CTA will continue to lead the fight to make sure public schools receive all funding owed to them, to secure health care for our students, and to fix the broken budget system in Sacramento, President David A. Sanchez told State Council. He said CTA will likely file a lawsuit to recover $9.3 billion in education funding diverted during the state budget battles, and that CTA is working with a coalition of unions and others to change the state’s two- thirds vote requirement to pass a state budget. “We will continue to lead the fight to guarantee that our schools and colleges get the resources they need, they deserve, and are owed under law,” Sanchez declared. In his speech only four days before the May 19 special election, what Sanchez warned would happen if the budget-related Propositions 1A-1E failed, as they did, has come to pass – public schools and colleges are facing more cuts of unprecedented proportions. He praised Council for endorsing all the ballot propositions, and said CTA members reached more than 135,000 voters in phone-banking around the state. But looking ahead, Sanchez said a lawsuit and a challenge to the disruptive two-thirds rule may be next. He criticized the Legislature’s “illegal manipu-lation” of Proposition 98, the state’s minimum education funding law, to divert $9.3 billion owed to schools. CTA has prevailed in court twice in the past 15 years when similar diversions occurred, and its attorneys have been working since January to prepare a possible lawsuit, he said. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 'A small minority can hold state budget and schools hostage' ____________________________________________________________________________________ He said the lawsuit filed during the campaign by two other unions was premature. “Our attorneys are working with other members of the Education Coalition to ensure we have the best legal case possible when we file in court,” Sanchez said. Meanwhile, he said it’s time to change the two-thirds budget vote rule that only perpetuates the state’s broken system. “It’s one of the things that has brought us to the brink of disaster in the first place,” Sanchez said. “As long as a small minority can hold our state budget and our schools hostage, we’re not going to be able to fix the problem.” A new CTA fact sheet distributed at State Council noted that tax breaks only require a simple majority. ‘A small minority can hold state budget and schools hostage’