CTA sides with Brown in debate over restructuring school finance
By Tom Chorneau
Thursday, May 23, 2013
In what may prove a decisive development in the looming struggle over rival plans for restructuring of school funding, the California Teachers Association moved Wednesday to give its support to Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula.
The endorsement came as part of a lobby-day at the Capitol for the 325,000-member teachers’ union – arguably the state’s single most influential voice on education issues.
But both in a morning news conference and in a press release later, CTA President Dean Vogel pointed to the overriding goal of the organization – convincing lawmakers and the Brown administration to restore as much of the $20 billion cut from schools during the recession.
“After years of drastic cuts, it is necessary for the future of our children and the future of California that money owed to students and public education begins to be restored,” emphasized Vogel. “Funding for California schools and colleges has been cut by more than $20 billion over the last four years. It’s time our students had a chance to focus on learning instead of facing threats of larger class sizes, fewer classes to choose from, higher tuition, and fewer