SCTA Organizing Committee Action Alert

Join CTA at the Capitol to Help Defeat SB 1530

SCTA asks members to help in the effort to defeat SB 1530, proposed legislation that would seriously erode teacher due process protections.     This is an important time for teachers to stand together against such ill-conceived measures and in doing so send a strong message that we expect our elected representatives to reject anti-teacher, anti-labor legislation.  We ask that you join your California Teachers Association legislative team in defending our profession.

 

When and Where:  This Wednesday, June 27th at 1:30 p.m. California State Capitol, Assembly Education Committee. Room 4202 (4th floor).

What:  Teachers willing to stand in a line at the hearing, come up to the microphone and, at your turn, simply say, “My name is xxxxxx xxxxxxxx and I teach xxxxx grade at xxxxxxxxx school and I oppose SB 1530.”

Bill Background:

SB 1530 (Padilla) was introduced in the wake of the scandal inLos Angelessurrounding serious criminal allegations against three teachers in the LA Unified School District. Unfortunately, the bill would divert lawmakers’ and the public’s attention from the cascading failures of a school district’s management to use current law to protect children from employees charged with improper conduct.  SB 1530 ignores the breakdown in responsibility by the superintendent and officials of the LA Unified School District to properly investigate and report alleged misconduct to the state licensing agency, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.  That credentialing body has the power to revoke an educator’s credential, preventing that employee from working in any public school in the state.

Instead, SB 1530 would:

  • Severely undermine certificated educators’ ability to get a fair hearing when accused of misconduct and erode the integrity of the teacher dismissal process. 
  • Eliminate timelines for notice. In particular, it would allow employers to send out a notice to dismiss during the summer when many certificated personnel are not in town. It would also grant districts the discretion to submit old information about prior issues of misconduct as evidence related to current charges.  Current law prohibits both practices as patently unfair.  .
  • Sharply change the role of the Committee on Professional Competence by eliminating teachers from the panel altogether and render the decision of a neutral administrative law judge as only advisory to the local governing board.  This significant slap against teacher protection for a fair hearing is CTA’s most urgent concern.

CTA conversations with the Senator Padilla to improve the bill in these key areas have simply gone nowhere.

The bill’s supporters assert that eliminating teacher due process will make dismissal hearings both cost-effective and efficient. In point of fact, it will open teachers to dismissal at the whim of local administrators, who have shown themselves woefully ill-equipped to protect students or teachers.  It also will almost most certainly lead to more expensive lawsuits.

 

If you need more information on this bill, visit http://capwiz.com/nea/ca/issues/alert/?alertid=61337256