Next up: Membership and the Legislature

By Ellen Thompson
UEA Vice President

After months of hard work, the referendum is now behind us. We have just a moment to celebrate and catch our breath. Maybe we can actually get eight hours of sleep for a couple of nights. Hopefully, over the holiday everyone enjoyed a respite. I got a chance to talk to my family and read a book for fun. I had forgotten what that was like. It was a wonderful moment, but now we have to roll up our sleeves and tackle the next two challenges: membership and the legislative session. I am inviting you to join me in this vital work.

Membership is up statewide! That is fabulous. You have all done a wonderful job of asking people to join us in the battle to recommit everyone to public education. Now begins the more difficult work. We need to make sure that the members we have know that we value them. We need to go back to those that told us no the first time and ask them again to join us. We need to thank them for their support during the referendum and remind them that our success stemmed from everyone pulling together.

As we approach the legislative session it is even more vital for us to be united. We don’t want reform to happen piecemeal. Isolated legislative ideas do not make for progress. We want a complete, consistent plan that as teachers we know will make a difference. We want it based in real research with proven results. The more teachers who contact legislators with a uniform message, the more likely we will be successful.

We continue to stand at a pivotal moment for public education in the state of Utah. There are changes that need to be made, and we want to be the ones proposing those changes. The larger our membership, the louder our voice rings. We have proven that we can make a difference in the political arena. We need to continue what we have started. Let’s give everyone the opportunity to be part of our success. We don’t want them left on the sidelines just because we didn’t ask them to be part of the winning team.