April 9, 2002

Honorable Jackie Goldberg
Assemblymember, 45th Assembly District
Room 5155, State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Assemblywoman Goldberg:

On behalf of the California Association of School Psychologists (CASP), I regret to inform you of our opposition to your Assembly Bill 2160. We commend your efforts to make teachers more active in educational decisions. CASP has long been supportive of teacher recruitment and retention efforts. We feel we should empower all school personnel to be more involved in the educational process. This not only includes classroom teachers, but also school psychologists, school counselors, school nurses, social workers, resource specialists, school speech-language pathologists and audiologists and other pupil personnel who are credentialed and located at the school site. We believe, however, that empowering union representatives through the collective bargaining process is not the proper method to make teachers more a part of a student's academic achievement.

Giving union representatives the right to represent not only their own interests, but also the interests of students, parents, and others in the education community at the bargaining table and behind closed doors is not in the interests of our schools as a whole.

By law, teacher organizations already have the right to consult with districts on matters of educational policy. Elected local school trustees set broader education policy in consultation with teachers and other pupil personnel, parents and the community. We should all be active participants in shaping our state's education policy. We do not believe that this can be achieved through the collective bargaining process.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me.

Cordially,

Jim Russell
Chairperson, CASP Legislative Committee

Cc: Assembly PERS Committee
Assembly Education Committee