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Classified professionals benefit from summer aid program
In 2018, when Arti (Arcelia) O’Connor was serving a 10-year term as the president of the Gilroy Federation of Paraeducators, AFT Local 1921, the Classified Employee Summer Assistance Program started.
Classified Insider Summer ‘24 : Motivation and celebration
SUMMER EDITION 2024
Hundreds flocked to Sacramento on May 21 to kick off the Classified Day of Action.
Katie Valenzuela reveals tie between schools and environmental justice
The Sacramento Councilmember spoke to CFT members at the March Summit
When Sacramento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela was in elementary school in Oildale she tried out for soccer. When she ran, her lungs would feel tight, her chest would hurt, and she would feel that she might pass out. She thought that was normal.
“We didn’t know this wasn’t something that happened to all people when they run a mile at their elementary schools,” she said. “We thought we all have to stop afterwards and sit down and put your heads between our knees and wait until we can catch our breath.”
CFT United: Classified Day of Action, March Summit Highlights, AI & Literacy, and much more
SPRING 2024
A note from the editor:
CFT members work tirelessly everyday to educate and care for our students and their families. CFT United is a long running publication of the union and seeks to underscore the hard work, determination and the heart of educators and classified employees.
Our hope is that this publication can shine a light on those very things, and in turn, inspire each of us to show up more fully to our work every day.
President Freitas is focused on building power for classified members
Jeff Freitas, President of the CFT, emphasized in his address to the attendees of the annual Council of Classified Employees Conference that the organization isn’t a teacher’s union, but a union of teachers and classified professionals.
“We have made sure that we represent everybody in the field of education in the classroom, as well as outside of the classroom,” he said.
One Tier Task Force Getting Down to Business
Since this past May, CFT’s One Tier task force has been in serious discussions to find solutions to the overuse and exploitation of part-time higher education faculty. This task force was created based on the resolution at the 2023 CFT Convention.
Part-time Faculty Healthcare Precarity in Two Profiles
A summer vacation and the birth of a child should create happy memories, but for Trevor Krapf and Jennifer Wu, the reality of being part-time and having tenuous healthcare turned both their experiences into financially tragic near misses.
AFT joins CCE Conference to lead workshop on student loan debt
In a well-attended Student Loan Debt workshop at the 2023 Council of Classified Employee conference, the facilitators offered information to those struggling to pay back student loans.
Maeve Kline, senior associate at AFT, AFL-CIO, told attendees that more than 45 million people have student debt and about one out of every five borrowers was in default, meaning about nine million people aren’t able to make their monthly payments.
Legislative Update
2023-2024
The first year of California’s 2023-24 legislative session has come to an end
This year CFT tracked over 1,300 bills, supporting 160 and opposing 38. Included in these figures are 16 bills that the CFT was either the primary sponsor, or a co-sponsor thereof.
In total, eleven CFT-sponsored or co-sponsored bills reached Governor Newsom’s desk, where six were signed into law, and five were vetoed.
Classified members take their fight to the Capitol
Teanna Tillery, the United Educators of San Francisco Vice President for Paraeduators, has been involved with the union in different capacities for about twenty years. She joined, she says because of the disparity in the way classified members were treated in negotiations.
“I worked in my community for years, and it’s just in my nature that if I see something I don’t understand I like to go to the source and try to understand it,” she said. “I just wanted to be part of the group who could address problems.”
El Camino wins big and refocuses on transparency for all
Juli Wolfgram, a part time art history teacher at El Camino College and a member of AFT Local 1388, says her working conditions have improved significantly in the past year. She thinks this is due to the union’s executive board as well as the negotiating team.
CFT-Sponsored Bills Move Through Legislature
Key legislation passed through the California Assembly in June, advancing to the State Senate for consideration later this summer.
AB 938 increases base funding under the Local Control Funding Formula by 50% to support a 50% raise in TK-12 salaries. The Assembly passed the CFT-sponsored bill by a unanimous 77-0 vote.
AB 1699 prohibits school districts from retaliating against classified staff for refusing or accepting a vacancy. The bill gives employees at least 10 days to apply for a position before the job opens to the public.