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State Council Experience
By Roy Bird, State Council Representative

The CTA State Council of Education is an interesting event for any future educator. State Council is the policy body for CTA. It is composed of over six-hundred elected representatives from all over California including K-12 educators and University and Community College faculty. Student CTA elects 4 voting members as State Council Representatives.

State Council is held four times a year - October, February, April and June. The meetings are held over a three-day period in Los Angeles. The October meeting starts with a banquet and introductions on Friday night for new representatives. Saturday is the first full day with caucus meetings, a general session to discuss issues and then committee meetings. Sunday starts early with caucus meetings to review what issues are being discussed in the various committees. The day ends with a general session where committee recommendations are voted on by the body.

At the October meeting, State Council members voted to endorse the following candidates - Denise Rockwell Woods (a teacher in LA) for National Education Association (NEA) President and Gray Davis for Governor of California.