Downey Education Association

Downey Education Association

State Budget and DEA's Response

2/4/09

As of today, the State has not settled any of the education budget cuts and thus the Downey District has not made any decisions.
Any response to the district will require the DEA Executive Board and the DEA Faculty Reps being part of the discussion and decision making process.
Stay Tuned

State Budget and CTA's Response

Members of the Education Coalition, including myself, met with Governor Schwarzenegger yesterday. I wish I could say there was good news.

He came to brief the Ed Coalition on the current state budget situation and to tell us that he would be calling a special legislative session on November 5 – the day after the Election. The Governor said the poor economy and growing budget deficit would necessitate midyear cuts to all programs, including $2 to $4 billion in cuts to public schools (K-14). That would be about $320 to $640 per student. The Governor said that the state is facing a current year revenue shortfall of between $5 billion and $8 billion, and the shortfall could grow to as much as $20 billion next year. The Department of Finance is expected to release more information today.

Unfortunately, with the borrowing budget that was approved by the Legislature, the growing deficit is not surprising. We knew the budget gimmicks would not work and it’s why CTA continues to push for stable, long-term sources of new revenue. I and other members of the Coalition told the Governor how devastating additional cuts to our public schools will be. We told him that the $3 billion that was cut this year has led to class size increases, layoffs of teachers and critical education support professionals, and the elimination of art, music, vocational and physical education classes.

I will give the Governor credit for coming and talking to us and for recognizing that this is a serious problem that needs a serious solution, which includes tax increases. We also told the Governor that we would not engage in any discussion about what cuts should be made, because any cut in the middle of the year will be devastating to students and there must be serious discussions about additional revenues.

The Education Coalition put out a news release to the media. I want you to know that the entire education community is united in this effort, and that the Ed Coalition legislative and communications committees will continue to meet.

Right now, we know we need to do these two things to get our message out to the public and the media.

1. Remind them that public schools were cut by more than $3 billion and talk about the impact those cuts are having – class size increases, layoffs and program cuts in your schools. Bring it back to how these cuts are impacting your students and your schools.
2. This is a serious budget problem and it is time for serious solutions. The time for budget gimmicks, quick fixes and more borrowing is over. Our public schools need ongoing, stable revenues. Additional cuts to education threaten our students’ future and the economic future of our state.

As always, thank you for all that you do each day for CTA.

David A. Sanchez CTA President

Who is DEA?

DEA is the exclusive bargaining agent for the 1,100 teachers, counselors, nurses, librarians and speech-language pathologists who work in the Downey Unified School District. We are affiliated at the state level with the California Teacher’s Association (CTA) and the national level with National Education Association (NEA). We are partners in the educational community and process that helps prepare our youth to be successful and productive members of society.

We negotiate and enforce the contract that established the rates of compensation, health and welfare benefit package and other conditions of employment for members of our bargaining unit. In addition to representing our bargaining unit members in contractual matters, we offer workshops and trainings to help teachers in instructional and other teaching methodologies. Many of these offerings are designed to help improve the practice and art of teaching. Other services that DEA/CTA/NEA provides include trainings and materials on the rights and responsibilities of teachers, membership insurance, financial and legal services, lobby politicians at the State and National level on educational issues. We are also involved in local events that have an impact on the educational program and process. We sponsor or cosponsor the following events

What's new in DEA?

CTA Training is available
All workshops are held at the CTA Offices in Sante Fe Springs. Call DEA at ext 899 if you would like to attend.

iDEAs

This Month in our newsletter

Read about Chris Bowen's Book published and for sale from Amazon.com. Also this month we spotlight Ali Davis a new new teacher from West Middle School. Our contract language highlight is the difference between personal business and personal necessity.
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