The Chesterfield Education Association would like to welcome back all of our members to the 2011-12 school year! We'd also like to extend a warm welcome to our newest members who have chosen to be a part of their local professional organization and help advocate for children and public education. Whether you are new to the school system or a veteran of public education in Chesterfield, we are here to help you have the best year that you can.
This year is going to be a rebuilding year for our schools and for public education in general. All of the funding cuts that CCPS classrooms and employees have had to withstand over the past three years have taken a heavy toll both on the physical status of our students' learning environment, be it in the form of unmet maintenance needs, inadequate capacity, missing/worn out equipment and unreplaced supplies, or simply insufficient amounts of materials to meet students' needs, as well as the morale of our educators who have been asked to make up these budget shortfalls through their own generosity while simultaneously accepting salary reductions, so that the disruption to student learning can be minimized.
CEA has been the loudest voice for educators during this funding crisis, and has worked locally with the superintendent, the school board, and the supervisors to keep the issues most critical to employees and students at the forefront of the discussion. CEA has also worked in partnership with our state affiliate, the Virginia Education Association, to inform and influence legislators in the General Assembly, supporting programs and initiatives to raise high school graduations rates, local control for school board funding decisions, state support for National Board Certification, and reminding the General Assembly of its constitutional obligation to adequately fund public education in the Commonwealth. Most significantly, CEA and VEA have been successful in preventing efforts to undermine the Virginia Retirement System (VRS), and to divert money away from the public school system through tuition tax credits and voucher programs.
But none of this happens in a vacuum; it happens through the efforts of CEA Members like you! Thanks to your actions, our Cyberlobby program has grown each year, and we hope that trend continues. Our national affiliate, the NEA makes the technology available to us locally so that you can just put in your zip code and click on the talking points that you feel strongly about, and send a letter to your legislator in literally under 2 minutes. Of course, you have full control to add your own words and tell your own classroom story, and we encourage you to do so. Legislators make decisions based on what they hear from their constituents: with over 2000 local constituents in the CEA, 60,000 statewide in VEA, and over 3.2 MILLION educators belonging to the NEA, our voices can and should be heard loud and clear!
I stated earlier that this is a rebuilding year. As the economy begins to make the wide turn back in a positive direction, local and state leaders will be cautious to not present too overly optimistic a picture of economic recovery, but we are already seeing some indications that revenues will rise in the coming year. It is imperative that we share the message that the public schools system, its students, and its employees have done their part in keeping the ship from sinking, have made their sacrifices for the common good of our community. Now it is time for the community to reinvest in schools, in teachers, in custodians and bus drivers, and in all of the workers who make Chesterfield County Public Schools a top-rated place to educate a child.
But to send that message louder and stronger, we need each of you to join in the chorus, to add your voices and those of your colleagues to the message: Back to Schools. As money begins to flow back into the state's and county's general fund, that money needs to go Back to Schools. The money that was taken away from educators through salary cuts and furlough days: that money needs to go Back to Schools. The money that was removed from the capital improvement budget that pays for needed repairs and capacity in buildings: that money needs to go Back to Schools. The money that the governor put into other projects instead of VRS which now threatens to reduce our retirement benefits as much as 48%: that money needs to go Back to Schools. If we want CCPS to be the cornerstone of a thriving, highly desirable community, and to have the pick of the region for top talent leading our classroom learning environments, then that money needs to go Back to Schools.
Again I thank you for your membership in the CEA, your only active, local, and completely member-funded employee advocacy organization. And if you are not a part of CEA, but you're reading this and thinking that maybe it's the right time for you to become a part of the team that champions your cause, trust me, it really is.
Welcome Back to School and Back to CEA.
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