PAC ELECTION SPECIFICS AND PRE-RA WEBINAR

At the Fall RA (November 17), each governance district will be electing 2 active members as representatives to the MNEA PAC Executive Council (PAC-EC)  One position will be a 2-year term, one a 4-year term.

Duties of PAC-EC members include attending meetings, serving on screening committees, helping with fundraising for PAC, attending political functions, helping to elect candidates who support public education, maintaining ongoing communication with elected legislators and working with area Education Advocates.  

Candidates must self-nominate, and a declaration of candidacy is due to Mark Jones by 11:00 a.m. on the day of the RA.  Elections will be held just prior to noon.

We encourage you to consider this important role in the association.  If you wish to receive a declaration of candidacy, or have questions, please don't hesitate to contact Mark at mark.jones@mnea.org or me.

The Pre-RA Webinar for the Fall RA will be held tonight at 7:00.  All members are invited to participate.  You can register by going towww.mnea.org and then scroll down to "Conferences and Workshops" and then click on "Online Training"

It will also help if you've downloaded the RA packet, which is also available on our website ("Conferences and Workshops" and then "Representative Assembly"

CORRECTION!

We will elect to PAC members at the FALL RA!  Declaration of Candidacy forms will be due to Mark Jones or DeeAnn Aull by 11:00 am on Saturday, November, 17.

As short and to the point as possible...

• At the last board meeting Chris congratulated locals with increased membership:  Independence NEA up 109 new members, Springfield up 88 and Northwest EA up 44 new members!  Columbia won their exclusive rep election!!  (This is a huge victory, Columbia is MSTA's home, even they know who will best represent them at the table.)  GO COLUMBIA NEA!
• If you have a spare minute, check out our new Member Engagement Center website:  http://mnea-engagementcenter.org/    Don't hesitate to post a comment.
• Don't forget to make reservations (can be done online) for your hotel room for Fall RA.  Don't forget to register through www.mnea.org.  It is under Conferences and Workshops, Representative Assembly, Fall RA.  The awards luncheon, registration online, will recognize the Leila Medley Quality Local Award winners.  The cost is $20 and is very nice.   
• PLEASE encourage members to contribute to the HOPE Fund.  The MNEA Humanitarian Outreach for Education Fund aids educators and their students who have been affected by a natural disaster, hardship or other special circumstances.  Contributions can be completed through our website, www.mnea.org or by mailing a check to MNEA Hope Fund, 1810 E. Elm Street, Jefferson City, MO  65101.
• All members should be aware that at the Spring RA we will be electing two (2) PAC members, one two-year term and one four-year term.  PAC members need to be available for meetings, candidate screenings and follow-up.  We'll discuss this more at our West Central meetings.
• Your vote matters in the November elections!  We must move rapidly when the Lame Duck Session begins November 13, 2012 and ends January 1, 2013.  If the debt ceiling is not raised, sequestration (cancellation of budgetary resources:  $55 billion in defense cuts and $55 billion in non defense cuts) will happen on January 2, 2013.  The result will be an 8.2% "across the board" cut in Education Department and elsewhere.  Sequestration will roll back education funding to below funding for 2003, even though costs are more today and we have 5 million more students than in 2003.  In the first year alone we could expect to lose 78,400 educator jobs across the country.  Why are we facing this?  The Super Committee failed to agree on a deficit reduction plan; “Blockers” in the House of Representatives refused to agree to ANY new revenues. We need to educate as many people as possible as quickly as possible. We will need to be in contact with our congressmen during the Lame Duck Session to protect our jobs and our students!  We'll discuss this more at our West Central meeting.  Don't hesitate to ask questions about this to me or Chris.
• MNEA recommended candidates:  President:  President Obama; United States Senate, Clair McCaskill; Governor, Jay Nixon; Secretary of State, Jason Kander; Lt. Govern, Susan Montee; State Treasurer, Clint Zweifel; Attorney General, Chris Koster; Congressional District 1, William "Lacy" Clay, Jr.; Congressional District 4, Teresa Hensley; Congressional District 5, Emanuel Cleaver.
• BALLOT ISSUES:  MNEA supports Proposition B (tobacco tax), MNEA opposes Proposition E (healthcare exchanges), MNEA opposes Constitutional Amendment 3 (repeal of the non-partisan court plan).
• LOOK in your latest Something Better magazine for additional information on candidates and ballot issues.
• Check out the Americans for Tax Fairness and their new video at:  http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50692/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8501&src=NEA_Int

Be sure to join us at the West Central office for the Fall Representative Pre-RA on October 29.  The meeting will begin at 6:00, a light supper will be served at 5:30.

OUR NEW BOARD MEMBER..

Christopher Eager, INEA; has been elected as our new board member.  Congratulations Christopher!  Thank you to all delegates who participated in the election.  Christopher and I will attend our first board meeting of the year on September 15.  Be looking for another post around that time.  Our first West Central meeting will be September 17 at the West Central office in Independence, directly followed by our first Education Advocates meeting.

Please be sure to check your Leader's Update and Timeline for Action for important upcoming dates that need to be shared with all of our members, such as:  PR grant, due September 15; Tuition grant, due September 15; Shirley Cromer Leadership Award nominations, due by October 1; Fall RA delegate names to Beeb, due by October 2; and the Connections grant, due October 8.

Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions, concerns, or for help!

JUST 5 IMPORTANT THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW NOW

Please remember to VOTE in the primary on August 7.

PEARCE for Missouri Senate in District 21.  This is a critical district.  Senator David Pearce was and would be the Chair of Education with a win.  He was awarded our Horace Mann Friend of Education in Legislation award in April 2012 for passionately defending teachers against tenure repeal and other bad education bills.  Without Senator Pearce as Chair, Brian Nieves would be Chair of Education.  Nieves is NOT public education friendly and we would desperately regret not protecting this position with a vote for Pearce. If you live in this district, please get out and vote, take your family and friends with you, and explain the importance of re-electing Senator Pearce!

For a complete list of MNEA recommended candidates, login to www.mnea.org or email me at holly.bennett@mnea.org with your district number and I will give you the needed information.  Be sure to vote NO to Constitutional Amendment 2.  This amendment claims to protect our right to religious freedom and prayer.  In language not included on the ballot this amendment would give parents the right to opt students out of ANY lesson based on religious beliefs.

Speaking of elections, there is an open position on the Board of Directors for Governance District 4.  Nominations and a one hundred word essay should be emailed to Chris at chris.guinther@mnea.org no later than August 6.  If there is more than one candidate, delegates from 2011-2012 will be asked to vote on August 20.  Local leaders, please pass this information along to your members today to allow them the opportunity to be a candidate for this position.

Get registered now for the Leila Medley Quality Local Award webinar.  On August 6, 6:30-7:30, Ann Jarrett will give pointers to locals in preparing for this prestigious award.

West Central Meeting dates are as follows:  September 17, October 29 (Pre-RA), January 7, February 11, March 4, April 8 (Pre-Ra), and May 13.  Please mark these dates on your calendar, share them with your members and plan to attend!