For immediate release: Tuesday, March 11, 2014

LOS ANGELES – Today, the California Federation of Teachers – one of the union interveners in “Vergara et. al. vs. The State of California et. al.”– launched a new website: www.VergaraTrial.com

The website is a one-stop shop for information on the court case. It features updates from the stand, information on the trial’s backers, pertinent research debunking the plaintiffs’ claims, videos and press clips. It will be updated daily as the State and the union interveners proceed with their witnesses.

CFT President Joshua Pechthalt said, “The billionaire backers of the case have sunk a fortune into a blizzard of fancy PR, hoping to mask some basic facts about public education with endless repetition of the same wrong ideas. But what our web site lacks in flair, it makes up for in facts. It’s a great resource for anyone following this trial.”

Vergara et. al. vs. The State of California et. al. is the latest in a long line of attempts by wealthy conservatives to deny teachers the rights and support they need to be creative and innovative in the classroom and to be able to advocate for their students. Having lost similar initiatives at the ballot box and in the state house, these anti-education forces have now brought their case to court, hoping to legislate from the bench. The most recent incarnation of a billionaires’ Astroturf front group, Students Matter, is a non-profit created by anti-union Silicon Valley investors.

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The California Federation of Teachers represents more than 120,000 education employees in California, from Head Start and community colleges through the University of California. For more information, go to www.cft.org.