Alaska

Last summer, NEA-Alaska filed suit to block the layoff of three tenured teachers in Haines and two in Hoonah. The Hoonah district responded by offering the two teachers their positions back.

But despite its failure to document even a 3 percent drop in enrollment, Haines laid off six teachers--amounting to 20 percent of its teaching staff--and cited the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as the basis for "retaining or non-retaining" staff.

A reminder to all districts: Except for new Title I teachers hired in the 2002-03 school year, ESEA does not require teachers currently in the profession to become "highly qualified" until the end of the 2005-06 school year.

Nevada
A lawsuit filed by the Nevada State Education Association (NSEA) strongly influenced a July state Supreme Court decision ordering the legislature to fulfill its constitutional obligations to "raise sufficient revenues to fund education while maintaining a balanced budget."

That same month, legislators reached a funding compromise--avoiding a statewide school shutdown--after NSEA members contacted them en masse and marched in rallies.

"We constantly reminded legislators of their commitment to fund the education budget and did not let them forget the students, teachers, and support professionals," says NSEA President Terry Hickman. "In the end, we walked away with the budget for which we fought."

Texas
Don't mess with NEA people in Texas. In the last legislative session, Texas State Teachers Association members logged in more than 20,000 phone calls to the state Capitol and helped defeat more than 39 bad bills--including measures to create vouchers and "home-rule" districts, water down certification and classroom standards, weaken educator due process rights, and reduce personal leave days and contract rights.

North Carolina
Grassroots lobbying by members of the North Carolina Association of Educators has successfully restored $17 million in cuts for vocational education and $15 million in cuts for teacher assistants. Among other things, the final budget preserves free employee-only coverage under the State Health Plan and provides $50.6 million to reduce class sizes in the second grade.

Massachusetts
Massachusetts Teachers Association President Catherine A. Boudreau has slammed Governor Mitt Romney for "adding insult to injury" by granting pay raises to 2,700 state agency managers "while he and the legislature continue to renege on their obligation to fund the negotiated raises of 8,000 state higher education employees." They have not had a pay increase in three years.

Delaware
Members of the Delaware State Education Association (DSEA) have successfully lobbied for a bill requiring that collective bargaining agreements between public school employers and employees include binding arbitration for grievances. This legislation has been a DSEA priority for many years.

Washington
A state appeals court has handed the Washington Education Association (WEA) a major victory, overturning a lower court decision and declaring that a state campaign-finance law--which bars unions from using nonmembers' fees for political activity without their permission--violates the U.S. Constitution and is an undue burden on union members' rights.

The judge in the lower court ruled incorrectly that WEA intentionally used money from agency fee payers for political purposes without authorization. The case originated with the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, an anti-public education group.

Indiana
Many Midwestern states have responded to the national recession by cutting public education funding across the board. But thanks to intensive lobbying and rallying by the members of the Indiana State Teachers Association, legislators there have offered school districts the ability to access (on a statewide average basis) a 3.3 percent increase for this school year and a 2.9 percent increase next year.

Vermont
Seven years after the Milton school district laid off 11 custodians--and following no fewer than six hearings before an arbitrator, the Vermont Labor Relations Board, and the Vermont Supreme Court--Vermont-NEA has won these employees' right to return to their jobs, along with back pay and benefits.

Minnesota
Governor Tim Pawlenty has named Education Minnesota President Judy Schaubach to a 20-member task force that will consider ways to overhaul the state's K-12 education funding system. Pawlenty says his goal is a new school finance formula that is "fair, equitable, understandable, and also places more emphasis on student performance."