AFT LOCAL LAUNCHES ‘GO PUBLIC’ CAMPAIGN

One million dollars: That’s how much the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) is investing in high-quality public services and its members who work for state government.

Earlier this year, PEF, the largest AFT Public Employees local, launched “Go Public: Invest in Public Employees, The Returns Are Better for New York Taxpayers.” The $1 million campaign against privatization of public services to the private sector and shadow agencies will be implemented over 20 months. Phase one, already under way, includes print advertisements to educate the public and policymakers and a Web site (www.stopprivatization.org) that provides access to case studies, privatization failures in New York and analyses debunking the affordability and efficiency myths that the private sector is a better provider of public services.

PEF is hopeful its investment will produce excellent returns—accountability within state government, including the legislative and executive branches, for quality public services.

“We have been telling state policymakers for years that the loss of accountability, when they take public services out of the hands of state employees and hand them off to others, costs New Yorkers far too much both in tax dollars and lost quality,” said PEF president Roger Benson. “We are telling the state to save money and improve the quality of its public services by putting them back in the hands of state employees and by setting rigorous rules and standards for the awarding of any future contracts to the private sector.”

WTU MEMBER IS NATIONAL TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Washington, D.C., math teacher and AFT member Jason Kamras was named the 2005 National Teacher of the Year at an official White House ceremony in April. A member of the Washington Teachers Union, Kamras teaches at John Philip Sousa Middle School, where he has been credited with reshaping the school’s math program to raise the math achievement level among students.

“My ultimate goal is to engender within my students an intrinsic love of learning that will persist beyond their days in my classroom,” says Kamras, who was praised for his devotion to his students and school. Kamras holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton and a master’s from Harvard.

Currently in his eighth year at Sousa, Kamras says that the limited access to well-funded, high-quality schools for economically disadvantaged students is the greatest social injustice facing America today. “My intense desire to see my school excel comes not only from my belief that all students deserve an excellent education, but also from the unique role Sousa played in the civil rights movement,” he says.

The National Teacher of the Year program is a project of the Council of Chief State School Officers. Kamras is the 55th National Teacher of the Year and the first to represent the District of Columbia. On June 1, 2005, he began a year as a full-time national and international spokesperson for education.

AFT AND CALIFORNIA FED. FIGHTING BALLOT MEASURES

The AFT and the California Federation of Teachers, along with a coalition of allies, are rallying opposition to the latest destructive proposals by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. After failing to win support for his extreme agenda in the state Legislature, including a total revamping and reduction of the public employee pension plan, the governor is pushing a set of ballot initiatives for a November special election.

The proposals, presented in the name of “education reform,” include a revival of the “paycheck deception” proposal—rejected by voters a few years ago—that would severely limit unions’ involvement in the democratic process; an initiative that would gut voter-approved education funding requirements in Proposition 98 and give the governor new powers to cut school funding even more without consulting anyone else; and a plan to extend probation for teachers from two to five years and impose merit pay.

“It seems he and his friends want the best democracy money can buy,” says CFT president Mary Bergan, “as long as they’re the only ones allowed in the store.”

Worse still, the special election will cost $80 million. As Bergan notes, rather than using the money to attack educators and schools, the funds “would be far better invested in our classrooms, public health clinics and fire stations.”

Watch future issues for updates on the California initiatives.