Breaking News Update:
The Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee approved CTA co-sponsored SB 1291 during its hearing earlier today. The measure now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee for its next hearing. The bill gained votes from only Democratic members of the labor panel.
CTA is co-sponsoring legislation that will help California secure the teachers it needs to fill hard-to-staff positions in math, science, and special education classes while helping laid-off educators secure the training they need to gain certification in these areas.
CTA co-sponsored SB1291, by Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), is slated for a hearing in the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee next Wednesday, April 25th.
Faxes and e-mails sent to the committee chair can help assure the measure’s passage.
Below is a sample letter that contains key points on the bill. CTA members can also click through to CTA’s Legislative Action Center to facilitate sending e-mails
to legislators at www.capwiz.com/nea/ca.
Faxes can be sent to Sen. Ted Lieu directly via 916.327.5703.
Key Points:
SB 1291 (Evans) allows unemployed teachers to be eligible for unemployment insurance while taking certification training needed to teach vacancies in hard to staff assignments such as math, science and special education.
This year, California’s dire budget deficit led to more than 30,000 preliminary pink slips issued by the March 15 state deadline, and it’s feared that fewer pink slips will be rescinded this year due to the severity of the budget crisis. At the same time, my community is faced with
the need to improve our pipeline to recruit and retain teachers.
Other important information includes number of pink slips, number of anticipated rehires, and/or a personal story about the situation in a CTA chapter’s area.
