The Legislature failed to meet funding obligations

The Legislature failed to meet funding obligations

Merrie Najimy

Merrie Najimy, President


all-in
Greetings,
 

Many of you know by now that the Legislature ended formal sessions early Wednesday after failing to reach an agreement on new funding for our public schools. Vice President Max Page and I said in our 
statement that "the Legislature failed to perform its most essential duty: to provide sufficient funds, as demanded by our Constitution, to 'cherish' our public schools. Our students, especially those who are most vulnerable, will go another year without getting what they need and deserve."
 

It's an outrage, and we're not going to take it anymore - just as educators from around the country have stopped taking it. Our top priority this year is to organize member power to win increased funding for public education, from preschool through higher education.
 

To achieve this and other goals, we need you to be 
All In with the union by talking to one another about what brings you joy in your work, what the obstacles are to being the educator you intended to be, and what collective actions you want to take to win the schools and communities we all deserve. These conversations will pull you closer to each other and help you experience yourselves as the union.
 

MTA members hired as organizers this summer have already had thousands of meaningful conversations. Please welcome them warmly if they knock on your door.

 

Below, I want to share excerpts from 
a message sent to me by one of those organizers, adjunct professor Stephanie Marcotte, who was recently elected president of the Holyoke Community College MCCC chapter.

                     

Adjunct Professor Stephanie Marcotte says:
 

Over the past month, I have been working as a higher education summer organizer for the MTA, and it has been my pleasure to participate in the establishment and maintenance of these intentional and authentic spaces through grassroots organizing and member-to-member connections. 
 

In all facets of academia and education, we go about our day, often in isolation and on autopilot. We have no place to share our excitement, successes, challenges, or fears. We internalize these for better or for worse when we could instead be building and sharing this energy with others. Making intentional and authentic space is more than just for the collective benefit, for it also allows us to see the striations within the cloth that we weave. 
 

The union provides a scaffolded, mindful and inclusive space for me and others to share what makes us the same and what makes us different. It is through these spaces that we develop as members of a democratic society and as a collective for change, for ourselves and for our students. 
 

Beautifully said, Stephanie!
 

In Solidarity,

 

Merrie