As we enter 2024 and prepare for the important work ahead of us, it’s a good time to reflect on the past year, too. It’s been a real thrill for me to begin my term as CTA president at a time when CTA members are accomplishing so much on so many fronts.

One thing that was proven time and time again in 2023 was the power of collective action and importance of our union. In CTA chapters throughout the state, CTA members stood up for their students and for themselves. United Teachers Los Angeles and Oakland Education Association both went on strike — UTLA in solidarity with sister union SEIU, but also to further common good bargaining goals, and Oakland to further community needs and drag lagging salaries up to a more competitive level. Other chapters such as Fresno Teachers Association, Old Adobe Teachers Association, Basset — too many to list here — all averted strikes but made historic gains through organizing and collective union action.

I’m especially proud of how many CTA chapters worked hard (and continue to do so) to make Community Schools such a success. California is making a historic investment in Community Schools, and many of our chapters have been involved in local Community Schools efforts from the ground up and have been the driving force leading district involvement. Others have had to stand up to district administrators who think they can apply for Community School funding and begin planning without involving educators, parents and students in the shared decision-making model that is the basis for these schools in the first place. Those districts, once they correct course, will realize the full potential of involving all stakeholders in determining how a school’s resources are used, and they’ll have CTA members to thank.

CTA members continued to stand up to extremism, and to use their collective power and support from CTA to push back against anti-LGBTQ+ policies such as Pride Flag bans and outing trans student policies, as well as book bans and attempts to remove basic truths about the role of race from history texts and other curriculum.

Those policies were enacted in a handful of districts with extremist school board members, but we’ve seen ongoing and well-funded, organized attempts to spread those ideas elsewhere and to elect school board members with similar views in other districts throughout the state. That’s one reason why elections in 2024 will be so important and why many CTA members will need to be involved in their own local school board elections or supporting colleagues fighting election battles in neighboring districts. Some of our chapters are leading recall efforts against the most extreme school board members in their districts. There were positive indicators already this year that the public is on our side; in other states extremist candidates from groups like Moms4Liberty who ran for local and state offices lost overwhelmingly.

CTA has already taken March primary election positions on ballot initiatives preserving majority vote democracy on state and local matters (there are those who want to make it extremely difficult for school districts and local entities to fund vital services through elections), and we’ve made key endorsements in state representative races. All our recommendations are available in the CTA voter guide.

As we work together to advance our powerful agenda for the future of public education, as we organize for better working and learning conditions for educators and students, and as we fight off attacks that undermine public schools, I’m deeply grateful for our union. We accomplish so much together, exponentially more than any of us could ever do on our own. Let’s maximize that strength and solidarity, and make 2024 a great year for education workers, for students and for public education.

David B. Goldberg
CTA PRESIDENT