Electing Brown, Torlakson Are Huge Wins For Our Students

In the first State Council since the November elections, CTA President David A. Sanchez praised delegates meeting in Los Angeles for their hard work in electing Jerry Brown governor and Tom Torlakson as state superintendent of public instruction.

“You made recommendations, you approved a plan and resources, you showed up to the polls in record numbers – and our students won,” Sanchez said. “All your hard work around the election is paying off.”

He cited the governor’s willingness to meet with CTA and teachers as a good sign. And he praised Brown’s quick appointments to the State Board of Education of real educators as a breakthrough. “This act alone will put an end to the teacher-bashing and blaming that the past State Board participated in.”

He noted that one Brown appointee – Sacramento County educator and CTA legislative advocate Patricia Ann Rucker – will also represent California on the National Common Core Standards Commission.

The governor’s budget proposal is a balanced approach of cuts and revenues to resolve the state’s $25 billion deficit, in part by extending certain taxes, Sanchez said. “We recognize the governor’s attempt to limit cuts to K-12 schools as our students have suffered a majority of the state’s budget cuts in the last few years,” he said. “Extending current revenues is critical to having any hope for maintaining a quality public education system in this state.”

Electing Torlakson means students and educators have a true advocate in Sacramento. “He has already declared a state of financial emergency for California’s schools and urged Californians to come to the aid of schools across the state,” Sanchez said.

He pointed out Torlakson’s public distress over a recent Education Week study that gave California’s education system a C-grade overall – and a D-minus in education spending, ranking the state 43rd in per-pupil spending.

Torlakson, as a legislator in 2006, also authored the landmark, CTA-sponsored Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA). The largest education reform of its kind, QEIA provides $3 billion over eight years for proven reforms in nearly 500 of the state’s lower-performing schools. Thanks to funding for smaller class sizes, more counselors and quality professional development for teachers and administrators, QEIA schools are succeeding, Sanchez said. Council delegates received a 40-page CTA report by an independent researcher that documents the steady preliminary progress at QEIA schools.
Academic Performance Index (API) scores are rising at QEIA schools, but so is collaboration among all stakeholders, Sanchez said. “Learning and working together have taken center stage.”
To read the entire Council speech of President Sanchez, log in to the Members-only section of www.cta.org and see the State Council section.