FEATURE
Defend Education
Members Make Their Voice Heard to Defend Education
From visiting members of Congress, urging them to protect education funding, to lobbying for student rights and public education at the US Capitol, and writing letters to our leaders and #CSEADefendEd social media campaigns, members have been standing up to Defend Education!
“Everyone is fighting for their students and their rights, and that is very powerful,” said Rodrigo Blanquel, member of Rowland Chapter 133, about the collective actions to defend public education.
Standing Up for Public Education
CSEA has jumped into action: enhancing and implementing training for its field staff to ensure they are ready to navigate the uncertainties ahead, educating member leaders, researching the impacts of policy changes, and visiting members of Congress to advocate for members and students.
CSEA is also supporting legislation to defeat efforts to fund private schools with public dollars, resist harmful charter school proposals, and block ICE raids on campuses. Working closely with labor allies and school management groups, CSEA is helping build a unified voice to oppose federal attacks on education.
That voice took action during 99th Annual Conference’s DefendEd letter-writing campaign, where delegates sent hundreds of real-time messages to Congress from the conference floor. The action created a surge of unity and purpose.
You can also take action to protect public education by sending a letter to your Congressional representative at csea.com/take-action. Nearly one thousand members have made their voices heard this way and even more have taken recent action on specialized campaigns to defeat anti-classified legislation.
What are you fighting for?
Also at Annual Conference, delegates pledged to defend issues like public education, civil rights, special education students, and took a stand to ‘Defend Ed.’
The entire Conference hall stood and held up signs to defend public education against an onslaught of federal attacks. Each sign was handwritten with important causes members wanted to fight for, including their students, schools, democracy, and much more.
The ‘Defend Ed’ signs rocked and swayed above members as they pointed their signs to the stage for a group photo to send CSEA’s message to Congressional representatives in D.C. With nearly 2,000 CSEA activists standing tall, members held their Defend Ed signs shoulder to shoulder in defense of public education.
“This image is not just for us,” said Association President Adam Weinberger. “It’s a message to Washington D.C. that says: we care about our students, we are watching those who try to dismantle our schools, and we will stop them at every opportunity.”
“This is our union! This is our time! This is our fight!”
The #CSEADefendEd campaign, which started at Conference, isn’t just one action but one of many that members are taking to make their voices heard.
Create your own “DefendEd” sign to share what you are fighting for! Contact your Labor Relations Representative (LRR) to get additional signs for use at chapter events, upcoming actions, to create your own social media posts, and more. Don’t forget to tag CSEA on Instagram @csea_now or on Facebook @csea.now #CSEADefendEd.
Please join us as we fight the harmful attempt to dismantle our children’s access to quality public education.
Stay up to date with the latest news and information, write a letter to your Congressional Representative, learn about CSEA’s Advocacy and Stand up for Public Education at csea.com/DefendEd.
