Teacher-Activist Reflects on State of Emergency
Sacramento educator Alice Mercer has posted some reflections on last week’s State of Emergencyaction at the Capitol in Sacramento. She describes it as a long, grueling week–but absolutely worth it. She also raised some interesting points about how saving public education traverses the partisan divide:
While there was strong language against GOP policy and proposals all week long, what the public, and some in the Capitol, do not always realize is that there are teachers and CTA members who are registered Republicans, and they were among us at every step of this campaign. This was critical because it shows that even among their fellow Republicans, GOP lawmakers have constituents who do not support their policies on education, and the budget. My own Superintendent, Jonathan Raymond is a Republican and has been vocal in his pleas for extending taxes. I ran into a local parent at the Capitol who is a Republican and was visiting GOP lawmakers to share why she supports the extensions.
Parents that participated in State of Emergency also were difficult to stereotype politically:
Rural locals were strongly represented in this campaign, and while not all their members were Republican, they are more likely to have a GOP representative. This is critical, because they can
