In reaction to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's call for an overhaul of Prop. 98, teacher merit pay, and the elimination of public employee pension plans, CTA President Barbara Kerr told State Council of Education Saturday: "Don't Agonize. Organize!"

 

Borrowing the words of Florynce  Kennedy, founding member of the National Women's Political Caucus, Kerr urged CTA members to organize to do everything they can to defeat the governor's proposals. In strong language, Kerr said the governor has "turned his back on the students and teachers of this state."

 

Kerr accused the governor of reneging on the budget agreement he made with CTA and the entire Education Coalition last year. In that agreement that had been signed and passed into legislation, public schools gave up $2 billion to help balance the budget with the governor's promise that the money would be repaid when state revenues increased.

 

"Well, state revenues increased, but the governor told our six million students and 335,000 educators, 'tough luck,' " Kerr said. The $2.3 billion is a cut on top of $8.9 billion dollars in cuts the schools have suffered over the past four years, she noted.

 

In addition, the governor wants to repeal portions of Proposition 98, the voter-approved initiative that provides minimum funding guarantees for public education. The governor's proposal would allow multiple mid-year cuts with no promise of repayment. The plan flies in the face of a recent study by the RAND Corp. that shows California ranks near the bottom in per-pupil funding, class size and teachers salaries.

 

To the governor's proposal to implement a merit pay system for teachers, Kerr said, "We all know merit pay systems don't work – especially when you want to base it solely on student test scores on standardized tests. If pay is based solely on test scores, you are never going to get a teacher to teach in our schools of greatest need. All teachers merit good pay!"

In a unanimous vote by acclamation, State Council re-elected Barbara E. Kerr to a second term as CTA president. Kerr will continue fighting for public schools and educators with the help of CTA Vice President David A. Sanchez and Secretary-Treasurer Dean E. Vogel, who also were re-elected. The three officers will end their first two-year terms June 25, when their second term begins.

 

Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nuñez paid State Council a visit Sunday morning to show his support for teachers and make it clear exactly which side he is on.

Referring to the State of the State message in which the governor talked of "starving the monster of public service" Nuñez told Council, "In the view of 48 Democratic members of the California Assembly, you are not a monster!"

The son of a farm worker who came to California from Mexico, Nuñez knows the value of acquiring a quality public education. 

 

"For me, it is personal when it comes to public education," Nuñez said, while promising to fight budget cuts to education. "To fight for you is not just my responsibility, to fight for you is my  obligation."

 

Nuñez was critical of the governor for reneging on his promise to pay back the $2 billion he borrowed from Prop. 98 last year, and wondered about bargaining with a governor who "talks out of both sides of his mouth."

 

"How can you negotiate with someone when you can't trust that they will honor their agreement? Does every conversation have to be transcribed, notarized and videotaped?"

 

Nuñez promised to defend Prop. 98, which he said is more than a budgetary formula.

 

"Prop. 98 is a promise that we, the grown ups of the state of California, have made to the children. There's a promise that we are going to do better for our children than our own parents were able to do for us."

 

Despite the threats to education funding and to the teaching profession in California, CTA Executive Director Carolyn Doggett is confident CTA is up to the challenges – because that's what it has done over and over again in its 142-year-old history.

 

"Some of you probably don't know, but CTA was created specifically for one purpose… to get into politics. It was founded to give educators an organization that could lobby the legislature and the governor for more money for public education and for higher salaries for teachers," Doggett said.

 

But CTA has done much more than that, Doggett noted, including leading significant fights for educator and civil rights, run election and initiative campaigns for more money for better schools, and helping to establish California's higher education system. CTA sponsored legislation on compulsory school attendance and a fair dismissal law at a time when teachers could be – and were – fired for any reason. CTA worked to create the California Teachers Retirement System, only the third teacher pension plan in the country.  CTA sponsored the first class size legislation in 1895 that set the maximum class size at 80 students, and continued to sponsor legislation that eventually reduced it to 23 for the first three grades in 1996.

 

"CTA was the only major organization in California that denounced the practice of segregating African American and Asian American students in separate schools… and CTA was the only mainstream organization that stood up and had the guts to protest against the internment of Japanese Americans at the beginning of World War II," Doggett said.

 

Yet, among all the 'revolutionary' things CTA has accomplished in its history, Doggett said, none is more radical than the passage of Proposition 98 in 1988. "It is the only provision in the constitution of any state that guarantees K-14 public education a certain amount of the state budget."

 

Doggett noted that the voters of California approved  Prop. 98 because they believe schools deserve to be funded.

 

"And I don't care if he was Mr. Universe, there's no way Gov. Schwarzenegger can out muscle the 335,000 members of CTA and our more than 500 dedicated staff. Together, we can meet any challenge – and I know we are up to the task."

 

 

After hearing of the assaults on public education in California, State Council voted unanimously to oppose a number of forthcoming legislative bills and initiatives that would further erode schools and the teaching profession in the state. Among others, Council voted to opposed ACA 5 and ACAX1 1 (Richman, R-38) that would change CalSTRS and CalPERS from Defined Benefit (pension plans) to Defined Contribution plans (401k); opposed SCAX1 1 (Runner, R-17) that establishes "merit pay" by requiring that any employment decision be based solely on employee performance; and opposed ACAX1 4 (Keene, R-3), a constitutional amendment that would allow for across-the-board cuts to Prop. 98 in years where state revenues exceed revenues. After examining the many initiatives that have been filed, Council also took initial positions to oppose those similar in content to the above proposed legislation.

In other action, Council: