AFT Sponsors Athletes Attending Special Olympics

AFT Executive Vice President Antonia Cortese told about 400 athletes heading to this year’s Special Olympics summer games in Shanghai that their actions would show how much people with intellectual disabilities can accomplish.

"The AFT is proud to be supporting your efforts, because not only is this an opportunity for you to compete with your peers, but the World Summer Games are a giant classroom where you can teach the world the Special Olympics’ message of acceptance and inclusion," Cortese said at the sendoff for Team USA on Sept. 26 in Los Angeles.
The AFT also is involved in shaping and promoting the SO Get Into It K-12 service-learning resource to help explain intellectual disability to young people and encourage them to become involved in the Special Olympics.

You can support the Special Olympics by volunteering, making a donation or using the SO Get Into It curriculum available at http://www.specialolympics.org/ under Schools & Youth.

Albert Shanker: One Tough Liberal

A new biography of former AFT president Albert Shanker by Richard Kahlenberg, Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy, was published in September.

The book describes Shanker’s life, including his rise to our union’s presidency. A leading voice for the professionalization of school employees, Shanker was fierce in his determination to organize paraprofessionals and school-related personnel, early on declaring that if paraprofessionals weren’t allowed in the union, he would quit. He also was responsible for establishing an array of union-sponsored training programs for support staff.

The biography is featured extensively online at www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator.

Override of Veto Fails on Children's Health Bill

Despite strong bipartisan support, the U.S. House of Representatives was unable to muster the votes on Oct. 18 to override President Bush’s veto of a bill that would have extended health insurance to millions of low-income children.

"President Bush should be ashamed that he worked so hard to corral just enough Republican support to block this critical and bipartisan children’s health program," said AFT president Edward J. McElroy. "Working-class families rely on this program, and they were counting on its extension. This is a big setback for children, who need high-quality healthcare to grow up healthy and succeed in school."

The bill to renew and extend the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) had passed easily in the House (265-159) and Senate (67-29). It would have expanded the program by an average of $7 billion a year over the next five years, boosting enrollment from 6.6 million children to more than 10 million. SCHIP helps children whose families don’t qualify for Medicaid but can’t afford private insurance.

"Opposition to expansion of SCHIP defies reason," adds McElroy. "We must redouble our efforts."

Congress is already working on another try at the legislation.