Eliminate

[George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>]

On April 1, 2007, members of the State Council of Education, top decision-making
body of the California Teachers Association, approved the following New Business
Item:

"That CTA work to eliminate the 2001 ?NCLB? additions to the ESEA, and work with
NEA to form a commission of stakeholders to rewrite ESEA."

The motion was authored by Camille Zombro, president of the San Diego Education
Association. She offered the following rationale in support of the New Business
Item:

"The 2001 additions to ESEA (when it was misnamed ?NCLB?) cannot be
fixed and will never be properly funded. The time has come for a national
discussion
about what public education should be, and how to provide it with sustainable
funding.
We believe that ?NCLB? is an ongoing attack on public education, which is the
foundation of a free and democratic people. It is time to lead the movement to
restore
a sane, stable, and sustainable ESEA, fully funded and accountable by all
stakeholders
of the public education system.

Camille submitted a further New Business Item, which was seconded by Julie
Washington, elementary vice president of United Teachers of Los Angeles.

"That CTA will support, coordinate and encourage a member/local-driven ESEA
reauthorization organizing campaign, including grassroots activities, to educate
and
mobilize members and communities to build pressure to eliminate the many negative
provisions of NCLB and to increase federal support for public education. CTA
recommends a similar New Business Item at the [NEA Representative Assembly]."

State Council unanimously approved the motion.

Camille and Julie's rationale was:

"This campaign needs to start with the membership at every level of CTA. To build
the strongest campaign possible, every CTA local and the State Council need to
take ownership as we join together to ?Erase, Rewrite, Reauthorize!? The intent
is for such actions to complement the work already underway by the ESEA
Reauthorization Task Force, to begin this spring, and for this campaign to be a
priority (similar in scope and urgency to the 2005 campaign against [Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger?s] initiatives)
for CTA until the ESEA reauthorization process is completed."

CTA will send information about the campaign to leaders of every local affiliate
in California. As Dennis Kelly, president of United Educators of San Francisco,
told the Council,  many of the specific activities will be locally determined.

*

George Sheridan