It's Your Future. Pick Up the Phone. Call.
by Elizabeth Ahlgren, NEA Director, Morse High

How would you like to be compensated based upon your students' test scores? What about being evaluated on your students' test scores, in
spite of our collective bargaining agreement? I know both concepts
are totally unacceptable to me but those concepts have appeared in
the latest draft of NCLB.

There was very little activity on the rewrite of NCLB through most of
the summer but the last three weeks have more than made up for it.
Although multiple measures of progress are included, 85% of the AYP
would still be based upon math and English test scores.

Transfer and reassignment rights are also being eroded as there is
language that limits how many years a student can be taught by a
"novice" teacher. The upshot is that the current draft would require
a redistribution of teachers so that the teachers' salaries are
distributed equitably between Title 1 and non-Title 1 schools. That
means that you could be forced to transfer schools in order to
balance salaries across schools.

If teachers were so highly motivated by pay, we probably wouldn't
have become teachers in the first place. Yes we want a wage that
says "You're a highly educated professional who works hard" but merit
pay will never be acceptable.

Have any of these issues pushed a button for you? All of them are
unacceptable to me and I know you feel the same so what are you
willing to do about this? As I write this, we
haven't seen CTA's or NEA's action plan but
I know you will be asked to call three Cali-
fornians who happen to have influential
positions in Congress:

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi
Chair of the House Education and Labor
Committee, George Miller and our local
member of the House Education and Labor
Committee, Susan Davis.

Gather a few colleagues, pull out you cell phones, call these three
individuals and let them know this is totally unacceptable. We cannot
let Congress tear down public education! Your SDEA rep will have a
script for you to use. Don't hesitate, call at lunch or after school
or before school. Stick to the message and call now!

Nancy Pelosi: (202)225-4965 or (415) 556-4862,
fax (202)225-8259

George Miller: (202)225-2095, or (707)645-1888,
fax (202)225-5609

Susan Davis: (202)225-2040, (619)280-5353,
fax (202)225-2948