We hope your school year is off to a good start. As you know, there’s an election just around the corner and we can expect one of the most crowded ballots ever. There’s a lot to know about and a lot to vote for. We know you are busy, so we’ll make it quick.

Campaign Updates:

On Wednesday, we’re about to hit another major milestone in our campaign: 55 days to Election Day! In order to spread the word about the immense importance of Prop. 55, we’re planning a collaborative social media push, or Thunderclap, on Wednesday, September 14 at 11:00 AM PST. Please join us!

Not everyone is available at that exact time to post, so by signing up with our Thunderclap today, the app will post automatically for you *one time* on Wednesday!

Here’s how to sign up for Thunderclap:

1. Visit http://protectingcalifornia.com/thunderclap and click on “Join this Thunderclap.”
2. You will be given three options: “Support with Facebook,” “Support with Twitter,” and “Support with Tumblr.” Choose one, and click on the button.
3. A new window will pop up allowing you to create your own custom message, or select the default message. Press the “Add My Support” button.
4. You may be prompted to sign into Facebook, Twitter and/or Tumblr and to authorize the Thunderclap app. After you sign in, press “OK” and you will be added to the Thunderclap!
5. On September 14, all of us will collectively post to share our support for Prop. 55.

Want to post on your own? Here’s what to post on September 14 at 11:00 AM PST:

#55toProp55 – 55 days until we vote YES on #Prop55, the initiative to help our kids thrive! http://protectingcalifornia.com/55toprop55

Campaign Updates – continued:

• A 2016 CTA Campaign Priorities Folder (already mailed). Read it. Keep it. Use it to organize all your election materials.
• The 2016 California Educator election issue goes more in depth on the issues (mailing in two weeks).
• The Campaign website is there for you 24/7, complete with resources like our initiative recommendation flyers in 11 different languages. Download and share!
• The CTA Voter Guide builder. Just type in your address and you’ll get a customized guide.
• Text CTA ACTION to 69866 for campaign updates to your phone.

CTA is recommending YES on Propositions 55, 58 and 52.

YES on Prop. 55: Now that you are back at school, it’s a great reminder why we can’t go back to the days of budget cuts, educator layoffs, larger class sizes and music and art programs eliminated. Our kids need us to vote YES on Prop. 55! The San Jose Mercury News agrees, urging readers to vote YES on Prop. 55. You can help spread the word:

• SHARE the Yes on 55 campaign radio ad, “Thrive” on your social media outlets.
• TELL US why you believe it’s important to you and your students that Prop. 55 passes. You can submit your story or use #MyStoryProp55.
• FOLLOW Yes on 55 updates on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram and post your own using hashtags like #YesOn55 and #Prop55. 
• SIGN UP for campaign emails and add your name in support of YES on Prop. 55!

YES on Prop. 58: The LEARN initiative will expand opportunities for California’s students to become proficient in English as quickly as possible. The Los Angeles Times voices support for Prop. 58, citing parent empowerment as the key reason, as does Senator Ricardo Lara, who encourages a Yes on 58 in this video.

• SIGN UP for campaign emails on Prop. 58 and follow Yes on 58 on Facebook and Twitter.
• DOWNLOAD the materials and resources to LEARN all there is to know about Prop. 58.

YES on Prop 52: This will maintain billions of dollars in federal funding to support health for low-income children and seniors. The Sacramento Bee and Bakersfield Californian recommend a Yes vote on Prop. 52.

Interested in Volunteering?

Stay tuned for many opportunities for you to volunteer and take action to support candidates committed to providing our students with the quality education they need and deserve. These will range from online activism to phone banking and walking precincts. Our communities look to you for guidance on how to vote in elections so they need to see you and hear from you directly.

Thank you!

 Webspace paid for by Vacaville Teachers Association Political Action Committee – ID# 1222549

Educators Educating Educators!

A professional development conference designed by educators on topics suggested by educators. 

October 8, 2016

9:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Will C. Wood High School

998 Marshall Rd, Vacaville CA 

This year we have 38 workshops on topics including technology in the classroom, classroom management, core curriculum techniques, motivation and much, much more!

College Credit Available!

Space is EXTREMELY limited, so REGISTER NOW at cilc2016.net or click on the link below:

http://bit.ly/2cIEL63

Do you want to help AB 709 pass?  Click here right now and take 30 seconds to send an e-mail to Gov. Brown!

AB 709 would require disclosure of finances, compliance with open meeting and conflict-of-interest laws

By Richard Bammer, The Reporter, Vacaville

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Lack of accountability and transparency at California charter schools is hurting students, a group of state officials, educators, civil rights leaders said Thursday, noting that a new law awaits Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature that will require all charter schools to be open to greater public scrutiny.

In a national media teleconference, Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson, the author of Assembly Bill 709, said some of the state’s 1,200 charter schools fail to make financial and administrative records open to the public, in violation of the law.

“They cannot be excused from accountability,” he said.

The bill would increase transparency and accountability to parents and to disclose how the schools spend taxpayer money, including budgets and contracts. Additionally, it prohibits charter school board members and their families from profiting from their schools, and requires charter schools to comply with California’s open meetings, open records and conflict-of-interest laws.

Gipson’s bill comes on the heels of recent news headlines and academic studies that have documented waste, fraud and abuse by privately managed charter schools, costing taxpayers millions while delivering questionable services and graduating students who mostly cannot qualify for state university and University of California schools.

In early July, state Attorney General Kamala Harris reached a $168.5 million settlement with K12 Inc., a Virginia-based, for-profit online charter operator, and its affiliate California Virtual Schools, a collective of nonprofit online charter schools serving 13,000 California students.

“Although charter schools are privately run entities, they cannot be excused from the accountability that is required from those responsible for educating our children,” Gipson said in a press release prepared by the California Teachers Association and sent to journalists after the teleconference. “That is why AB 709 is so crucial. Families deserve to know how their schools are being run, and our state deserves an education system that is free from unfair advantages and double standards.”

A spokesperson for the California Charter Schools Association, which has offices in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Oakland, could not be reached for comment at press time early Thursday evening.

Vacaville Unified oversees four “dependent” charter schools — the ACE Program, Fairmont Elementary, Buckingham Charter Magnet High, and the Ernest Kimme Charter Academy for Independent Learners — meaning they are governed by district administrators and the board of trustees. Kairos Public School Vacaville Academy, at the old Elm Elementary campus, is an “independent” charter, and, while aligned with VUSD, is governed by its own board, an executive director, and largely overseen by the state of California.

Heritage Peak Charter School, on Parker Street, is also an independent charter but aligned with a Sacramento-area school district. The Dixon Montessori Charter School, on North Almond Street in Dixon, is also an independent charter, aligned with Dixon Unified, with its own governing board, executive director and also largely overseen by the state of California.

Gipson’s underlying sentiments were shared by the teleconference speakers, a group that included, besides Gipson, California State Treasurer John Chiang, Los Angeles Unified School District School Board Vice President George McKenna, Anaheim Union High School District Superintendent Mike Matsuda, Victor Leung of the American Civil Liberties Union, and Aimee Roylance, a Livermore parent who recently withdrew her children from the Livermore Valley Charter School, which is the subject of an investigation by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office for financial fraud and potential criminal charges.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson called it “the most serious set of allegations against a charter that I’ve ever seen.”

Nearly all the teleconference speakers said they were both supporters and critics of charter schools and praised the initial intent of the state’s 1992 charter school law, with its promise to increase greater flexibility in educational approaches.

“One of my hallmarks in my public service has been to promote and support accountability and transparency,” Chiang said in the written statement about Gipson’s bill, adding, “I think it’s a very important first step toward achieving a level of transparency that California families expect from their schools.”

In her remarks, Carol Kocivar, of the California State Parent Teachers Association, asserted that some charters have denied students enrollment based on their race, ethnicity, lack of fluency in English, and parents’ socio-economic status.

She also took charter schools to task for, in some cases, requiring a mandatory amount of parent volunteer hours, which are not required at traditional public schools, and have proven to be a difficult requirement to fulfill for households with two full-time working parents.

“All children should have an equal opportunity to attend a charter school,” Kocivar said in the written statement. “All means all. That means a child whose parents work two full-time jobs. That means a child in foster care. That means a child whose parents may have a disability. No child should be discriminated against because of a requirement that requires mandatory volunteer hours as a criterion for admission or continued enrollment. Shame on any school that creates that kind of barrier to a child who wants to attend.”

In the press release, Mike Myslinksi, a spokesman for the politically powerful 325,000-member CTA, wrote that state regulators have found more than $81 million in fraudulent and wasteful spending at charter schools in California, while another report shows that an expansion of privately run charter schools would cost the Los Angeles Unified School District more than $500 million this year alone.

Additionally, an ACLU report, “Unequal Access,” found that more than 20 percent of California’s charter schools deny access to students with disabilities, English learners, or students who have lower grades and test scores. The NAACP recently called for a ban on privately managed charters.

Research by In the Public Interest, Myslinksi noted, shows Californians “overwhelmingly favor” proposals to reform charter schools — proposals that include strengthening charter school accountability and transparency, improving teacher training and qualifications, preventing fraud, returning money to taxpayers when charter schools close, and ensuring that neighborhood public schools are not adversely affected.

BY TIM WALKER

Last week, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) released a report that warned in no uncertain terms that the U.S. education system was falling behind those of other nations. The study was the result of a bi-partisan working group that traveled to high-performing countries to determine what policies and practices could serve as a model back home.

Their conclusion? Much of what was succeeding in these systems could and should be replicated in the United States, including the necessary work around building a world-class teaching force. This entails more rigorous recruitment strategies, embedded professional development, career ladders for educators — and better pay:
In high-performing countries, teachers are compensated more generously than American teachers, typically earning pay similar to that of senior civil servants and professionals such as engineers and accountants. They are expected to be the best in the world and are compensated accordingly. Many nations view their teachers as “nation builders,” preparing the country’s next generation.
Educators in the United States are also expected to be the best, but are nonetheless asked to withstand a severe “teacher pay penalty” – the loss of income when choosing teaching over an alternate profession. While no one believes a career in the classroom will bring unbridled wealth, at least high-performing nations, as the NCSL study emphasizes, minimize the pay gap between their “nation builders” and other workers with similar education levels.
How teacher pay stacks up to other fields is a major factor in the decision whether to become an educator. Many parts of the country are facing crippling teacher shortages, retirements are ratcheting up, and the number of college students considering teaching as a profession is at an all-time low.
Teachers face low wages, high levels of student debt, and increasing demands on the job. Eliminating the teacher pay penalty is crucial to building the teacher workforce we need” – Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute
As Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University wrote in a 2016 paper:
“Even if teachers may be more motivated by altruism than some other workers, teaching must compete with other occupations for talented college and university graduates. … Teachers are more likely to quit when they work in districts with lower wages and when their salaries are low relative to alternative wage opportunities, especially in high-demand fields like math and science.”
In the bid to make a teaching a viable and attractive career option, the United States has a lot of ground to make up. The Economic Policy Institute recently analyzed the wages of educators relative to other workers and found that penalty teachers endure has become more severe.
“In order to recruit and retain talented teachers, school districts should be paying them more than their peers,” said Lawrence Mishel, co author of “The Teacher Pay Gap is Wider Than Ever.” “Instead, teachers face low wages, high levels of student debt, and increasing demands on the job. Eliminating the teacher pay penalty is crucial to building the teacher workforce we need.”

Through its second annual Teacher Grant, SaveOnEnergy.com® is searching for high-quality lesson plans that teach elementary and middle school students about the importance of energy and the environment. The company is committed to helping others learn about energy through its Learning Center, an educational hub that includes sustainability, energy conservation and industry news resources. The second annual Teacher Grant is the latest way SaveOnEnergy.com is encouraging young people to learn about energy.
 

SaveOnEnergy.com will award six $500 grants to be used toward classroom materials and activities. Grant recipients’ lesson plans will be featured on the website for other teachers to utilize as resources for their own classrooms. Lesson plans can range in subject and creativity, as long as they meet the grant criteria and students are engaged and encouraged to learn about energy.

 For more information and application details, visit: https://www.saveonenergy.com/teacher-grant/