National movement builds to address teacher pay crisis
Earlier this week Senator Bernie Sanders joined AFT President Randi Weingarten, NEA President Becky Pringle, and fellow educators from throughout the country in a virtual town hall on addressing the educator staffing crisis.
During the discussion Randi said, "Every teacher should earn enough to afford life's necessities and raise a family, to live in/near the communities they teach and offset the dollars spent on supplies for their classrooms."
In his remarks Senator Sanders pledged that he would soon introduce federal legislation to address the crisis in pay. Sanders is seeking to pump $450 billion in new mandatory federal funding into every district, by increasing the estate tax on the wealthiest Americans. Districts would be required to use part of that additional funding to raise teachers' base pay. The proposed legislation mirrors a bill recently introduced in the US Congress, called The American Teacher Act, which seeks to raise teachers’ base pay to $60,000.
The town hall followed President Biden’s State of the Union address last week, during which he delivered powerful remarks in support of working families and the right of workers to organize unions. As part of these remarks he emphatically said, “Let’s give public school teachers a raise,” which drew bipartisan applause.
While the focus of these discussions and legislation is on teachers, we all know that the crisis extends beyond teachers – it includes all certificated and classified professionals in our public schools, and any solution must involve raising the wages of all education workers.
CFT members speak out on Valentine’s Day in support of part-time faculty healthcare
This week faculty from both the San Jose/Evergreen Federation of Teachers and the Peralta Federation of Teachers urged their district leaders to have a heart and agree to use the funding provided to them by the state to provide healthcare to part-time faculty.
The Valentine’s Day actions are part of a broad statewide effort underway as local unions negotiate and mobilize to win the healthcare faculty deserve following our successful campaign last year to lock in $200 million in ongoing funding for districts to spend on healthcare.
The speak out in San Jose included a powerful video presentation from dedicated physics instructor Phuong Le, who shared that of the roughly $3,900 she takes home every month, $3,300 go to pay for her family’s healthcare.
In Oakland, three dozen Peralta Community College members showed up in solidarity, while fifteen full-time and part-time faculty spoke out at their board meeting to urge their trustees to, “Listen to your heart…and give our part-time faculty access to the free money for healthcare they deserve.”
Sign the petition to restore the assault weapons ban
This week marked the five-year anniversary of the tragic massacre of kids and educators at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Since that horrible massacre there have been more than 900 school shootings, 67 this year alone, including a shooting at Michigan State University this week that impacted some of the same students who had been present at earlier shootings.
Please take a moment to
sign this petition, urging Congress to restore an assault weapons ban. We know it saves lives. In the years that the assault weapons ban was in place, the number of mass shootings went down. In the years since it expired, mass shootings have become our new normal. And that is unacceptable.
