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You might think that times have changed, and most people now want to be millionaires like Bill Gates. But a Harris study performed last year showed that most adults still view education, law enforcement, firefighting, and nursing as some of the most prestigious occupations.

It’s no wonder that when Gov. Schwarzenegger took on teachers, firefighters, nurses and police, his positive poll ratings dropped from 70 percent to 32 percent.

Classified employees aren’t the most highly paid workforce around either. But we have our own reasons for doing the “Essential” work we do. CSEA polls consistently find the number one reason classified employees like their job is because we love working with students.

That’s not to say money isn’t important, but our main motivator is making a difference for students, being part of the educational team, taking pride in what we do and being treated with respect in the workplace. That’s why we work with the Education Coalition each year to fight for increased funding for education.

That fight is beginning to pay off this year. After holding Gov. Schwarzenegger to task on his broken promise to fund education, and defeating every one of his initiatives, he is now proposing to increase funding for education by $4.3 billion over last year.

This is a good start, but it falls short of fully repaying his original promise by over $3 billion. Our coalition has had several meetings with the governor and his staff, and it appears that the door is still open for negotiations.

That’s why you have not yet seen a big outcry, publicity, or press statements openly critical of the governor’s budget. But our expectation is that he still fully funds his promise.

The Governor’s initial budget proposal not only falls at least $3 billion short, it violates several other provisions of the original promise. He proposes to spend $400 million on categorical programs, rather than paying back mandated costs.

He proposes to siphon off education funds for Proposition 49, contrary to the promise that this money would supplement, not supplant education funding.

If Gov. Schwarzenegger continues down the path of broken promises, CSEA and the Education Coalition will re-engage our campaign to hold him accountable, expose him to voters, and fight for fair and full funding for our schools and colleges.

CSEA continues to lead the fight to protect the pensions and health care of classified employees and other workers. Public employees have historically been paid less than the private sector. We have passed up raises to keep benefits. CSEA was founded more than eighty years ago by a group of school custodians, whose goal was to gain retirement benefits for classified employees.

We will continue to lead this fight, we will not let any governor take away the hard earned pensions of classified employees, and we will never, ever, let our founding fathers’ pension dream die.

Be proud of what you do, what you have done and what you will do in the future—not only at your job, but also within your community. And above all, be proud that you make a difference in the life of a child!

In strength and unity,

Rob Feckner
Association President

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