CFT joins lawsuit against Trump’s attempt to block education funding with HUGE RESULTS - funds to be released!
On Monday of this week, CFT joined a coalition of education unions and school districts in the lawsuit Anchorage School District et al. v. Department of Education et al.
The Trump-Vance administration had attempted to withhold nearly $6 billion from public schools for the 2025-2026 school year, a move that will have disastrous impacts on students and educators, particularly in our country’s most vulnerable communities, and this lawsuit was the work of a broad coalition to push back on this move to withhold funds that were supposed to be delivered to schools on July 1.
CFT President Jeff Freitas said the following about this administration’s cynical attempt to defund our public schools:
“Educators in California are proud to stand with our colleagues across the nation in defending our public education system and democracy from political attacks that only serve to hurt our next generation of leaders. While Secretary McMahon and Trump’s other billionaire cronies are focused on padding their own pockets, children across the country will lose access to the quality public education that has prepared generations of students to be our nation’s future leaders. These illegal funding cuts will harm our students, their educators, our communities, and will leave our nation’s future success in jeopardy. The educators and classified professionals who are the backbone of our public education system will continue to fight to ensure that every child in this country has access to a quality public education.”
Just this morning, news broke that our efforts to push back were successful, and the Trump administration has agreed to release the funding for the 2025-2026 school year, ending a month-long limbo where schools were unsure if they’d have the money to retain staff and to continue to offer critical curricular programs and academic enrichment activities.
This positive outcome shows the pressure tactics work, and the CFT is committed to continuing to work with our labor and community partners to push back on this administration’s attempts to undermine public education.
You can read more about this lawsuit on the AFT website.
CFT members attend the AFT TEACH Conference in Washington, D.C.
This week in DC, AFT is hosting a “super week” of conferences and professional development opportunities, including a Collective Bargaining Conference, an AI Symposium, and the AFT TEACH Conference.
More than 30 CFT members are attending the “super week”, including 20 members at the AFT TEACH (Together Educating America’s Children) Conference in Washington, DC. TEACH is an annual conference hosted by the AFT and is a great opportunity for members to share best teaching practices, network with one another, and get recharged before the new school year begins.
Nicolle Fefferman, a labor history high school teacher and a member of UTLA is excited to be attending TEACH this year: “Being with fellow educators at AFT TEACH is valuable in this moment of uncertainty and worry. It feels so important to be surrounded by and collaborating with folks committed to doing the good and hard work of public education.”
You can watch AFT President Randi Weingarten’s address to the attendees of TEACH here.
New textbook shares important and overlooked AAPI history
Art by Billy, for Foundations and Futures
A new multimedia textbook that shares lesser-known stories from Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history is now available, thanks in part to the input of CFT member Arlene Inouye. The textbook, called Foundations and Futures, is available online.
It was put together by UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center with the help of leaders like Inouye, a retired UTLA member and AFT AAPI Task Force member, who is also part of the Foundations and Futures team.
Of this groundbreaking work, Inouye said, “We need young people to know … about the rich contributions AANHPI people have made to this country, from our leadership in the agricultural labor rights movement and our early fights for civil rights to our influence on education and government policy and our inspiring stories of entrepreneurship.”
You can find more information about the Foundations and Futures project as well as Arlene Inouye’s own personal history that has driven her passion for this work on the AFT website.
Join CFT for an upcoming training opportunity called “Know Your Rights: LGBTQ+”
This is a virtual workshop that will provide an overview of existing California policies protecting LGBTQ+ students and educators as well as current proposed legislation in Sacramento and Washington DC. The workshop will also include a collaborative working session to generate strategies for supporting LGBTQ+ students in the classroom and on campus.
Trainers: Erin Arendse and Veejay Atilano with Equality California
Register here!
For regular updates to Fight Back events and opportunities, you can check CFT’s dedicated website for these efforts.
