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Back to School Tour 2023

As the new school year gets underway, CFT’s elected leaders will once again take part in a Back to School tour with visits happening across the state. The tour window will open in August and continue throughout September, with CFT leaders taking the opportunity to meet with local leaders and rank-and-file members to kick off the year.

The visits will be attended by President Jeff Freitas, Secretary Treasurer Lacy Barnes and Executive Vice President Juan Ramirez. 

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CFT-sponsored bills pass first house of Legislature, move on to second
Legislative Update

June 2, 2023 marked the legislative deadline for each California legislative house to pass bills that are introduced in that house. The CFT started the year off with eight sponsored bills, and co-sponsored an additional nine bills. Each bill must pass through a policy committee(s), and the appropriations committee if the bill has significant cost, before being passed off the floor. 

Article state budget

Governor’s Proposed State Budget for 2023-24
Research Brief

Governor Newsom started off the 2023-24 budget process on January 10 with a $223.6 billion proposal. Facing lower revenues than expected last year and a budget deficit projected at $22.5 billion by the Department of Finance, the January budget proposal is cautionary. Since the 2022-23 enacted budget anticipated a different budgetary landscape and included significant one-time expenditures, the governor’s initial proposal includes few cuts to education and does not draw on the available rainy-day reserves. Protecting education funding, the proposal also fully funds the statutory COLA, which is estimated at 8.13% at this time.

Download the Research Brief

Article gender equity LGBTQ+
Women's History Month

Celebrate Women’s History Month at school and home
March is Women's History Month

Women’s History Month provides us an opportunity to remind ourselves of women’s contributions to our culture and society and reflect on women who have fought for change in labor, education, science, the arts, and politics. Use the CFT’s curated collection to find lesson plans for your classroom and inspiration for your union, home, and beyond.

CFT to sponsor essential legislation for 2023-2024 legislative session
Legislative Update

INTRODUCTION

With the 2023-2024 California Legislative Session beginning, the CFT will be engaging in a new environment at the state Capitol. With several education champions reaching their term limits, and a large sector of the legislative staff turning over, the Legislative Department will be focusing on building new relationships with newly-elected legislators and their staff. 

Article CalSTRS CalPERS defined benefit
increasing piggy banks representing increasing protection for pensions

How CalSTRS and CalPERS pensions are protected from inflation
Governor signs CFT-sponsored legislation to provide earliest CalSTRS retirees another supplemental check

Both CalSTRS and CalPERS have mechanisms in place to guard a retiree’s defined benefit pension against eroding purchasing power. The first is a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, and the second is a “floor” below which the buying power of a pension cannot fall. Now thanks to a CFT-sponsored bill recently signed by Governor Newsom, CalSTRS retirees from earlier decades will see additional relief.

Article Classified Conference
CCE officers present Aspiration to Action AwardJeff FreitasMike Gipson

Classified professionals move from “Aspiration to Action”
Conference gives front-line activists the tools to organize and lead during troubled times

First came the pandemic protocols. About 100 participants from 15 AFT locals across California had to test negative for COVID before entering the Council of Classified Employees conference area.

Then came the fireworks. “We need to march in the Capitol for the next Classified Appreciation Week. If they don’t want to recognize the work we do, we need to toot our own horn,” CCE President Carl Williams roared in his welcoming speech. Williams drilled down on “Aspiration to Action,” the conference theme.

Article Classified Conference gun control
Members doing safety training with fake orange gunsKeith Wrightson, trainer from AFT Health Issues Departmentthe AVERT graduates group shot with their certificates

AVERTing disaster: Every second counts
Surviving an “active shooter” on campus takes quick decisions and actions

The names of the schools are etched in our minds: Columbine High, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High, Uvalde Elementary. Gunmen with grudges have struck at all grade levels and in every corner of the country.

Most shootings take place at businesses, but news stories more often focus on schools. Deadly shootings are, in fact, tearing up U.S. schools at a record pace. According to Education Week, as of October 24 there have been 40 school shootings this year, with a toll of 34 dead and 88 injured.