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A California lawmaker urges state teachers not to pay their dues as they inevitably go toward funding democratic causes and helping Gov. Gavin Newsom fight a recall.
Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, tweeted Sunday that teachers have the constitutional right to opt out if they choose and offered resources that will help them get through this process.
Kiley told Fox News he felt compelled to help teachers frustrated by Newsom’s school closings in response to the pandemic. He said he spoke to many teachers who wish to return to their classrooms but “are prohibited from doing so by their union or by the governor himself”.
“I was just pointing out that as a teacher you have a very powerful tool, which is to deprive the massive unions that control the governor of their source of power, which is their funding,” Kiley said. “It’s an option that is, at least in theory, available to every teacher, although California politicians have tried to make it very difficult.”
Kiley said this was especially important for teachers to know, given that there’s a Newsom recall on the horizon and the California Teachers Association (CTA) – one of the most powerful teachers’ unions of the country – “will spend millions to defend them as they spent millions to elect him.”
“And so, if you are a teacher in a public school who is very frustrated that the governor and the CTA have prevented you from being in your class and prevented your children from learning, the last thing you want is that? ‘is that part of your paycheck is subsidizing the governor and the CTA to keep this corrupt power structure in place, ”Kiley said.
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Contacted by Fox News for comment on Kiley’s allegations, CTA called them “nothing at all.”
“Mr. Kiley is wrong and clearly does not understand the laws,” a spokesperson told Fox News.
Newsom’s early response to the pandemic has been widely praised, but its favorability ratings have plummeted in recent months as its draconian lockdown measures have taken a toll on businesses and children’s mental health.
The state has seen simmering tensions throughout the pandemic, particularly between elected leaders and teacher unions over whether to resume classroom learning.
While other states have resumed classroom instruction, California’s 10,000 public schools have mostly been closed since the start of the pandemic. As most of the state’s 6 million public school students approach the first anniversary of distance learning, frustrated parents grapple with the toll of isolation and screen time on the web. the well-being of their children.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control Prevention said there was little evidence of the infection spreading in schools when the proper precautions were taken. Yet teacher unions will not send their instructors back to class unless they are 100% vaccinated.
FILE: California Governor Gavin Newsom describes the safe reopening of schools while speaking about his 2021-2022 state budget proposal at a press conference in Sacramento, Calif.
(AP)
Newsom said he would not force public schools to reopen but instead wanted to “incentivize” them and proposed a $ 2 billion plan that has met criticism from superintendents, unions and lawmakers as insufficient. Clearly frustrated, Newsom begged them last week to find a solution to reopen.
Newsom told educators in candid terms that he was ready to negotiate, but some demands, including the union’s call to have all teachers vaccinated before school started, were unrealistic given the shortage of vaccines. .
“If everyone is to be vaccinated, we might as well be telling people the truth: there will be no in-person teaching in the state of California,” Newsom said last Thursday.
The same day, CTA sent the governor a letter again criticizing his plan.
“The virus is in charge right now and it does not have a schedule,” the letter said. “We can’t just pick an artificial calendar date and expect to flip a switch when each school reopens for in-person instruction.”
Kiley has attacked teachers’ unions for allegedly – more than any other special interest group – “being responsible for the decline of the state.”
“We saw this vividly here during Covid-19 because it was the strength of these unions and their control over Newsom that caused our schools to be closed to a greater degree than any other state (and this is) done, incalculable. hurt for millions of children, ”Kiley said.
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The malfunction fueled a recall campaign against Newsom. On Monday, Recall Gavin 2020 – the main organization behind the effort – said it raised more than 1.4 of the 1.5 million needed to qualify for a poll. They have until March 10 to collect and validate the required number of signatures.
Kiley predicted that CTA’s role in school closures will be remembered by Californians “beyond the implications of the recall.”
“One of the things that could come out of this… in the long run is that CTA has ruined public education in California a long time ago,” Kiley said. “They have limited the choice of school, they have condemned poor children to fail at school, and they have created a public education system that does the worst of any state for poor children or any state other than that. ‘Alaska.
“So now that the audience has kind of seen this dynamic for what it is, I think it might be more difficult for them to play this game in the future and maybe there will be an opportunity. for meaningful educational reforms. “
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Fox News made several attempts to contact the Newsom administration for comment on the recall, but received no response.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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