Is the California Teachers Association coordinating all of these Teachers Strikes?

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And we continue at one oh five in the afternoon on The John Phillips Show, Mister Randy Wangs in Culver City. Kirk writes in at Johnny, don't like show at gmail dot com ELK Grove, They've got to be kidding. That's like the Inland Empire of Sacramento totally discredits the survey. Wait, what's wrong with the Inland Empire?

00:00:18
Speaker 2: Kirk?

00:00:22
Speaker 1: There are some pretty parts of the Inland Empire, and then there's Hemmett.

00:00:29
Speaker 3: Just kidd know what's funny.

00:00:32
Speaker 1: When I was going to graduate school in Claremont, I once referred to Claremont, which is in the nine oh nine area code, as part of the Inland Empire. And you would have thought I insulted everyone's mother.

00:00:48
Speaker 3: Claremont is like the easternmost part of its still La County, right, But you go just over the border.

00:00:55
Speaker 1: Do you have Montclair in Upland and Ontario and San Bernardino County.

00:01:01
Speaker 3: And you have the nine to nine area code.

00:01:03
Speaker 1: So I didn't think I was using a slur, but they took great offense to that, so I never did it again.

00:01:12
Speaker 3: You learned your lesson eight.

00:01:15
Speaker 1: Hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number one eight hundred two to two two five two two two. Well, we've seen any number of teachers unions throughout the state of California, including in Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, where the teachers voted to authorize a strike. The teachers want more money. State of California's broke. Many of the big city school districts in California, they're broke, but the teachers.

00:01:43
Speaker 3: Still want a raise.

00:01:45
Speaker 1: All of this leads to the question, is this some sort of coordinated campaign again school districts in California to bully them into giving teachers more money.

00:01:58
Speaker 3: It sure seems that way when you've had so many teacher strikes in just the last few weeks. You had San Francisco, you just had Dublin. Right now, you've got Twin Rivers and the Thomas in the Sacramento area. You've got a threatened strike from Oakland, a threatened strike from LAUSD. This all seems to be happening at the same time. So Ashley Zavala wanted to talk to the president of the California Teachers Association on California Politics three sixty, her statewide political show that Arizon, kc ARA three and Sacramento and now on Fox eleven in Los Angeles and k TVU Fox two in the Bay.

00:02:36
Speaker 4: David Goldberg with the California Teachers Association, thank you so much for making time for us.

00:02:40
Speaker 5: Well, it's my pleasure to be here.

00:02:42
Speaker 3: So he sounds really excited about it, I can tell.

00:02:45
Speaker 4: So why are we seeing so many teacher strikes?

00:02:48
Speaker 3: Although, to be fair, and this is not a knock against Ashley Zavalla, who I think is one of the best people we have in the state of California when it comes to journalism, But of the people that talk to Ashley's, a lot of them are not happy to do it.

00:03:03
Speaker 1: Well because you know you're going to get real questions, which is a departure from what normally happens.

00:03:08
Speaker 4: So why are we seeing so many teacher strikes across the state at the same exact time.

00:03:15
Speaker 2: First and foremost, it's a result of the conditions under which educators are working under in decades of disinvestment, we have educators who are overwhelmed and who are just frankly struggling to survive.

00:03:28
Speaker 3: Don't we hear this every three years, And don't think it a massive contract every three years. Yes, And here's the deal. This is the way it's always been.

00:03:37
Speaker 1: If you go into the public sector, particularly in public education, it's a trade off. You get off of work at what two o'clock in the afternoon, three o'clock in the afternoon. When I was teaching, I got off at one fifty one in the afternoon. You don't work over the summer. You get a ton of sick time, you get spring break, you have Christmas break, you have all the holidays. You can't get fired. It's not that bad of a job. Do you make as much money as a CEO or an attorney or a judge or fill in the blank. No, But they also don't have that kind of time off. You don't get everything. I guess some people do. You marry Jeff Bezos, you have everything. But for most jobs it's a give and a take. If you get more salary, you work more hours. If you have more time off, you get less salary. That's generally speaking, how this game is played.

00:04:42
Speaker 5: They're happening at the same time for a number of reasons.

00:04:44
Speaker 2: One is, our contracts expire towards the end of the year, and now folks have been pushing to get a new contract, and many of these districts have been just shining them on for months. The second thing is educators are talking to each other and trying to figure out how do we They're realizing that the only way our students are going to get what they deserve them.

00:05:04
Speaker 3: Oh, stop saying that this is about the kids. It's not. No, this is about the teachers' union membership.

00:05:11
Speaker 5: Educators are talking to you.

00:05:12
Speaker 3: If the teachers' unions really cared about the education of the kids, Cecily wouldn't have kept them home for two years. Nope, our babies.

00:05:23
Speaker 2: Educators are talking to each other and trying to figure out, how do we remember.

00:05:27
Speaker 1: One of the demands that Cecily made to reopen the schools is we're not sending the kids back to in person education unless you defund the LAUSD Police Force. Oh yes, because that is a critical part of staying safe during COVID.

00:05:42
Speaker 2: Educators are talking to each other and trying to figure out how do we They're realizing that the only way our students are going to get what they deserve them.

00:05:49
Speaker 5: Educators are going to get what they deserve.

00:05:50
Speaker 2: And a district that has continually disrespected them and their work and their students has to really fight.

00:05:56
Speaker 5: And that's what's happening now.

00:05:58
Speaker 4: But California, I mean, just looking at the state budget is spending more money than ever on schools. How is this happening?

00:06:05
Speaker 3: Great question?

00:06:07
Speaker 1: And we have declining enrollment and we have awful test scores, and Mississippi is now leapfrog does in California because of Prop ninety eight, when we brought in more money than expected last year, some of that money automatically.

00:06:24
Speaker 3: Went to the schools. As to where it went in the schools, nobody knows.

00:06:30
Speaker 2: Well, it's happening for a number of reasons. First of all, California is the fourth largest economy in the world, not even the fourth largest state of commodity.

00:06:38
Speaker 3: We just have decided that it's really hard to take anyone seriously that starts with that, because that's the Gavin line for everything that's wrong in the state. Well, it doesn't matter with the fourth largest economy.

00:06:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that has everything to do with the size of the state and the success of Silicon Valley. It has nothing to do with what the teachers' unions are doing.

00:06:57
Speaker 3: If just in Vidia left, I think we'd be down to what's so wild to me.

00:07:04
Speaker 1: And I know we spend a lot of time dumping on state government here because they're so awful, But there are a few things that they do right. And one of the things that they do right here in California is we have an excellent community college system, we have an excellent California State University system, and we have an excellent University of California system. I don't know how it is that we can do such a good job with our higher education and K through twelve is such a disaster.

00:07:33
Speaker 5: We just passed.

00:07:33
Speaker 2: Japan, so we don't have an education system that's funded anywhere near in commensurate with the size of our economy. The second thing that's happening is while California compared to other states, does spend well on education compared to many states, it's partly for a number of reasons.

00:07:50
Speaker 5: One is because other.

00:07:51
Speaker 2: States are actually decreasing their funding in public education.

00:07:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, but our outcomes are getting worse and we're spending more money.

00:07:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, why is that? Why is miss Sippy going up and we're not.

00:08:02
Speaker 2: And the other thing that's really a huge factor is people our members can afford. The cost of living is so high in California. The members can't live anywhere near where they work. We have members are paying.

00:08:12
Speaker 1: I don't know some of these school districts. You don't want to live where you work. That's a good idea.

00:08:19
Speaker 2: We have members are paying fifteen hundred dollars out of their pocket or eighteen hundred dollars out of the pocket just to cover their insurance for their health insurance.

00:08:28
Speaker 3: That's what this is all about. They want a really really really sweetheard health care deal, Well.

00:08:34
Speaker 1: Then they better hope that Katie Porter doesn't get in there because she wants universal health care.

00:08:39
Speaker 3: And if you wonder why Gavin Newsom, who campaigned on universal health care, was immediately shut down, is because the people that don't want it the most are the public employee unions, because that takes away their biggest bargaining chip.

00:08:54
Speaker 1: Well, imagine if cycle after cycle you have won concessions on getting a Cadillac healthcare policy where your employer pays for most of it, if not all of it, if they go to a universal healthcare system, you lose all of that and you get dumped on the same system as everyone else. That means you go backwards by decades.

00:09:17
Speaker 5: And so we have a.

00:09:18
Speaker 2: Number of factors, including many of these districts, like the ones in your area, the frank have been hoarding money even though they've been getting money, They've been hoarding money and actually disinvesting in schools, in students and educators from a number of years in a way that's become a crisis point.

00:09:32
Speaker 3: This is the line that Cicely has used many times. The teachers' unions in the Bay Area have used many times, the schools are all just squirreling away all this money. It's money that's bond money that legally can't be spent on teacher salaries, but they don't care. They want it.

00:09:48
Speaker 1: Well, what they want is the shell game, where you were to take money that would be spent on something that's construction related, something that would qualify for a bond, and take that that's not necessarily part of the bond, shift that to salaries, and make up for it with the bond money. So they sell the bonds of if you vote for this bond, you'll get all these new shiny toys, when in reality, what they want to do is they want to shift the money that already exists to salaries and take that bond money to pay for the stuff that they already have.

00:10:24
Speaker 2: So even California spending more compared to other states, does not keep up with the cost of living, and educators just frankly struggling to survive. We do a survey of our members and eighty percent of them are struggling to meet some of the basic cost of living expenses that they have to take on. Many are working second and third jobs just to survive as educators.

00:10:44
Speaker 4: I want to circle back to the school districts in a second, but I mean, why did CTA line up all of these contracts at the same time? What exactly is the end game there by doing that?

00:10:54
Speaker 3: Oh, he doesn't want to answer that one.

00:10:56
Speaker 2: Nope, let me be clear about one thing. Doesn't line up contracts. We have a thousand different locals across the state. This is a bottom up approach to really.

00:11:08
Speaker 1: Okay, now, wait a minute, isn't Cecily dating someone in the Oakland Unified School District?

00:11:14
Speaker 3: Are they still together?

00:11:16
Speaker 1: It's so incestuous with these people, but let us keep it real.

00:11:22
Speaker 2: This is a bottom up approach to really were they came up with common demands around similar issues, around well funded schools, around educators that can get paid a way that they can actually stay in this profession which serves as students.

00:11:39
Speaker 3: I just I don't understand what point is the salary sufficient. Three years ago Cecily got a twenty two percent raise for the teachers, and here we are saying that everyone's broke. And think about this for a second.

00:11:52
Speaker 1: We know that the teachers unions fund democratic politicians, they fund their campaigns. Something like ninety nine percent of the money that the teachers' union spend goes to Democrats. Think about who's an elected office in the state of California. You have a democratic governor, you have a democratic state superintendent of Public Instruction. You have a democratic legislature two thirds in both houses. You look at these big city school districts and you look up the makeup of the school board. I doubt any of them has even one Republican, whether you're talking about San Francisco or Oakland or Vallejo or Los Angeles or Netomas wherever. So it's Democrats negotiating with other Democrats, and they're still acting like Flora the Red Menace.

00:12:42
Speaker 5: They then spent the.

00:12:43
Speaker 2: Last year or so learning from each other and learning how to really build power that they need to win this. They've been asking, they've been begging, they've tried every other.

00:12:52
Speaker 3: We didn't coordinate this. Our members coordinated this nice dodge.

00:12:57
Speaker 2: Way of trying to get what they deserve and what their students deserve. And frankly, it's not happening.

00:13:02
Speaker 3: And so that's what's happening this By the way, this guy's getting real close. He has said the F many times. The Q is coming, but not the F. That's the same F as the coffee I like in Garden Grove.

00:13:14
Speaker 5: Quite frankly, and frankly, it's not happening.

00:13:17
Speaker 2: And so that's what's happening this year is that educators saying we've had enough and we're going to learn from each other and we're going to really push it and say that this is our moment to say that, you.

00:13:26
Speaker 3: Know I loved is when the San Francisco schools went on strike and they settled the strike. They're like, well, we got that holiday weekend coming up soon, why don't you guys come back next Wednesday. I am surprised, whether it was the woman from CARB or this guy from the California Teachers Association, that they're willing to go on television and give these interviews, because if they think that this is a good look, that's advancing their members desires. I think they're mistaken.

00:13:56
Speaker 2: To say that educated unions need to fight for what workers deserve and what students deserve. And that's the really beautiful part about all these strikes is that they're elevating not just worker demands and educator demands, but special ed demands, demands around how do we keep kids safe at.

00:14:12
Speaker 3: Schools some you know, by getting rid of police departments. That's what they're talking about.

00:14:18
Speaker 2: Here in the Thomas they have eight eight hundred students that don't have a have a permanent sub basically because educators leave that district year after year to go to other districts where they pay more and they actually get healthcare.

00:14:32
Speaker 3: Okay, but here's what's going on. Okay, the neighboring school districts around sax City Unified. We're leaving to go to sax City Unified because sax City Unified offered deals that they could not afford. And now sax City Unified has to lay everybody off or they're about to go into receivership.

00:14:50
Speaker 1: Well that's exactly what he wants, though, he wants all of these school districts to spend more than they have and then just have Gavin bail them out.

00:14:58
Speaker 2: Educators leave that district year after year to go to other districts where they pay more and they actually get healthcare. So the way that these districts are treating these students and the educator is actually terrible for the district itself.

00:15:11
Speaker 4: I just want to clarify, So CTA didn't deliberately line up these contracts, because that would be contrary to all of the reporting around these strikes, and even.

00:15:19
Speaker 3: I love her so much, Oh she's the best, because.

00:15:23
Speaker 4: That would be contrary to all of the reporting around these strikes, and even contrary to a press release that you all sent last year about how you were deliberately I mean lining up contracts so that you could launch this campaign.

00:15:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, a year ago they launched something called we Can't Wait and made sure that all the contracts expired at the same time so they could have this never ending strike of palooza.

00:15:47
Speaker 3: In the news.

00:15:48
Speaker 1: Well, it's like what happens with the airlines when the pilots of one airline get a deal. If you are let's say United, and you get the deal. Then Delta is going to go to the management and they're going to say, okay, we want what United has, or American pilots or Southwest pilots. They're going to do the same thing, because do you want to be the airline that pays everyone less than your competitors And the answer is no. So you want the other team to have a great, big win, so you can piggyback on it and use that as the baseline and probably even get more than that. That's what they're doing. But if it's boom boom boom boom boom boom boom, you're doing them one right after another.

00:16:31
Speaker 3: You could really run the table.

00:16:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, so let me Maybe it's just a distinction that's important for people who know.

00:16:39
Speaker 5: But CTIA, the state.

00:16:40
Speaker 3: It's a It's amazing how the head of the statewide teachers union is a terrible communicator. Maybe he took his English lessons from Cecily.

00:16:50
Speaker 2: Ctia, the statewide union. We don't bargain local contracts. The educators themselves in each one of these unions made a decision to line up their contracts. We as ct have been supporting this effort.

00:17:02
Speaker 3: But we didn't organize it. We just encouraged it, and we put it in writing by accident.

00:17:08
Speaker 2: And been really supporting through resources and helping them to learn from each other. But CTA does not mandate to any union or any district that you'd line up their contract. That's a distinction I'm making is this is members themselves, bottom up, saying this is what it's going to take to fight to what we deserve, and CTA saying we're all in on supporting you.

00:17:28
Speaker 5: We're all in on this whole we can't wait campaign. So CTA is.

00:17:31
Speaker 3: All you actually named the damn thing and you started this a year ago.

00:17:37
Speaker 1: This is so stupid that they're getting what they want and then they're denying having done it.

00:17:43
Speaker 2: Yep, we're all in on this whole we can't wait campaign. So CTA is all in as a statewide organization is supporting this. But different than other statewide unions, we don't align contracts.

00:17:53
Speaker 5: Local associations and local unions do that.

00:17:57
Speaker 4: Okay, So you said earlier that some districts hoarding money.

00:18:02
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna have to pick this up after the break, Johnny, all right, sounds good to me. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number. What eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do show at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny, don't like show at gmail dot com. And was there an email that caught your eye?

00:18:24
Speaker 3: Randy? I think all the Kadie Porter ones are done.

00:18:28
Speaker 1: Okay, if you would have listened to us over the weekend in Fresnew, that's easy to do.

00:18:33
Speaker 3: We're still promoting this. Huh hey. Check out the Fixed California Our replay every Saturday at noon on KMJ. We love being on in the Central Valley. It's only for one hour, but it's a very special hour. It's the best of this show packaged in a one quick hour on Saturdays at noon in the Central Valley five eighty on the AM dial one A five point nine a FM and stream it at kmjnow dot com. I swear someday soon we'll have something new to promote, but for right now, let's keep plugging the Fixed California Our replay on k MJ. You're not going to get anything new until I get my headshot done. Seriously.

00:19:15
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two And Randy, what do you say we make a couple of listeners very happy.

00:19:26
Speaker 3: Well, let's do that right now. Seven ninety KABC welcomes the Pussycat Dolls at the PCD Forever Tour at the Accrosser Arena on June fifth. Tickets are on sale Friday at ticketmaster dot com. But right now, Collum number nine at one eight eight eight seven ninety five two two two gets a pair of tickets to the show. Tickets furnished by Live Nation. Good luck dialing.

00:19:49
Speaker 1: All right, let's go back to the interview between the president of the California Teachers Association and kcra's Ashley's Evallove.

00:19:57
Speaker 4: So you said earlier that some districts are hoarding, but many of these school districts are limited with their budgets, and even more so now with cities across the state and the state itself having these massive budget deficits. I mean a CTA ignoring that well, and.

00:20:11
Speaker 3: Not to mention declining enrollment, which is a state It's mostly focused in the Bay Area, but it is a state wide issue, and declining enrollment means you have less money in your budget to spend on everything.

00:20:25
Speaker 1: And enrollment isn't just down by a tick, it's in free fall from their peak.

00:20:30
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what you City budgets don't impact school budgets, and I guess so you're asking me.

00:20:39
Speaker 5: So when we do analysis of, for.

00:20:41
Speaker 2: Example, the districts in your area, Twin Rivers, when we can compare Twin Rivers to the forty other districts that have a similar size district with similar students, has more money squirreled away than any other district in the state.

00:20:55
Speaker 3: So that's bond money.

00:21:01
Speaker 1: Isn't the whole point of trying to keep the State of California out of a budget crisis. This was going back to Jerry Brown, a rainy day fund where you had money in the bank in case there was an actual crisis. There's a massive earthquake, there's some kind of environmental disaster, whatever, something big happens that is unanticipated and you need to go back to business as usual pronto. You have the money to use it. You're not supposed to use that money for regular expenses. You're supposed to use that money for emergencies.

00:21:35
Speaker 2: That's the facts Neotomas. Also, these are different than other parts of the states. These districts actually have increasing enrollments where they get more and more money per student. There's no reason for them. We also look as a statewide organization.

00:21:52
Speaker 1: Okay, so if you're going to make the argument that they should get more money if enrollment is increasing, what is your argument if enrollment is.

00:21:59
Speaker 3: Decreasing, more money. That's what I thought for them.

00:22:04
Speaker 2: We also look as a statewide organization. We are committed one hundred percent. It's also getting more statewide revenue. In fact, we lead on that. In fact, we have a ballot initiative we're trying to put on the ballot right.

00:22:14
Speaker 3: Now, yet another one. Get ready for November. Kids. Oh good lord. There is going to be multiple pages of propositions for tax increases and bonds for every subject under the sun this year.

00:22:32
Speaker 1: And unfortunately, I think this electorate is going to go for most of them.

00:22:36
Speaker 3: Well, let's check in.

00:22:37
Speaker 2: No, I don't know enough to give you any good information, but the luck finding someone who does, which will increase the taxes on the wealthiest Californians and make it a permanent extension of a tax. It's not an increased text because we already have it now, but it'll continue to try to stabilize some of this funding.

00:22:56
Speaker 1: Keep this in mind the next time they tell you that a tax is temprey. There is no such thing as a temporary tax. They get it, and the first thing they do is they try to make it permanent.

00:23:08
Speaker 5: But we education. Look, we have more billionaires than anywhere in the state, not.

00:23:12
Speaker 3: As many as we used to. You can thank the SEIU for that.

00:23:17
Speaker 5: Anywhere in this nation, anywhere in this world.

00:23:19
Speaker 2: In California, we have some of the biggest corporations in the history of this world. Education is not getting anywhere near what it deserves. When you compare us to other states, is really, frankly a false equivalence. Our economy is the fourth largest economy when we compare it to other nations.

00:23:34
Speaker 3: Yes, but on the money that we do spend, we have worse outcomes. What's that about? Yeah, how about this?

00:23:40
Speaker 1: Compare the reading test, the same test between the students here in California and the students in the forty nine other states.

00:23:49
Speaker 2: So there is not enough funding, and that is true, and we're committed to work in a frankly.

00:23:54
Speaker 3: Would boy he has used that word seventeen times already haven't gotten a quite though.

00:24:01
Speaker 2: No, frankly, we would have wished the districts would have been pushing around this a long time ago. But at the same time were also really committed to the fact that because money can be scarce, that every dollar that districts get should be spent on students now, on educators now, and not hoarded away as they are in these districts.

00:24:18
Speaker 1: Not all of it's hoarded away, some of it's wasted on crooked AI schemes, like with Roalberto Carvallo at LAUSD that was six billion dollars that could have gone to Cicily, both Twin Mbers and Anatomis.

00:24:35
Speaker 4: But some of these districts, sax City Unified for example, I mean they've they've struggled to say no to you. They've given CTA.

00:24:41
Speaker 3: That's a great way to put it.

00:24:45
Speaker 1: And by the way, Oakland and sax City Unified are exactly what happens when you don't ever say no to the teachers' union. You write checks that you cannot cash and you go into receivership.

00:24:57
Speaker 4: But some of these districts, Saxity Unified, for for example, I mean they've they've struggled to say no to you. They've given CTA what it is wanted, and now it's in a situation where they're really strapped for cash because they have given into CTA's demands in the past. I mean, local school districts are not revenue generators. I mean, why flex this political muscle with this campaign against these school districts that are struggling and relying on public funds.

00:25:24
Speaker 2: Yeah again, I do want to make thistincture. They're not saying no to CTA about anything.

00:25:28
Speaker 3: These Oh, stop with the technicalities of we're not encouraging these unions to do any of this.

00:25:35
Speaker 1: Okay, while we're talking about education and we're California ranks with the rest of the world. He keeps trying to say that we're bigger than Japan and we're like our own country. When you look at test scores and here I'm looking at test scores eighth grade math, which is the most cited, California is in the lower tier. We rank thirty eighth in math thirty eight. You know who's in the top tier Florida, Texas, Utah, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, and Colorado. Florida and Texas, two states that Gavin Newsom really has to be in his bonnet with, are in the top tier and we are in the very bottom tier. And look what we spend compared to what they spend. And you tell me if we're getting a good bang for our buck.

00:26:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, again, I do want to make thistinction. They're not saying no to CTA about anything. These are local unions and local members and local educators who are making these We support each one of them in these struggles. But this is not This is not a flex of political muscle. This is a flex of worker power and workers pent up frustration about not being able to survive, not being able to stay in the district. Because you break up sacks, I've tucked to every strike line I'm on. Yesterday you have many people from sax City who used to work in the Thomas and Twin Rivers were coming back to support their colleagues and saying, I'm sorry you have left you guys in your district to gone to sax City for the healthcare.

00:27:15
Speaker 3: Benefits because sax City wrote a deal that they could not cash. The other districts, of course, need to do the exact same thing. So every school district in Sacramento can go into receivership.

00:27:27
Speaker 1: And if you were to ask this guy, well, what's supposed to happen if these districts go under, his answer would be, well, Gavin needs to bail them out.

00:27:34
Speaker 2: Of course, what's happening is these districts that are on strike are fighting for the same thing that other districts are around them and saying, why do we deserve less here than anywhere else?

00:27:44
Speaker 4: Okay, So on that note, then clearly there's a broader conversation about funding to be had.

00:27:49
Speaker 5: Then.

00:27:49
Speaker 4: I mean, with these strikes happening across the state, CTA being the statewide lobbying armed for them, I mean, why not take this to lawmakers at the state capitol who are there to address state wide issues.

00:28:02
Speaker 5: That's exactly what we're doing. This is just part of that process. As I said, we have a statewide initiative.

00:28:09
Speaker 1: There is the idea here that the strikes are going to get the public on their side, because I don't know if that necessarily is true anymore yet. What they're doing, I think is they're trying to create news in all the big media markets. You notice it's going on in the Bay Area it's going on in Los Angeles, it's going on in Sacramento. They want to try to whip up public support for the teachers so they can then parlay it into some statewide tax increase.

00:28:36
Speaker 2: As I said, we have a statewide initiative that we're putting on the ballot. In the process of doing that, I was a press conference two days ago in front of the state capitol calling on lawmakers to fund public education.

00:28:47
Speaker 3: How much is enough? Never?

00:28:52
Speaker 2: But that's not disconnected. There are all things can be true at the same time. In fact, where we fight for more funding at the state wide level, parents can rightfully should say, well, then we want to push our districts and do the right thing with it.

00:29:04
Speaker 5: If my district's hoarding millions of dollars, maybe they don't need the money, which is not true.

00:29:09
Speaker 2: So it's all connected, fighting for what educators deserve and need in classrooms and schools and their local districts.

00:29:14
Speaker 3: I'm going to tell you these fights in this non stop every three years the schools are going on strike. It is just going to inches closer and closer to the robot teachers because robot teachers don't need a salary and robot teachers don't go on strike.

00:29:30
Speaker 1: That is exactly where we're headed. Who can put up with this nonsense? Who could put up with these people? And this guy, by the way, runs arguably, if not the CTA, it's the SEIU, one of the two most powerful unions in the state of California. And now that they're putting attacks on the ballot on November, you better bet your bottom dollar that whichever candidate they endorse for governor is going to get behind that initiative and campaign on its be half.

00:30:01
Speaker 2: Is also connected to fighting for state funding and fighting also around ballot initiative as well, And we're we're engaged as much as we can at all three of those things. In fact, this week, we're engaged with all three of those things simultaneously, and we're gonna have to be. That's the situation we find ourselves in.

00:30:15
Speaker 4: But this campaign was announced a year ago. Why didn't the work start then?

00:30:21
Speaker 3: Good question. She's the best.

00:30:27
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is jellphone number one eight hundred two to two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com and Randy Eremonitor in the mail bag, Nicholas writes in at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com and the subject of teacher pay.

00:30:49
Speaker 3: On this subject, you're dead wrong. They are systematically underpaid, not slightly, but tremendously. Better teachers leave. I toadd here in a New Jersey. In a New Jersey, my paid double well.

00:31:01
Speaker 1: In New Jersey, the test scores are good, so maybe the teachers deserve more. In New Jersey they were in the top tier. We're in the bottom tier. Why should we pay more for awful test results? And go back to what this guy from the union is saying. He seems to understand that these school districts are broke. He seems to realize that there's no money. What he wants to do is he wants to raid the rainy day funds and the bond money and shift that money to teacher salaries. Well, you're not supposed to do that. That is fiscally irresponsible. It's not what the money is for. In some cases, I don't even think it's legal. And then his answer is, well, we'll raise taxes statewide. We're putting an initiative on the ballot that we think the voters are going to get behind, so raid money that's not supposed to go to salaries and raise taxes and produce all full results. How is that doable? None of what they want is sustainable. And I don't even know how to do math besides add some drag, multiply and divide, and I can tell you that's not going to work out.

00:32:16
Speaker 3: You know, there was a state law that was passed that requires now for graduation students take a financial literacy course. The unions might need to take that class too. They just don't care.

00:32:28
Speaker 1: Their attitude is if you go bankrupt, sell what the state will bail you out, and then we'll just ask for more.

00:32:34
Speaker 3: Let's go back to the interview with Ashley Zavala.

00:32:38
Speaker 2: This work has been going on for decades around fighting for funding. We have in fact that, as I mentioned, the initiative that we're trying to is a renewal of the initiative that we already got passed almost ten years ago, and then we renewed it. It was Prop thirty, then Prop fifty five was around state funded. That's about and now we're trying to permanently renew profit we've been fighting for.

00:33:00
Speaker 1: So what you're saying is every time you put an innitit on the ballot, it's still not enough. No, I'm telling you what's going to happen is they're all going to be replaced by AI. It may not be tomorrow, but that is absolutely coming because you can't do this and expect to survive in the long term. And not only is he doing this with his foot fully on the gas pedal, but I don't even think that car has any breaks.

00:33:28
Speaker 2: We've been fighting for state funding since day one. We fight every year around in the legislature around state funding. We fight year every year to protect Prop ninety eight.

00:33:39
Speaker 3: So when is enough enough? It's not.

00:33:42
Speaker 1: And with these people, and where does the Prop ninety eight money go? Where the hell does the lottery money go?

00:33:47
Speaker 3: John? Do you know how much money you personally have given to California State schools with your gambling habit? Where does that money go? That's a good question.

00:33:57
Speaker 2: This is they're not Those two things are not contradictory. In fact, they're related in the way that our fight is aided when they see when people believe that districts are using the money.

00:34:09
Speaker 3: Well, and that's well, who's doing that.

00:34:13
Speaker 1: Any ideas we get an FBI investigation to LAUSD blowing six million dollars on an AI chatbot to teach kids algebra.

00:34:25
Speaker 2: And that's why this part, this exciting part about this is this is allowing us to fight on all levels and really make the case of the public that we're going to continue to fight for state resources. We're going to continue to do that as we have since day one, and we're also going to make sure that we fight at the school level that districts don't squirrel this money away.

00:34:43
Speaker 4: David, before I let you go, I mean, are you concerned at all about the possibility of some political blowback here because of the images that you're painting across the state of local school districts hoarding funds. I mean that could cause some parents teachers to either pull their kids out.

00:34:59
Speaker 3: Of public school or you know, if you can afford to. And you realize the constant disruptions of these strikes, including the two years where kids were sent home, you might say, screw it.

00:35:13
Speaker 1: I went to public schools in California first grade through my bachelor's degree, and I received an excellent education. I see what has happened to public public schools since then? And let me tell you I don't have kids. If I did, there is zero percent chance I would send them to those schools. Zero percent chance. Who can plan on anything when these people are either going on strike or threatening to go on strike and creating drama on a NonStop basis. How can you plan on childcare? How can you plan on whether or not you can do a work trip. How can you plan on whether or not I don't know you're in town or not for one reason or another, you can't. And if you can't plan your life like that, why would you send your kids to those schools when there are other options?

00:36:05
Speaker 4: I think it could point some people to elect different people for their school boards. I mean, do you worry that this could potentially backfire on CTA?

00:36:14
Speaker 2: Well, if we weren't doing anything about it, I really would be worried. But if we're making this case at the same time we're trying to correct this and push districts to be right, and we see parents and educators and students frankly overwhelmingly.

00:36:28
Speaker 3: Support that's like the fiftieth time he did it.

00:36:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, and students frankly overwhelmingly support and getting that we are fighting for what they deserve and what they need.

00:36:38
Speaker 3: Well, that's because the students are dumb. Thanks to your membership.

00:36:43
Speaker 5: I'm not worried about political blowback. I think, frankly, it's there'd be that.

00:36:50
Speaker 1: Seriously, is like the seventh or eighth time he's done it. The guy has a tick.

00:36:54
Speaker 2: There'd be political blowback if we did not do this, if we allowed students to continue to not get what they do, and educators continue to not get with deserve frankly, to leave this profession.

00:37:04
Speaker 3: There was again you know what's going on here.

00:37:07
Speaker 1: It's like what happened when they kept jack of the minimum wage up for fast food workers. What happened? You no longer order your food from an actual person. You do it from your phone, or you do it from a kiosk. They eliminated all of those jobs with AI.

00:37:24
Speaker 5: I think this is the righteous struggle.

00:37:25
Speaker 2: It's an incredible, beautiful gift of really educators putting not getting paid and willing to struggle for themselves, their communities and their students. There is actually something to be uplifted. And I think parents overwhelmingly get this, and I've seen it manifested it at strike lines and support across the state.

00:37:44
Speaker 5: Is educators been doing that similar things all right?

00:37:47
Speaker 3: David Golber with CTA, I think pre COVID, these teachers strikes had a lot of public support. I think post COVID a lot of parents have turned on the teachers' unions. Well, what's the saying.

00:37:58
Speaker 1: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered, And I think this guy doesn't understand the difference. The increase in minimum wage caused AI to take over so many fast food jobs.

00:38:14
Speaker 3: What this guy is.

00:38:15
Speaker 1: Doing right now at the beginning of the end for public education, Mark my words. AI is coming to public education, and as far as I'm concerned, it can't come fast enough