Alice Mercer
A State of Emergency | Reflections on Teaching
A government decree that a particular situation requires the implementation of pre-arranged responses on a large scale; The status quo following such declaration
We all know how bad the budget situation is in California. Dire does not begin to get at the cumulative effects of three years of cuts totaling over $20 billion! There is no more give in the budget. The education community, has been supporting Governor Jerry Brown’s budget proposal to extend (not raise) taxes on a short term basis to keep the cuts to education from becoming a hemorrhage. When I say education community, it’s not just CTA and unions, but the California School Boards Association (CSBA), the State Chamber of Commerce, and the California PTA that support this course of action.Governor Brown had a simple request that needed just a few of the minority Republicans to agree to it, put this proposal to extend taxes to the voters. Voters want this opportunity to vote. The state GOP, has refused to give voters the chance to decide. The clock is ticking, and the taxes will expire in June and the draconian cuts will begin ($15 billion is the current estimate). Our school communities, and our children, can no longer wait. Now is the time for action!
CTA, ACSA, CFT, CSBA, California PTA and others are starting a one week campaign, California State of Emergency. We are requesting that the majority of the legislature that supports Governor Brown’s tax extension to pass a budget with the extensions. There will be a number of actions taking place all that week, based on the idea of LEARN:
- Monday, May 9 – Focus on LEGISLATIVE activities
- Tuesday, May 10 – Reach out to EVERY parent
- Wednesday, May 11 – Use Day of the Teacher to APPRECIATEeducators and ALLIES
- Thursday, May 12 – Promote the need for REVENUE for schools and educate our members and the community about tax fairness (more info at www.cta.org/taxfairness
- Friday, May 13 – It’s NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL Attend a rally. In Sacramento, it will be from 4-6 at the State Capitol
Materials from CTA can be found here. If you prefer to use materials from other sponsoring organizations (like Ca PTA or CFT), the links above for their Websites will take you there.
Remember, do it for the children!