for your dedication! Keep up the good work. Keep working on getting out the vote so that we can defeat Propositions 74, 75 and 76."