Every Annual Meeting kicks off with conferences, and various committees, constituencies, caucuses, leadership groups, and delegates from state and local affiliates gather to set policy and chart the direction of NEA. I attended the NCESP Annual Meeting. The National Council for Education Support Professionals (NCESP) works within NEA to represent the specific interests of education support professionals (ESPs). Of NEA's 3.2 million members, nearly a half-million are ESP members making us the largest organization of school support employees in the world.

Click here for Leslie's full report.

As a first time delegate to the National Education Assembly in Chicago, the experience was overwhelming! I joined the mentoree/ mentor program at the suggestion of my sponsor Leslie Marsland, and I was glad she did. There is a lot to know… from attending the pre-convention, to procedures on new business items (over 100 of them), elections, legislative items, voting, resolutions, by-laws, amendments, proposals and proper use of public speaking on the floor.

Click here for Debra's full report.

There were 2,778 Delegates seats eligible, reserved for membership participation. 1,036 members attended. Considering all that is going on politically right now, the low attendance was surprising to many of us.

(If you, as a USA member, want any original portion of the meeting information, just ask one of the delegates please. The overview, a compilation of delegate statements who were willing to share responses, is at the end.)

From Senator Rosenberg:

Although I wasn't able to participate in the recent public hearing on this bill because of a series of prior commitments, I support this legislation and know that it is popular with many people in my district.

AN ACT TO INVEST IN OUR COMMUNITIES
Sponsors: 
Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz
Representative Jim O'Day
 
     This bill addresses the tax rate on ordinary income and investment income. Specifically, the bill would:
 
· Increase the rate on ordinary wage and salary income from the current 5.3 percent to 5.95 percent, while also increasing the standard personal exemption amount from the current $4400 (single)/$8800 (married) to $7,900  (single)/$15,800 (married). The effect of these changes would be to increase taxes on upper income filers while  modestly decreasing taxes on most lower income filers.
 
· Set the tax rate on investment income (short and long term capital gains, and dividends and interest income) at 8.95 percent. For most forms of investment income, this change would constitute an increase from the current 5.3 percent tax rate. For a small subset of investment income - income derived from short term capital gains - the new rate would be a decrease from the currently applied 12.0 percent rate. This provision would include an exemption for low and middle income seniors and disabled persons (income eligibility thresholds of $40,000  (single)/ $80,000 (married)), effectively setting the tax rate applied to the first $7,500 (single)/$15,000 (married) of investment income at the same rate applied to ordinary income (5.95 percent). The bill leaves in place the lower rate (3.0 percent) currently applied to capital gains from investments made in smaller Massachusetts companies and held for more than three years. In combination, the changes outlined above would generate an additional $1.2 billion annually in net state revenues, while reducing taxes, on average, for households in the bottom half of the income distribution.
 
     This legislation aims to raise revenues in order to reduce the severity of budget cuts, but also to make the tax system in Massachusetts more equitable. Currently, low income people pay a substantially larger share of their income toward state and local taxes than high income people do. This legislation would help to address this flaw in  our tax system. Despite the increases in the annual tax liability of upper income earners that would occur under this legislation, these upper income households nevertheless would continue to pay a much smaller share of their income  toward state and local taxes than low income households would.
 

Speech delivered at Wisconsin Capitol in Madison, March 5, 2011

America is not broke.

Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

Today just 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined.

Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer "bailout" of 2008, now have more loot, stock and property than the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can't bring yourself to call that a financial coup d'état, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true.

Click here to get the full speech

If you should be told that only volunteering for schools is allowed, please contact Donna so we can straighten things out so you will be able to take advantage of this great opportunity.

Aggie Mitchkoski

MTA, Massachusetts Teachers Association, our parent union has come out in support of Deval Patrick for Governor. For sure we have not gotten everything we wanted from Patrick but he has done much that is good and has helped this state. Click here to get a listing of some of the major items.

One of the other reasons MTA came out for Patrick is that the alternative is pretty grim. Click here to see a recent blog of Charlie Baker's 13 ways to save taxpayers money.... look close to see the number of people he's hoping to put out of work... one of those jobs could likely be yours.

We're running out of time. It's time to show up or be shut out.. what are WE going to do?

Aggie Mitchkoski - Eboard Member USA

The Kindred Voices project has now moved to UMASS and is being managed by LMWEP. They are hoping to make it an ongoing project where new works are added as they are written.  Keep your eyes open for news on this.

I had the priviledge to hear a few workers who were published in the first volume read their work at that workshop in NY. It was wonderful to hear such great stories from such a varied group of workers. It demonstrated that we all have stories to tell, we just need the opportunity, tools and encouragement to tell them.

We can get that help and encoragement by taking part in the writing workshops offered by LMWEP. My experience is that they are low pressure, positive experiences...even for really novice writers. Take a chance, tell a story or two... read some of the great pieces in this edition and get inspired!

To see the current edition of Kindred Voices click here. And if you look closely, you might see a contribution or two from me.

Aggie Mitchkoski