Presidents Column :: San Diego Education Association

It is Time to Stand Up (Past Time, Actually)
By Marc Capitelli, SDEA Vice President

We have waited for someone else in our unions or in politics to put an end to the atrocity called No Child Left Behind. As we have watched our schools move more and more into becoming test preparation factories with children going in and test takers coming out, politicians and union leaders have tried to play the "fix it and fund it" game. NCLB cannot be fixed and it will never be funded properly!
How long have we waited for the feds and the state to properly fund programs like they promised?

The time has come for a national discussion about what public education should be. We believe that public education is the cornerstone of our democracy. We believe that NCLB is an ongoing attack on the foundation of a free and democratic people. We believe it is time to lead the movement to restore a sane, stable, well funded, ACCOUNTABLE by all stakeholders, public education system. Accordingly, the Board of Directors passed the following resolution and recommendation to present to the February Representative Council of the San Diego Education Association.

Whereas Great Public Schools are the foundation of a strong, vital democracy; and

Whereas Great Public Schools are the foundation of a just and moral
society; and

Whereas every child deserves to attend a Great Public School; and

Whereas ESEA (NCLB), in its current authorization, is destroying
public education by:

Devastating Public Education as an institution and
Promoting privatization of Public Education and
Discrediting Public Education and
Creating impossible requirements for schools to meet and
Creating meaningless workloads for teachers that are driving teachers from the profession and
Diverting scarce funding from the primary goal of educating our children to be productive participants in our democracy and
Dividing parents, schools and communities from working together to educate our children and

Whereas it is the belief of the San Diego Education Association that:

ESEA, in its current NCLB authorization, can not be overhauled, fixed or properly funded and
ESEA, in its current NCLB authorization, should be re-written by a commission comprised of stakeholders in Public Education and
Such commission be comprised of representatives from
1. NEA
2. AFT
3. Universities and Colleges engaged in the training and preparation of teachers
4. Bipartisan members of Congress
5. Parental groups
Such reauthorization should embrace proven programs, like
1. Smaller classes, and
2. Advocate for additional targeted resources to help low-income and minority students achieve their basic right to a quality education, and
3. Emphasize factors crucial to ensuring a great public school for every child such as;
Parental, family, and community involvement and engagement, and
Adequate, equitable, and sustainable school funding, and
A qualified, caring, diverse, and stable workforce, and
Such reauthorization be completed by July, 2009

Therefore it shall be the policy of the San Diego Education Association to endeavor to scrap the current ESEA (NCLB) by:

Instructing its members to the State Council of the California Teachers Association to introduce a motion (NBI), at the earliest time, at the State Council consisting of the above points and
Instructing its representatives to the Representative Assembly of the National Education Association in Philadelphia in the summer of 2007 to introduce a similar motion (NBI) at the Representative Assembly, should CTA not bring forth an NBI that supports the policy of SDEA.