April State Council
Si Se Puede
Barbara E. Kerr
April 9, 2005
Good Morning.
Since my life seems like a blur since January, it's hard to believe that it's only been three months since Governor Schwarzenegger broke his promise to our students and schools and declared war on public education, our teaching profession, and even our pensions.
Just to remind you of what I call his "special interest" agenda – because the only people who benefit from any of his proposals are his big business pals who are raising him millions of dollars and who are the TRUE special interests in Sacramento – the governor wants to:
- Break his promise to repay the $2 billion he borrowed from education last year.
- Gut Proposition 98, the law we all passed to guarantee minimum funding to our schools.
- Destroy our secure retirement system and force teachers into a risky 401(k) plan.
- Pay teachers based on student test scores on some yet to be defined standardized test.
- Restrict our due process rights and require five consecutive satisfactory evaluations before getting permanent status
- Silence the voices of teachers, by restricting how we use our own dues money.
Let me be clear about that last one. There are two initiatives that are now being circulated that would make it harder for CTA and other public employee unions to participate in the political process.
They are similar to the initiative that Californians defeated in 1998. These initiatives are sponsored by the same groups – including a consortium of big drug companies and key advisors to the Governor – that support vouchers and private savings accounts. They come after us with these attacks because they know we are an effective voice for educators and that we are extremely effective in the political arena.
In January, I challenged our organization and all of you to organize, not agonize. I'm proud to say that is exactly what we have all done. We've held rallies, we've held news conferences, we've testified at legislative hearings, we've talked to our colleagues, family and friends, we've marched and we've protested.
Five thousand people – teachers, nurses, firefighters, police officers, parents and students – protested the Governor's big dollar fundraiser in San Francisco this week. Two thousand folks greeted him in San Jose. Another 2,000 met him in Orange County – one of the largest protest rallies held in Orange County in some time. Five hundred people demonstrated in San Bernardino. And several thousand welcomed him right here in Los Angeles when he was having a million dollar fundraising night.
I could go on and on with these local events, as literally hundreds have happened in every county. These actions – whether local education coalition events, joint efforts with other unions and our coalition partners, or simply your local chapter – are so important to making sure our voices are heard.
And as proof to what I say, the Governor on Thursday dropped his flawed initiative to privatize the pensions of educators, police, firefighters and all public employees.
Now, you are going to hear the Governor say that the protests had nothing to do with his decision. What was the name of that movie again? TRUE LIES?
We all helped make this happen. We didn't say silent. We organized, we mobilized, and we didn't give the Governor a choice.
I do want to take a moment here, to recognize the importance of Attorney General Bill Lockyer. Members sometimes ask why does CTA get involved in the AG's race. There are many reasons, but here's one that has been proven again this year. The Attorney General's office writes the title and summary of all ballot initiatives. He's the one who made it clear that this proposal would have eliminated survivor benefits for police and firefighters killed in the line of duty. He also wrote the summary for the Governor's spending cap plan – making it clear that this proposal will cut school funding and destroy our minimum funding protections. Bill Lockyer has been a good friend to CTA for many years.
One other question that people keep asking since the Governor dropped the retirement initiative is what does this do to our coalition? Our statewide Coalition with law enforcement and firefighters remains strong. First, the Governor is still trying to move his retirement proposal through the legislature and he didn't rule out a new initiative in 2006. Second, and they told us this, who can trust this Governor's word? We've seen how he honors an agreement.
We remain united. Our next move is to get the Governor to dump the rest of his worthless agenda and call off this special interest election.
So the call to action today, belongs to the man we honor at this State Council. Cesar Chavez began a legendary movement with three simple words…come on…you all know them…say it with me…Si Se Puede!
Because, Governor Schwarzenegger…WE CERTAINLY CAN.
The Governor's Hollywood star is getting a little tarnished. His job approval ratings have fallen from 65 percent in September of last year to 42 percent last week. It's the first time they've fallen below 50 percent.
And just listen to these numbers from a poll released this week by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State University:
- 47% say he's wrong to bypass lawmakers and focus on his ballot initiatives.
- 49% say he's too interested in gimmicks, public relations and image.
- And 62% say he should be putting more effort into working with legislators so he'd get more done. Even 49% of Republicans agree with that one.
But this continues to be a very complex campaign and we have a long way to go.
The Governor's strategy for securing his destructive agenda has always been two fold:
First, he called a special session of the Legislature and introduced bills to achieve his goals.
Second, if he did not get what he wanted in the legislature, he promised to circulate initiatives – that's the phase we are in right now – and call a special election in November.
The Secretary of State's office estimates this special election will cost taxpayers – you and me – more than $70 million. This is killing local counties and communities, because it's money they don't have in their budgets.
- Los Angeles County estimates costs at $10 million.
- $4 million in Santa Clara
- $23 million in Alameda
- More than $8 per voter in Lassen and Santa Barbara counties
- And in San Francisco, the city is talking about shutting down community health clinics that serve poor children and the elderly one day a week just to cover costs.
That's a high price to pay for an election that nobody wants with an agenda that nobody supports.
CTA is implementing its own one-two punch to deal with the Governor.
Right now the Governor isn't having too much luck moving his proposals forward in the Legislature. With help from members of the Sacramento City Teachers Association and the San Juan Education Association who testified at a Senate hearing, we succeeded in forcing him to cancel a committee vote on the merit pay proposal when it was apparent that the bill was going down in defeat.
And this week, a key subcommittee in the Assembly rejected his plan to shift nearly $500 million in retirement costs that the state currently pays to local school districts.
We are working with the statewide Education Coalition to oppose his budget proposals and thwart his attempt to dismantle Proposition 98. I know I don't have to tell you how devastating these budget cuts would be. More than 4,000 layoff notices went out on March 15. And his broken promises would mean $25,000 less to every classroom in this state.
Hopefully, you've seen or heard our TV and radio commercials running on more than 50 stations in every media market in the state. They feature classroom teachers from Concord – the Mt. Diablo Education Association – Compton, Auburn, Goleta, Sacramento and Long Beach. And just this week, parents joined educators in the ad...telling the Governor to take his promises on education as seriously as we do.
Some of you may have also seen television ads by the Governor's Coalition for Education Reform – and I'll talk more about this group later. But I want you to know that voters do not believe these teachers and they don't believe the Governor has increased education funding. In one research group, a parent referred to them as the "Stepford" teachers – who have simply been programmed by the Governor.
On the initiative front we've joined a broad coalition of labor unions and school administrators, called the Alliance for a Better California, to oppose the Governor's initiatives. But this group – thanks in part to efforts by this Council in January – has also wisely decided to support four initiatives of its own and is currently circulating petitions.
This is important for three reasons:
- First, all of the petitions that are being circulated force the Governor to take a stand with his big business allies and against California voters.
- Second, having these issues on the ballot forces the Governor to play defense and offense at the same time.
- And third, these are issues that are important to California families, unlike the Governor's worthless reforms.
The ABC Coalition initiatives:
- The Cheaper Prescription Drugs for California Act would get real drug discounts for millions of Californians.
- The Used Car Buyers Bill of rights stops unfair business practices by used car dealers and creates a three-day "cooling off period" after any auto purchase, in which the buyer may return the car for any reason.
- Energy Regulation would end the risky deregulation of our electric resources that caused blackouts and cost the state millions.
- Same Vote Requirements would make people who sponsor ballot with "super-majority" vote requirements live by their own rules: Meaning, if the initiative imposes a two-thirds vote, then that ballot measure must pass by two-thirds vote.
CTA has also joined forces with Californians for Tax Fairness, which includes law enforcement and education groups to support an initiative that would force big corporations to pay their fair share of the property tax burden and provide critical resources to our local schools, public safety and transportation. The "Tax Fairness Act of 2005" would close a loophole that currently allows businesses to sell their property, without the tax rate being re-assessed.
This loophole has caused home owners to pay an increasingly larger share of the state's tax bill. The measure will raise about $3 billion – half of it will go directly to local school districts.
CTA is collecting signatures on all five of these initiatives. And remember, DON'T sign any of the Governor's petitions.
As I said we still have a long road ahead of us. We cannot take Governor Schwarzenegger or his special interest buddies who are bankrolling his campaign lightly. They are raising millions of dollars at these fundraisers, where people are paying up to $100,000 to eat with the Governor and get a commemorative photo.
The Governor and his corporate pals have promised to raise more than $50 million to push through their agenda, and with pharmaceutical and oil companies picking up the tab, you know this is one promise they will keep.
That's why we are asking this State Council to consider a temporary dues increase of $60 a year for three years.
The Governor's fake education coalition is trying to insert itself into this discussion. They sent me a letter and ran a newspaper ad in the Sacramento Bee.
This letter is a blatant and transparent attempt by the Governor to divert attention away from the millions of dollars he is raising from his special interest pals and from his broken promises to schools and kids.
The letter contains distortions and deliberate fabrications about union policies and the law concerning collective bargaining.
Of the small handful of teachers who are in this group and who signed this letter, most of them are not members of CTA. They are outsiders trying to influence the internal policies of our organization.
We are in the fight of our lives. We must do what's best for the future of our students, our public schools, our members and our profession.
There is an old Spanish saying (Dime con quien andas y te dire quien ere.) that loosely translated goes like this: "Tell me who your friends are…and I'll tell you who you are."
Governor Schwarzenegger, I know your friends: Drug companies, insurance companies, oil conglomerates, Wall Street brokers.
And I know my friends: nurses, firefighters, police officers, parents, state office workers, David Sanchez, Dean Vogel, the CTA Board of Directors, the NEA Board of Directors, Carolyn Doggett, our CTA staff, all of you in this room and 335,000 educators across this state. I've got to tell you Governor…you don't stand a chance!!!
Si Se Puede!
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