The Billionaires Got Richer. Our Schools Deserve Better
The Billionaires Got Richer. Our Schools Deserve Better
Greetings, MTA members,
If you make a good salary of $100,000 as an educator in Massachusetts (and, obviously, so many of our members make less than this, and all deserve better), it will take you 10,000 years to make a billion dollars. There are 23 people in Massachusetts with a net worth of more than $1 billion. And there are more of them and their 25,000-plus multimillionaire friends than before we won passage of the Fair Share Amendment, and that calculation was before Congress passed a tax cut bill this past summer that will enrich them further.
Our friends in the Washington Education Association are pushing for a tax on wealth. (I, Max, joke with my friend, Larry Delaney, the president of the WEA, that in terms of size, political leanings and organizing outlook, Washington is the Massachusetts of the West, and we’re the Washington of the East.) If that state’s voters add a 1 percent tax on the 4,300 wealthiest individuals, the state could generate upwards of $4 billion a year. At the federal level, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden (Fun fact: Max’s father and his father went to school together in Berlin in the 1930s!) has filed the Billionaire Income Tax bill, which would only tax the assets of the wealthiest 1,000 Americans, people who make $100 million in a year, or have total assets of more than $1 billion, leaving a potential to generate billions for health care, Social Security and education.
In the coming months, Max is going to focus regularly on the stunning concentration of wealth at the top, in Massachusetts and across the nation, and how we in the MTA have to work to bring more of that wealth back to the people, in the form of investments in our schools and colleges, our health care systems, and all that makes for a stronger Commonwealth for all. This inequality – and the perverse notion that we can’t ask the uber-rich to pay their fair share – is at the heart of the never-ending budget crises at the local level, the “belt-tightening” at the state level, and the decimation of government services at the federal level. It is at the heart of racial inequality and the root of the autocratic regime we are facing. (More on this in a future MTA Union News). With our Fair Share victory in 2022, we showed states across the country what was possible by generating $3 billion from the wealthiest people in the state; money designated for public education and transportation. It’s becoming more clear by the day that Fair Share was just a good start.
MTA Events, Opportunities and Solidarity Actions
Central Mass. People’s Forum on Graduation Readiness
When: 6 - 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 29
Where: Worcester YWCA, 1 Salem Square, Worcester, 2nd floor boardroom
Massachusetts voters eliminated the MCAS as a graduation test, but now we need to decide what comes next. If you live in or near Central Massachusetts, please plan to attend the next People's Forum on Graduation Readiness at the Worcester YWCA.
Legislative Hearing: Charter School Tuition Reimbursements
When: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 30
Where: State House, 24 Beacon St., Gardner Auditorium
A bill that will increase funding for public school districts that lose funding to charter schools will be heard on Tuesday, Sept. 30. The bill would add a fourth year to the charter school tuition reimbursement schedule and raise the reimbursement rate in the second year of the schedule.
Sign up to speak or provide written testimony.
Fall Bargaining Workshops
The MTA's Bargaining Campaign Strategy Team has launched its fall program of bargaining workshops. This fall's workshops offer a combination of in-person and online classes on bargaining foundations, democratized bargaining, contract costing and more. Based on member interest, this series also features new full-day workshops that dive into municipal/school finance (including regional schools) and health care bargaining. All MTA members are welcome. Questions? Email bargaining@massteacher.org.
Local Presidents and School Committee Members: Sign Letter to Influence the FY27 State Budget
The public school fiscal crisis is impacting communities across Massachusetts. Today, we ask local presidents and school committee members to sign on to our letter to urge the governor and Legislature to take decisive action to address it in the FY27 state budget. So far, more than 250 local presidents, school committee members and municipal leaders have signed our letter. Help us get more signatures before Nov. 7! Local presidents, please forward this message to your School Committee members. Access Sign On Letter Form. Learn More about the Fiscal Crisis Campaign.
Register for the Honor Our Own Luncheon
When: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 7
Where: Publick House and Historic Inn, Sturbridge
Registration is open for the MTA Retired event that recognizes the Honor Our Own Award winner, Chandler Creedon Jr., former president of the Franklin Education Association and a longtime school psychologist. He will be recognized at a luncheon at the Publick House and Historic Inn in Sturbridge. Register at massteacher.org/honorourown.
Register for the First Wednesday Speaker Series - COLA and Retirement
When: 3 - 4:30 p.m., first Wednesdays, beginning Oct. 8
Where: Virtual
The 2025-2026 series of speaker events organized by the Retired Members Committee kicks off on Oct. 8 with a critically important topic: Dignified Retirement and the History and Future of the COLA. The opening session will feature MTA staff member Sean King, a member of the Government Relations team, and Frank Valeri, president of Mass Retirees. They will review and discuss legislation that would raise the base on which the annual state pension COLA is calculated. Register and learn more.
2025 MTA Fall Regional Presidents’ Meeting
When: 4:30-7:30 p.m., Oct. 14 – Nov. 20
Where: Regional offices
Local presidents and their guests are invited to join us for a regional presidents’ meeting at the regional office that is most convenient for you. This is a chance to speak to MTA President Max Page, Vice President Deb McCarthy and Executive Director-Treasurer Mike Fadel about issues affecting you in your workplaces. A light dinner is included. Register today.
Interested in Attending 2025-2026 National Conferences?
The MTA is accepting applications for members to request funding to attend national conferences through this academic year. This is a great opportunity for members to immerse themselves in union education and job-specific education while engaging with members across the country. National conferences provide an opportunity to learn from renowned leaders, share stories with other members and learn from one other. Limited funding is available. Space is limited. If interested in applying for funding for one or more educational conferences, please fill out this survey.
Actions Taken at the September Executive Committee Meeting
Actions taken by the MTA Executive Committee at the meeting on Sept. 12, 2025, can be found here. Scroll down on the webpage for the Executive Committee information.
Allowing Local Members to Petition for Organizing Support
The MTA Board of Directors has approved NBI 7, which was forwarded from the Annual Meeting of Delegates for its consideration. The item allows local members in a building or school to request organizing resources for a campaign, in the event that a local president or governing board has rejected this, if a petition is signed by 25 percent of building or school-based members for a school-based issue, or 10 percent of the local membership for a district- or local-wide issue. The petition letter should outline the organizing issue and be submitted to the appropriate MTA regional manager.
Political Education
Have you or has anyone close to you had cancer? The answer is probably yes, for all of you. But it is a fact that more of those loved ones are surviving than ever before, directly as a consequence of a 50-year collaboration between the federal government and our public and private universities. That incredibly successful system has saved millions of lives by building the strongest research infrastructure in the world, including a pipeline of the world’s finest scientists. UMass Medical School is featured prominently in this frightening and infuriating article about how this administration is destroying that system as we speak. UMass Medical, UMass Amherst and other research institutions are facing tens of millions of dollars in lost federal grants which could lead to hundreds of layoffs this year.
In solidarity,
Max and Deb