ON MARCH 25 at CTA State Council of Education, members and chapters who made extraordinary contributions to the education profession through effective political action in 2022 were honored. Award categories recognized individual members — The Member-in-Politics Awards in Honor of Ted Bass — and chapters — The Chapter-in-Politics Awards in Honor of Joyce Fadem.

Recipients of The Member-in-Politics Award:

Overall Award Winner — Karen Sher, Oxnard Education Association.

A member of CTA’s Political Involvement Committee, Sher is now on her third term as a trustee for the Oxnard Union High School District, and currently serves as the board president for the second time. In 2022, she devoted many hours to defeat Proposition 30 (taxing the wealthy to fund wildfire management and electric vehicle incentives/infrastructure). Sher has been instrumental in recruiting public school teachers to run for local school boards — four in total, and all were victorious. Sher also served as a mentor for CTA members running for school board seats across the state. She spearheaded voter registration efforts with more than 10,000 students registered while in school.

Getting Others Involved Winner —Anthony Fuentes, Kern High School Teachers Association.

Fuentes advises three school clubs, an academic team, and the “Youth for Justice” club, encouraging students to become involved in the political process and stressing the importance of registering to vote. He served on the local Political Action Committee (PAC), and has logged hours canvassing for union-endorsed school board candidates and recruiting members to get involved. Fuentes was elected as a Bakersfield City School District trustee.

State Priorities Award Winner —Holly Lederle, Carmel Teachers’ Association.

Lederle has a proven track record of educating members about statewide political issues and successfully mobilizing them to become involved in supporting these efforts. Her efforts have empowered teachers, making them more effective advocates for their students and profession. As a result of her leadership, her chapter has become more politically active and has been successful in advancing its political priorities.

Local Priorities Award Winner —Ila Nelson, Los Banos Teachers Association.

Nelson is the chapter secretary and chair of the chapter PAC. Her involvement in political action started because the elected school board was not in favor of educators. She has been instrumental in flipping the school board and led an effort that resulted in an adversarial board member resigning. Nelson has also helped in local redistricting to make sure voters were not disenfranchised.

Partisan/Non-Partisan Activities Award Winner — Vanessa Cudabac, Sacramento City Teachers Association.

Cudabac is a 5th grade educator and member of the SCTA bargaining team. In 2022, she spearheaded the field campaign for three school board races in the Sacramento City Unified School District. Under her leadership, the field team knocked on every likely voter’s door — 44,000 doors in total. As a result, all three candidates won, and two incumbents were defeated.

Coalition Building Award Winner —Nicholas Vaccaro, Natomas Teachers Association.

Vaccaro just completed his first year as the PAC chair for NTA and is the NTA representative at the local central labor council. In 2022, NTA endorsed two candidates who were running against candidates supported by “parent’s rights” organizations and outside charters. Vaccaro formed a coalition of parents and community members to beat back these efforts and NTA’s candidates won by over 60 percent.

Recipients of The Chapter-in-Politics Award:

Rookie Chapter — Farmersville Teachers Association

FTA in the Central Valley, where the population is predominately conservative, has 143 members. FTA was able to mobilize about 80 percent of them to form a chapter PAC in 2022 for the purpose of winning local school board elections. Members participated in community events and precinct walking and managed to speak with half of the voting population in their area. All FTA-endorsed candidates won their elections and successfully flipped the board into a teacher-friendly board.

Small Chapter — Nevada Joint Union High School Teachers Association

NJUHSTA has 149 members. Roughly 75 percent of them were politically active in 2022, when two of five school board trustee seats were up for election plus a third was vacated. The previous board had engaged in a series of escalating anti-association actions, targeting union leadership and undermining the chapter’s negotiations with the district. NJUHSTA actively recruited and endorsed candidates and was very engaged in social media, meet-and-greet events, and precinct walking. All three endorsed candidates won their elections.

Medium Chapter — Capistrano Unified Education Association

CUEA has over 2,000 members and is located on the Orange County coast. The political volatility in South Orange County is well known, and in 2022, CUEA used CTA/ABC funding to support activities such as mailers and a social media campaign. Members were engaged throughout the district; the chapter mobilized almost 400 volunteers. Chapter-endorsed candidates won three out of four school board seats.

Large Chapter — Sacramento City Teachers Association

Coming out of tough bargaining campaigns, SCTA’s 3,000 members voted to increase their PAC contributions from $5 to $95 annually. This made SCTA-endorsed candidates competitive in races that up until 2022 were dominated by business-friendly candidates. The funding helped support direct mail and digital campaigns. SCTA called 75,000 likely voters during phone banks and visited 90 percent of likely voter households during precinct walks. Over 3,500 educators hand-wrote letters to key voters highlighting why they supported SCTA-endorsed candidates. SCTA-endorsed candidates now hold five of seven seats on the district school board.

For more information about these and
other CTA awards, visit cta.org/awards.