Time to make your wish list!
Quality learning conditions for every student. Living wages for educators. Manageable class sizes. Pre-K education for ALL students. Less testing to allow for more teaching.
Santa Rosa EA, FEA, and our national affiliates have put substantial resources behind all these issues. Now it is time to tell the Florida Legislature to do the same. We need your help! Write a post card with your best holiday wishes for your students in 2017 and send it to your legislator! Suggested Talking Points:
Dear _________,
All I want my students to have for the New Year is:
- Small class sizes that allow them to receive individual teacher attention.
- Adequate funding for books and technology.
- Quality learning conditions.
- More learning time by reducing testing time.
- School employees who can dedicate 100% of their efforts focusing on students needs and not having to work several jobs
Click the following links to find your legislators in the Florida Senate and the Florida House.
Santa Rosa EA General Membership Meeting on January 24th
Santa Rosa EA will be hosting a General Membership meeting on Tuesday, January 24th at Henderson Hall (7810 Navarre Parkway, Navarre). All members are invited, as we will be discussing the campaign to obtain employee bargaining rights, participating in a question-and-answer session, and hearing from member benefits representatives. Refreshments will be served and members will be eligible to win great door prizes. Please plan to attend, as Santa Rosa EA wants to hear from YOU!
Your Choice, Your Voice
Do you want a professional association looking out for YOU? There is a choice, the Santa Rosa EA. Currently, Showing of Interest cards are being collected indicating that employees want an election to choose which organization will bargain for them. Please complete the card (please fill out the correct form – the top is for teachers and the bottom for Education Staff Professionals), and send it one of two ways:
- Mail to Santa Rosa EA, P.O. Box 723, Milton, FL 32570
- Email us at [email protected] to arrange for your card to be picked up at your worksite
H&R Block discounts- Exclusively for Santa Rosa EA members
Our association-owned company, Creative Benefits for Educators, has partnered with the largest national income tax preparation services company, H&R Block, to provide special savings and benefits for FEA members – new customers to H&R Block will receive a $25 discount, and returning FEA members will receive “Tax Identity Shield,” fraud protection ($35 value) free for the year. H&R Block has offices throughout Florida, and in most cases there is an office within 5 miles of nearly every member. H&R Block tax preparers have an average of eight years of experience in preparing returns so no return is too large or too small for them to assist.
To take advantage of this offer, please click link below, and click “Print my Coupon” at the bottom of the link to present coupon at your appointment with H&R Block. To find a location convenient for you, click “Store Locator,” or enter zip code. https://www.hrblock.com/hrb-offers/fea
State News
Proposal to refine reading instruction resurfaces in House
Last spring, Florida House education leaders set a priority of improving reading lessons — a key in the state’s accountability model — amid stagnant performance in the schools. A bill targeting the topic sailed through the chamber on a 107-2 vote. It stalled in the Senate, where leadership did not share the priority. The key bill sponsor, Rep. Janet Adkins, no longer serves in the House. But her measure lives on, this time filed by Rep. Gayle Harrell, a Stuart Republican. HB 79 is identical in several ways to the past legislation, including a mandate to train teachers in “explicit, systematic, and multisensory reading strategies,” and an encouragement of districts to intervene earlier with struggling readers. A Senate companion has not yet been filed. Read more
National News
Educators Across the Nation Give Back For the Holidays
Throughout the year, spreading goodwill, cheer and charity is all in a day’s work for NEA members, but during the holidays, everyone steps it up a notch.