Oct 28
Virtual group meeting for The Standard!
The Standard is hosting a Virtual Group Meeting for VacavilleTeachers Association members to learn more about their Special Enrollment Opportunity for CTA-Endorsed Disability and Life Insurance.
Register here to attend on November 10 at 4:00 PM.
For more information about VTA’s Special Enrollment Opportunity, members can visit https://www.standard.com/cta/vacaville
Thank you for your support!!
VTA Members who attend the Virtual Group Meeting will be entered into a raffle!
Oct 26
Message from the CTA President, E Toby Boyd
| Good Evening and Happy Friday! I hope this email finds you and your family well. I want to share some new resources to help you as you work with your local districts and in your local communities determining the best way to return to schools safely. While there are many protocols that need to be in place and many resources to implement effective safety measures, testing is proving to be one of the toughest to nail down. According to an article on schools and testing in The New England Journal of Medicine: “Because an estimated 40% of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic and 50% of transmissions occur from asymptomatic persons, we believe that screening testing is critical.” (Yasmin Rafiei, B.Sc., and Michelle M. Mello, J.D., Ph.D.) In a Sept. 16, 2020 letter to Governor Newsom and other lawmakers, CTA pushed for a state solution to COVID-19 testing: “A state solution is needed for this statewide problem. It is unrealistic to expect over a thousand school districts or even 58 counties to take on [testing] individually. Educators and their districts don’t have the training, resources, or funding to do this work. State guidance is not enough. Relying on individual school districts and local health officials (who have been retiring or resigning at a record pace) to coordinate what should be a statewide effort is woefully ineffective and leads to localized and politicized decision making that is damaging our public health, our public education, and our economy.” Without statewide guidance and a plan, districts are left to develop their own. That should NOT be happening without input from the local union. As you are having these conversations, we will be meeting with Cal/OSHA and key lawmakers making the strong case for a statewide plan. We will also be promoting the need for school-based testing by sharing this infographic to show the daily reach public schools have in our state. Feel free to share this with local members, parents and school officials. If you’d like to customize a version for your chapter, use this version. In addition to this infographic, we’ve put together a factsheet on COVID-19 Testing for you to reference. And a recent poll CTA conducted of parents and voters is available for you to use to support your work with your district. Below you’ll see testing is included in what is “essential” for reopening schools. I would also like to point out that we’ve pushed back against using Prop. 98 funding for COVID-19 safety expenses. However testing for COVID- 19 is ultimately funded, it’s clear the state will need more resources. Another reason to vote Yes on Prop. 15! Thank you so much for making the health and safety of our students, members, their families and our entire state your priority. We will get through this together! E. Toby Boyd |
Oct 25
October 2020 State Council Report
CTA Calls for Uniform COVID Testing & Tracing in Schools
Affected by the Wildfires? CTA is here to help.
Do you have thoughts on the CTA budget? Share them here!
In addition to these important issues, your State Council delegates would like to share, with you, one of the most important roles taken by the California Teachers Association State Council, the legislative body of our Union – supporting/opposing legislation on a wide variety of issues facing every Californian.
Please review the sampling of bills our union supported during this last legislative cycle. As you can see, some bills passed, and some bills failed, as is the case in every legislative cycle.
As you read summaries of the bills, do you have thoughts or feedback on any of them? Do you have ideas for bills you’d like for us to carry forwards? As a member of the California Teachers Association, you have access to your State Council reps, Alyson Brauning, Melissa Phillips or Corey Penrose and we would love to carry your thoughts forward at the local level.
We will report out to your local, at the end of every council, about what’s going on, but we also want to hear from you and receive your thoughts about the actions
Support AB 1460 Weber (D?79) 8/19/20
California State University: graduation requirement: ethnic studies
Requires the California State University (CSU), commencing with the 2021?22 academic year, to (1) provide courses in ethnic studies at each CSU campus, and (2) require, as part of the CSU graduation requirements commencing with students graduating in the 2024?25 academic year, the completion of, at a minimum, one three?unit course in ethnic studies. This position has been approved by Taunya Jaco, Chair of the Civil Rights in Education Committee, as well as by Kathy Sharp, Chair of the State Legislation Committee.
Status: Signed
Support AB 1080 Gonzalez (D?80) 8/28/20
Solid waste: packaging and products
Enacts the California Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, which would impose a comprehensive regulatory scheme on producers, retailers, and wholesalers of single use packaging and priority single?use products, to be administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). Among other provisions, the bill requires CalRecycle to achieve and maintain a statewide 75% reduction of the waste generated from single?use packaging and priority single?use products through source reduction, recycling, and composting
by 2032. This position has been approved by Taunya Jaco, Chair of the Civil Rights in Education Committee, as well as by Kathy Sharp, Chair of the State Legislation Committee.
Status: Failed
Support SB 54 Allen (D?26) 8/28/20
Solid waste: packaging and products
Enacts the California Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, which would impose a comprehensive regulatory scheme on producers, retailers, and wholesalers of single use packaging and priority single?use products, to be administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). Among other provisions, the bill requires CalRecycle to achieve and maintain a statewide 75% reduction of the waste generated from single?use packaging and priority single?use products through source reduction, recycling, and composting by 2032. This position has been approved by Taunya Jaco, Chair of the Civil Rights in Education Committee, as well as by Kathy Sharp, Chair of the State Legislation Committee.
Status: Failed
Support AB 1550 Bonta (D?18) 7/7/20
Discriminatory emergency calls
Includes within the definition of a hate crime a false 911 call committed for the purpose of intimidating or interfering with a person’s free exercise or enjoyment of their rights punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony; establishes civil liability for these discriminatory and baseless 911 calls. This position has been approved by Cecily Myart?Cruz, Chair of the Civil Rights in Education Committee, as well as by Kathy Sharp, Chair of the State Legislation Committee.
Status: Failed
Support AB 2542 Kalra (D?27) 7/13/20
Criminal procedure: discrimination
Makes it possible for a person charged or convicted of a crime to challenge racial bias in their case, as shown through evidence of: (1) Explicit racial bias by an attorney, judge, law enforcement officer, expert witness, or juror involved in the case. (2) Use of racially discriminatory language in court and during the criminal proceedings, whether intentional or not. (3) Racial bias in jury selection, such as removing all or nearly all people of color from the jury. (4) Statistical disparities in charging and convictions – that is, evidence that people of one race are disproportionately charged or convicted of a specific crime or enhancement. (5) Statistical disparities in sentencing – that is, evidence that people of one race receive longer or more severe sentences, including the death penalty or life without parole.
This position has been approved by Cecily Myart?Cruz, Chair of the Civil Rights in Education Committee, as well as by Kathy Sharp, Chair of the State Legislation Committee.
Status: Signed
Support AB 1436 Chiu (D?17) 7/20/20
Tenancy: rental payment default: state of emergency: COVID?19
Provides that a tenant with COVID?19 financial impacts cannot be evicted due to unpaid rent from the beginning of the COVID?19 emergency declaration on March 4, 2020 until after the COVID?19 emergency ends; holds tenants accountable to resume regular rent payments no later than April 2021 and allows landlords to pursue normal evictions for any future missed rent payments; and protects renters from having non?payment due to COVID held against them by a tenant screening company, credit reporting agency, or other entity that evaluates prospective renters. This position has been approved by Cecily Myart?Cruz, Chair of the Civil Rights in Education Committee, as well as by Kathy Sharp, Chair of the State Legislation Committee.
Status: Failed
Respectfully submitted,
Alyson Brauning, Melisssa Phillips, Corey Penrose
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