ESTA UPDATE

East Side Teachers Association/CTA/NEA 888 So. Capitol Ave San Jose, Ca 95127 May 16, 2003

Don McKell, President Julie Pratico, Vice Pres Carla Holtzclaw, Secretary Ralph Giannini, Treasurer

mckelld@esuhsd.org fax: (408) 272-7569 voice: (408) 272-0601 x213 website: www.EastSideTA.org

LEGISLATIVE PRESSURE

Governor Davis has released the annual May revision of his proposed state budget for 2003/04. In it, we see the latest estimate of just how badly imbalanced are the state balance sheets. Of late, California has operated on an annual budget of around $90b. In the current economy, there is now predicted to be as much as a $38b shortfall next year. This means that to balance the state budget, there must be some combination of decreases in state expenditures and increases in state revenues. The Davis budget is merely a suggestion, and the battle between the forces trying to make the decisions has been shaping up for months. Although both houses in the state legislature have a majority of democrats, our state constitution is one of only three in the nation that requires a 2/3 super-majority to pass a budget. Thus, even if all 50 Democrats in Sacramento join together, they’ll be five votes short of the number required to adopt a budget. It’s a safe bet that the staunch conservative portion of the opposition will never approve a budget with significant revenue enhancement (read: tax increases) without a mandate from their constituents. OK, so none of this is news.

A couple of long term fixes are being talked about. One would penalize elected officials and their staff by denying state pay each day from July 1 until a budget is passed. Another would reduce the supermajority needed to enact a state budget from the current 2/3 down to 55%. Both are interesting ideas, but neither will become law anytime soon, and certainly not in time to help us out by this June 30.

So, what to do? Pretty much, as I see it, the citizens of this state are going to separate themselves into three groups over this issue.  Group A are those people who believe that a summary reduction of the state budget by over 1/3 will be devastating, and who will therefore actively work for a state budget that includes a prudent mix of cost-cutting and revenue-enhancing pieces. ‚  Group B are those people who believe that a summary reduction of the state budget by over 1/3 is a long overdue excellent idea and who will therefore work for passage of a state budget that includes few if any means of increasing state revenues. ƒ Group C will, sadly, be the largest. These will be the people who, through either ignorance or apathy, will not take an active part in getting the problem solved. They’re the ones who seldom vote, never contact elected representatives, and typically choose to remain unaware and uninvolved on the sidelines while small more active groups make decisions for them. (For this, nearly two million of our countrymen have given their lives defending our freedom to sit on our butts and do nothing other than wring our hands and reach for the remote.)

If you’re in Groups A or B, keep reading. If not, go ahead and change the channel. Sorry I woke you.

JUNE 8 MEETING

CTA will continue to lobby state legislators to protect K-14 public education from devastating budget cuts. We are not alone. A well-known, credible local faith-based organization has also determined to try to have an influence in how the state budget gets balanced. The group, known as People Acting in Community Together (PACT) is a get-off-your-butt organization that recognizes the calamity that will be caused to the weakest members in our society if balance to the state budget is achieved primarily through cuts in programs. PACT has appealed to ESTA and others to join them in a public demonstration on Sunday, June 8. Their event will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the American G.I. Forum, 765 Story Road (between McLaughlin and Senter). PACT is hopeful that the event will draw well over a thousand people. Their tactics include bringing in local State Assembly members and Senators to pressure them to publicly commit to work for prudent budget balancing, including new taxes. I plan to go to this event and to be just one more voice in the crowd. I hope all of you Group A’s out there will do the same and lend weight to the seriousness of the situation. If the state budget mess solution does not include some forms of new taxes, then by conservative estimates up to a million poor people will lose any sort of medical coverage, schools will lose out by billions of dollars, and social services to the neediest of people will be crippled. We’ll all pay for this in coming years.

PACT will be joined across the state by similar-minded affiliate groups who will be doing the same to their local politicos. This thing could just work.

We could just do nothing but wring our hands and decry what "they" are doing to solve the problem. But to do so invites reductions in essential staffing, larger class sizes, inadequate supplies budgets, no raises, slashed teacher training, and a continuation of the pummeling of public education at the hands of those clamoring for "accountability" while chronically underfunding their ludicrous mandates. Not to mention the effects of a million more uninsured people seeking delayed medical care at already beleaguered emergency rooms, and what that will do to the medical insurance rates for the rest of us. I respectfully suggest that each of us take a side in this thing and get to work promoting it.

GROUP DISABILITY

The goal of locating 150 new participants in the March UnumProvident CTA Group Disability campaign was not met. Therefore, those folks who did attempt to enroll can still do so, but will have to answer the questions on the application form dealing with medical history and possible preexisting conditions. Expect an explanatory letter from Provident to clarify the next steps in the near future. It’s still worth looking into.

PATRIOT ACT

Shortly after the dastardly 9/11/01 attack on the World Trade Center, the US Congress passed a piece of legislation sought by the Attorney General that has since become known as the Patriot Act. The law gives sweeping new authority to federal law enforcement agencies to enter, search, seize, detain, and monitor the activities of persons suspected of being terrorists of having connections to terrorist groups.

Among the many disturbing provisions of the law is a section compelling librarians to secretly provide records of persons’ reading habits to federal agencies.

Certain groups have since railed against the law as being a broad attack on civil liberties, and are pressing for its repeal. On May 7, the ESTA Assembly was presented with a request by now-retired SCHS Librarian (and former ESTA General Secretary) Dianne Lane to pass a resolution denouncing the Act, and also to join a chorus of voices demanding its repeal. Following a discussion, a motion was brought and passed to table further debate and action on the matter until the June 4 meeting of the Assembly. This frequently happens when members of the Assembly feel they need more time to research an issue.

ESTA members with feelings on either side of this question should contact their Assembly representatives prior to the June 4 meeting. For information on the Patriot Act, go to Google on the internet and do a search for "Patriot Act". There is a ton of data there.

TWO NEW CHARTER SCHOOLS

At the May 8 meeting of the East Side School Board, two new charter petitions were formally presented for consideration. One of the petitions was from Escuela Popular (EP), and seeks to establish what appears to be a post-high-school GED granting school for students who are at least 19 years of age. Since EP is already one of the four charter operators with prior district approval, it remains to be seen what affect the granting of this new charter petition would have on the EP’s existing operation. It may be that EP seeks to split its current operation into two schools.

A second petition was presented by representatives of California Youth Outreach, which seeks to establish a school for a relatively small number (35?) students who are transitioning back to public schools from having been incarcerated in a lockdown facility.

The process for these two petitions will now be for a thorough review of their paperwork followed by a report to the school board. By law, the board must make a determination to grant or deny a charter petition within 60 days of having received it. There are two meetings of the school board within that time period: June 5 and June 19.

DISTRICT OFFICE PROPERTY

The school board heard a preliminary report at its May meeting regarding various alternative uses of the 27-acre district office property. Included among the five or six possible plans were the outright sale or lease of some or all of the property, coupled with various ideas to redesign or relocate the current "Education Center". (I have never quite understood that term; the district office is certainly the one place in the East Side at which virtually no education takes place). No decision was made by the board, but the study process goes on.

SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS

I wrote briefly in the last issue of the Update about the outcome of ESTA’s most recent Safety Survey, given to a proportionate number of our members last month at every large school site. I was invited to give a report on the Survey to the school board at its May 8 meeting. As a part of my presentation, I included five recommendations for action. These are:

 No additional classroom doors should be approved without appropriate locks.

‚ Site-Based Decision Teams [18.4 Committees] should address issues of review, compliance and enforcement of school rules.

ƒ The Board should budget for after-school detention centers and other appropriate interventions and conse-quences of student misbehavior.

„ The Board should receive quarterly reports of each school’s Site Safety Team meeting attendance rosters and agendas.

… The Board should budget for continued operation of the Office of Safety

ESTA 2003 SCHOLARSHIPS

This spring we witnessed a record number of twelve applications to the ESTA Scholarship for Children and Grandchildren of Members. Most of the applicants are current high school seniors. One applicant was found not to have fully submitted all required paperwork and was disqualified. Of the eleven remaining applicants, the ESTA Scholarship Committee interviewed seven and recommended five to the ESTA Assembly for financial awards. On May 7, the Assembly approved the recommendations of the Committee and awarded the following scholarships:

Dante Randazzo, $2,000. Dante is a senior at Bellarmine in San Jose and the son of Joe Randazzo (Pegasus) and Patty Randazzo (Foothill).

Kevin Goodenough, $1,200. Kevin is a senior at Branham HS in San Jose and the son of Sharon Goodenough (Santa Teresa)

Matt Taylor, $1,200. Matt is a student at Cal Poly SLO and the son of Al Taylor (Independence) and Barbara Taylor (District Office).

Agustin Arias, $800. Agustin is a senior at Piedmont Hills HS and the son of Larry Arias (Independence)

Brandon Ward, $800. Brandon is a senior at Lincoln HS in San Jose and the son of Brian Ward (WC Overfelt, and others)

Each of this year’s applicants are really nice young people with bright futures. The selection committee had a tough set of choices to make, knowing the impossibility of funding all applicants in a meaningful way. This year’s committee members were: Ellen Pyeatt (WO), Sue Zaslaw (JL/DO), Don Dawson (SC), Peggy Jabri (IH), Bob Dickerson (AH), Julie Pratico (AH), and yours truly. The annual ESTA Scholarship is funded through voluntary 50¢ monthly dues diversion by participating ESTA members.

ESTA 2003/2004 BUDGET

On May 7, the ESTA Assembly approved a budget for the 2003/04 year calling for zero increases in stipends for officers and other ESTA operatives, and a modest $10 ESTA dues increase in keeping with our Bylaws. Ask me or your Assembly Representative for a copy of the adopted budget.