LAMPHERE FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
AFT Michigan #1614
March 2006
Calendar for 2006-07--The calendar for 2006-07 is complete. Click here for a copy. Some highlights include--school begins on Monday August 28th, ends on June 8th. Mid-Winter break begins February 19th. School resumes Monday February 26th.
Contracts--Copies of the contracts will be available on the LFT web page as soon as I get the document and get it converted to html.
Michigan Needs A Raise Campaign--Building Reps will soon be circulating Minimum Wage Petitions. The ballot iniative would raise the minimum wage to $6.85 per hour. The current rate has not changed for eight years. It is still $5.15 per hour. In addition to the building reps circulating the petition AFT Michigan will be including a petition with the next edition of the Federation Forum. Inside each Forum will be a petition. We are asking each member to do 5 things: 1. write in the name of the county where they live at the top of the page 2. sign the petition 3. get family members who are registered voters to sign the petition 4. sign the circulator section at the bottom of the petition 5. mail it back to AFT Michigan. We are looking for one or two signatures on each petition and we are looking for a quick turn around. Please make an effort to make your members aware that they will each receive a petition and to please sign it and return it.
AFT EXECUTIVE COUNCIL CONDEMNS '65 PERCENT SOLUTION'
The latest deceptive and misguided "reform" of public education
is a so-called "65 percent solution" being pushed across the country. The
seemingly positive idea behind the proposal, now showing up in state ballot initiatives or
legislatures, is to require that a minimum of 65 percent of education spending go to
direct instruction in the classroom (as defined by the National Center for Education
Statistics). A deeper look reveals that the proposal could torpedo vital nonclassroom
activities, including school health and nursing, libraries, nutrition, transportation,
building maintenance, counseling, security and professional development. This threat
prompted the AFT executive council at its recent meeting in Florida to adopt a resolution
outlining problems with the idea, which is being promoted by "a faux grass-roots
organization" called First Class Education. Among other things, the proposal
"does nothing to guarantee greater achievement or that school districts will adjust
their spending in a way that creates greater efficiency."
PAC--Thanks to all of the reps and PAC co-chairs Beth Sabo and Janet Kenyon for their efforts towards raising funds for the AFT Michigan PAC fund. Thanks to all that donated.
UNION'S NCLB CAMPAIGN GATHERS MOMENTUM
The AFT's campaign and new Web site on the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act,
featuring information and discussion on this major education law, is attracting increasing
attention. The Web site, launched in January, provides information and resources on NCLB,
including a lively discussion blog (see such recent postings as " The Case for Being
Mean" and a " Gold is Great, Now About the Rest..." Another plus: One AFT
leader recently received an urgent phone call from his state superintendent of public
instruction asking him to submit brief testimony concerning the union's views on NCLB.
With no time to draft remarks, he went to the site and immediately accessed our talking
points to serve as the basis for his testimony. Also featured on the site is an electronic
petition and an animated video e-mail campaign that viewers are urged to forward to
colleagues and friends. So far, the animated video has been viewed some 58,000 times,
6,000
people have signed the NCLB petition and more than 2,700 people have joined the AFT's
e-Activist Network.
On February
23 U.S. District Court Judge Paul Gadola signed a consent order making permanent the
February 14, 2006 temporary order requiring recall of a list containing the names of
public school employees who were alleged to have been convicted of a crime. For more
details visit the AFT Michigan web page.
NEED TAX HELP? TRY THE AFL-CIO'S ONLINE PREP SERVICE
Take advantage of this discounted online tax preparation service available through Union
Privilege, the benefits arm of the AFL-CIO. You can file your federal return for $14.95
and your state return for $9.95, for a total cost of $24.90. Visit
http://www.unionplus.org/taxes tolearn more about the service and to use it for filing
electronic returns. (Please note that the AFT is no longer partnering with the
publishersof "Educators' Tax Guide" to make discounted copies of this
publication available to members.)
LFT Social-- Thank you to Jolyn Hindelang and Janet Kenyon for organizing and setting up our LFT Social.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Schram
LFT President