By Marty Hittelman

I was up in Sacramento and all that I heard
was that unions were the problem with the evil they stirred
they were looking for Superman to make things right
“firing teachers will make kids bright”
Reduce funding, increase competition, teach kids to fill in the bubbles.

I looked at the TV and what did I see
It was Wall Street Whitman paying the fee
She said cuts in public service is the path to prosperity
and regulations are what cause disparity
She was claiming the unions are who make things bad
but it’s her outsourcing jobs that made me mad.

I looked at the newspaper and what did I see
They’ll expose our teachers if we don’t agree
To rank our teachers — any method will do
valid or invalid — use whatever’s new,
merit pay, value added, a business model
 — miracles can happen.

So, if you want to fund education, let me tell you what we need,
We have to get together and fight corporate greed.
We have to do all we can to pass 25
and even then we’ll only be half alive.
We have to slide right out of Whitman’s hand
and join the chorus in Jerry’s band.

It’s up to us, to make the fight
for better education and all that’s right
so don’t let the doomsayers put you down
and don’t leave the arguments to the media clown
and don’t let the big money defeat your goals
just get your voters out to the polls.
Because together we can win — 

and we will.

By Marty Hitttelman, CFT President