Brothers and Sisters:

The Washington Teachers Association in West Sacramento is in a fight for its life! Charter advocate and West Sacramento Mayor, Christopher Cabaldon, and anti-teacher, anti-union advocate, Michelle Rhee, are fielding a candidate (Frank Castillo, Communications Director for Students First) to run for Washington Unified School Board in West Sacramento. This election could give them and their agenda control of the board! It’s currently a 2-2 split between teacher-friendly members and Cabaldon/Rhee advocates.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Ballots go out this week, and we are having a campaign kick-off walk this Saturday. Please join us for the walk and inform your members of the event. We need a flood of teachers and public school advocates on the street. I have included a side-by-side flier we are using in our internal organizing that might be helpful to you.

PLEASE RSVP SO WE HAVE ENOUGH BBQ FOR EVERYBODY
Call WTA PAC Chair, Don Stauffer at (916) 371-0882 to get involved or email at wtateachers@sbcglobal.net!

Would you like to meet school board trustees David McCallum, Sherie Mahlberg, Michael Kitzes and/or Teri Nutt tomorrow? Stop by Blondies Bar and Grill at 555 Main Street (the old Creekside Cafe) to share what’s on your mind. The meeting will follow our rep council, so, building reps, just hang around!

Each member’s January pay warrant should have retroactive pay on it.

Base salaries were cut by 3.26% starting in July for 12-month pay and starting in September for 10-month pay.

With the passage of Proposition 30, our contract reverted back to a single furlough day instead of six.

Therefore, base salaries should only be cut by .55%. You should see a retroactive amount equal to 2.71% of your monthly base salary (multiplied by 6 months for 12-month pay, multiplied by 4 months for 10-month pay) on your pay warrant.

Example:  Step 19, BA+75, $68013 yearly salary

12-month pay:  $68013 divided by 12 multiplied by .0271 multiplied by 6 = $922

10-month pay:  $68013 divided by 10 multiplied by .0271 multiplied by 4 = $737

The calculations for those paid on different Schedules are slightly different because of the different number of workdays for each job.

The Redwood Service Center Council (RSCC) is hosting the “Redwood Educators Conference 2013? on April 26 & 27 at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaluma. There is a required deposit of $50 to hold your place, which is returned upon your attendance at the conference. In other words, the conference is FREE!! This deposit covers the cost of the workshops, double occupancy room and meals.

The following sessions will be offered:

• Human Rights
• Women’s Issues
• Ethnic Minority Leadership Development
• Instruction & Professional Development
• CalSTRS

Registration closes on Friday, March 8, 2013.

Please see the attached registration form for more information. Complete the form if you are interested in attending. VEA will not register members for this conference.

• 2013 Redwood Conference

Strategic Long-Term Planning

The California Teachers Association has embarked upon a strategic planning process, at the direction of its State Council of Education, and under the guidance of the Labor Education and Research Center (LERC) at the University of Oregon. This strategic planning process—entitled “Your Voice. Our Union. Our Future.”—is about the future of CTA. The goal: Make sure CTA is positioned in the best possible way to help all students and educators succeed.

In order to accomplish this goal, CTA will rely on the people that know the organization best—the members and the staff. Initial committees have been formed and work has already begun on the initial research phase of this project.

• See committee structure and committee members
• Learn more about CTA’s strategic planning process
• More about the Labor Education and Research Center (LERC)