Association President Allan Clark Message

Put your hearts and soles into the fight.

This week, classified employees statewide will celebrate Classified School Employee Week (CSEW). Each year, events take place honoring the essential work we do every day. I urge all members to celebrate the role we play in educating California’s students. But sadly, there will be fewer of our brothers and sisters celebrating this year. Why? Because California’s economic woes continue to take a huge toll on our schools and colleges. In many school districts the same men and women who will be celebrated are being asked to take furlough days, reductions in pay and benefits, and, in too many cases, being laid off.

These are trying times, but we must still continue to be proud of what we do, allow ourselves to be honored and continue to work our hearts and soles off to serve the students and communities we serve.

As we turn on the TV, pick up the local papers, or even surf our favorite news websites, it’s impossible to avoid the stories of how public employees are the cause of all of our national financial woes. To say this cuts me to the core is an understatement. The work we do is important. The work we do matters. The work we do can change kids’ lives for the better.

But in order to keep on doing what we do, we will have to fight for our professional lives. Without the ballot initiative for this June, our state will once again face an unimaginable deficit. Education funding will be slashed an additional $4 billion if the projected $15 billion more in cuts are made. Despite our resources dwindling daily, we are still asked, and still want to perform the important duties that keep the students we serve safe, nourished, transported to and from school, and learning to the best of their abilities. And while we have done it better than anyone else for years, the challenges are getting greater as the resources decline.

I urge you to take the time to attend a CSEW event in your area, to celebrate with your peers the great things that classified staff do for our schools and colleges, but to also be ready. In the near future as we go to battle to get the funding we need to bring California public schools back to the golden age of education, I’m going to ask you to put your hearts and your soles into the fight. Our students deserve no less.

In solidarity,

Allan Clark