CTA has a well-established procedure for making candidate recommendations in political races.

 

All viable candidates are invited to seek recommendation. They're asked to fill out a questionnaire and participate in a videotaped interview process. All candidates are asked the same questions.

 

Interviews are conducted by teams of educators from the legislative district or, in the case of statewide offices, from around the state. Team makeup is diverse in party registration, geography and ethnic represention.

 

In legislative races, the team's recommendation is voted on by the membership of local chapters in the legislative district. Each chapter's vote is weighted according to the size of the chapter. If the recommendation wins 60 percent of the votes, it progresses to CTA's State Council for final approval.

 

In statewide races, team recommendations are voted on at State Council, which is a democratically elected representative body. Sixty percent of the vote is required to win the recommendation.

 

CTA does not recommend more than one candidate in a race.

 

If the candidate wins the primary, CTA's recommendation carries forward to the general election.

 

CTA's Association for Better Citizenship (CTA/ABC) serves as the organization's political action committee. Its democratically elected representatives make recommendations for candidate contributions to CTA's Board of Directors.