The 2019 Townie of the Year Goes to…
Join us in celebrating this year’s recipient of the Townie of the Year: The Oakland Education Association (OEA)!
OEA represents public school teachers who teach 37,000 students in 86 schools within the Oakland Unified School District. Earlier this year, OEA and its teacher members went on strike for 7 days with a 95% teacher participation rate, winning a sizable pay increase to all Oakland Unified teachers, lowering class sizes, and putting in place moratoriums to protect public schools from corporate charters.
OEA continues the fight for the schools our young people learn in by organizing protests against privately-managed charter school conglomerates and organizing at the state level to restore resources for public schools. This Wednesday, Oakland teachers will be joining other educators from around the state in Sacramento to demand full and fair resources for our schools, and protections for public schools from corporate charters. Join our newest Townie award winner at Wednesday’s #RedForEd Day of Action and rally.
We believe in the promise of public schools and can’t wait to celebrate the work of OEA and our public school teachers. And, we also know that this fight is bigger. At the root is greedy corporations who are cheating our young people out of good schools to learn in. That’s why we are already moving the fight to the ballot to restore resources back to our schools. The Schools & Communities First Act – a proposition on the November 2020 ballot – will restore $11 billion dollars annually for California public schools, community colleges, community health clinics, and many more vital services by making sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share of property taxes.
Please join us on June 20 as we lift up the work of OEA, and keep growing momentum to put our Schools & Communities First!