September 1, 2005 Volume 10, Issue 1

GOVERNOR’S SPECIAL ELECTION AN ATTACK ON PUBLIC EDUCATION

Governor Schwarzenegger’s expensive and unnecessary November special election is an attack on teachers and all public employees in California. Three propositions, out of eight that will appear on the ballot, represent a direct attempt by the Governor to move his anti-public education and anti-union agendas. If these initiatives pass, they will have a devastating effect on our ability to deliver quality public education to the students and families of California, and on the capacity of all public employee unions to defend and advocate for their members.

Proposition 74: Its proponents call this the “Put Kids First” act. More accurate would be to call it the “Punish New Teachers” act. It would extend probation from two to five years, during which time the teacher could be terminated for any reason or for no reason at all. It would also allow termination of tenured teachers after two successive bad evaluations. Due process rights would be a thing of the past, and so would our ability to attract and retain good teachers.

Proposition 75: A new version of 1998’s “Paycheck Deception” Act, this proposition takes direct aim at public employee unions. It would fulfill the Governor’s dream of muzzling his most effective critics—educators, nurses, firefighters and police. Currently, unions are able to bundle individual political contributions into sums large enough to counter the power of corporations and the rich, creating a means for workers to exercise political power.

Prop 75 would destroy that ability by tying up public employee unions in costly and time-consuming bureaucratic reporting requirements. It would undo the democratic will of the majority of union members. Although Schwarzenegger has not officially endorsed Prop 75, his campaign committee has funneled financing to it. Prop 75 was written by Lew Uhler, a former John Birch Society official, and funded by the misnamed “Small Business Committee,” which is in fact made up of large corporations. If Prop 75 passes it will cripple the ability of the CFT to advocate on your behalf in Sacramento, and PVFT’s ability to participate in local politics such as school board elections.

Proposition 76: This power grab for the governor would allow him to gut the Prop 98 school funding guarantees by declaring a “fiscal emergency.” It would give the governor the power to cut any state program by any amount once the fiscal “emergency” has been announced. Formulas in Prop 76 would cut the education budget by an estimated $40 billion over the next ten years. Prop 76 would remove any incentive for legislators and the governor to reach a state budget compromise by triggering these new powers within 45 days of the governor’s declaration of the “emergency.”

The California Federation of Teachers is organizing to defeat these destructive ballot initiatives. Every CFT local in the state has named a political coordinator to work on the campaign. Contact PVFT’s own Francisco Rodriguez at 254-4916 or fcordgz@cruzio.com to find out what you can do to help.

QuEST to D. C.

On July 6 a group of PVUSD teachers and administrators flew to the nation’s capital to participate, as a District team, in the AFT QuEST conference. We were one of less than two dozen teams from across the country that participated in this unique experience.
Leadership teams from Freedom and E. A. Hall along with their principals, Freedom’s Assistant Principal, Cindy Cordova (federal and state programs director), Ylda Nogueda and Carolyn gave up a week of cherished summer vacation to participate in this adventure. There were eighteen of us who formed our team…the third largest of all of the teams.

Together most of us followed the “Reforming Schools to Raise Achievement” (RSRA) strand for the conference while a couple followed the literacy and math strands individually. At the end of each day’s conference, all of the members came together to debrief, get guidance from experts in various fields, and to plan the next steps to take when we returned to the district. Again, as in New York, PVUSD shone as a hardworking, dedicated and enthusiastic group. We tend to become the darlings of these conferences because of our enthusiasm and work ethic! We continually debunk the “laid-back Californian” stereotype.

The participation of the group was amazing, and their response to the opportunity and the quality of the event was very positive. As we move forward in the district with this reform model, it is our hope to include teams from all of our schools in these quality trainings and conferences offered by AFT. We also intend to tap into the vast, high quality resources of the AFT staff. This is a great example of what your union dues provide for all of us. Our teachers’ union works hard to provide high quality support to assist us all in our quest to raise student achievement!

Carolyn’s Corner

Welcome back to the 2005-06 school year after a much too short summer! I hope that all of you took the time to relax, rejuvenate, and regroup. In this business, the next opportunity that you’ll have for any of those things is months from now!

Welcome to our district to all new employees…certificated, classified, and administration. I hope that you come to love our district as much as I have. Although PVUSD certainly has its challenges, we also have the best students and community support that educators could ask for, along with the beautiful setting and amazing weather that we are blessed with. And hearty congratulations to our two brand new schools: Pajaro Valley High School that finally got its own beautiful campus, and Cesar E. Chavez Middle School.

2005-06 brings many challenges to all of us. The major ones are:

1. The Governator’s special election in November which appears to be an all out attack on education, its funding (which is in the basement already) and the due process rights of all teachers that were protected in the past by “permanent status”. His attack also broadens to silencing the voices of all workers in the state of California in another of the ill-conceived propositions.

2. No Child Left Behind and its ever increasing AYP goals along with the ever decreasing funding which severely impacts our resources. Along with the lack of support, teachers and classified are experiencing increasing pressures with high stakes test scores, professional development mandates and the lack of time to get everything done.

3. The decreasing revenues from the state are adding to the stress. The state and the feds are making more demands with no money. Their mandates take up more of our time with little revenue for salary increases. And the skyrocketing costs of health benefits are only compounding the financial problems that we are all facing. This loss of money from the state is also impacting our students who have such high needs and an ever shrinking pot of money that is available to address them.

On a positive note…what do we do?

1. We fight the Governor and his corporate friends with every ounce of energy that we have. This is not a partisan fight…it is a fight for public education and workers’ voices for California, and probably the nation. National contributions to Arnold are not coming because of their love of California!

2. We continue to work on the Union/ Management partnership as we all work together for student achievement and to stay ahead of the ever changing federal and state sanctions. We all work together to implement the components of “Redesigning Schools to Raise Achievement” (RSRA) to impress on them that we are serious about reform and our students achievement.

3. We must continue to lobby our representatives in Sacramento and Washington regarding the importance of adequate funding for public education. Without support for this great institution, democracy, as we know, it is at risk.
We’re all in this together…we’re a team and we will prevail. Together we will fight the enemy and defeat it. This is our goal and we cannot fail. Our students are too important!

ACTIVIST RECEIVES NATIONAL RECOGNITION

Watsonville High School sophomore, Magdalena “Magge” Rodriguez received two national honors this week for her local leadership roles.

Magge is one of only 10 recipients of a $5000 college scholarship in the National Lideres de Hoy Essay Contest, sponsored by the National Council of La Raza and Allstate Insurance. She will be recognized at an awards dinner in Washington, D.C. in September for her essay “Being a leader of today for a better tomorrow.”

She is also a winner of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Young Leader of Today Recognition Award. The award honors young people 13 – 18 with high academic achievement and public service.

PVFT salutes this young woman who honors herself, her family, and her community! Young people like Magge are the future leaders of tomorrow. Youth is too often criticized and maligned for not being involved and outstanding young people are too rarely rewarded for getting involved. We are pleased that one our very own has been rewarded for her courage and hard work! Congratulations, Magge! Keep up the good work…your future is yours to determine. We know it will be outstanding.

REMINDERS:

• ~Check out our website for current information www.pvft.net
• ~Next General Membership Meeting is September 12, 2005 at Conference Room C at 4:30pm
• ~Elect your 2005-2006 Building Reps and invite Carolyn and your PVFT Vice-President to come visit your site to answer any of your questions!
• ~Remember CFT needs money to fight the Governor’s Special Election. Write a check to PVFT C.O.P.E or fill out a C.O.P.E card for monthly payroll deduction.
• ~Million Word Campaign: Participate for a PVUSD pin and a PVFT award!

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