In the morning we had the Budget review session. It was a really good session and delegates had a lot of questions. The questions ranged from our employees medical benefits to clarification on certain line items in the budget. Yes, CSEA has employees. An employee had a question on account #5655 (Computer Repairs & Maintenance) on page 181. The member felt that the cost was high for computer repairs and why aren’t we hiring someone to handle that type of service. We were informed that this budget item includes software licensing requirements to run our information systems, contracts with vendors, and lease of equipment like copiers. This number is actually really low compared to my districts obligations.

When the session began we were informed that the delegates had donated over $11,000 from yesterday’s collection for the Humanitarian Fund. Way to go delegates for showing how generous you can be.

When Dave Low came to the podium it was hard for me to concentrate and take notes for this blog because he bring so much excitement to conference. Dave reported that our state budget is 37 days late. We are $15 billion in the hole. Currently we are spending $30,000 per person in prisons and $9,000 per students in our schools. Does that sound fair? Dave said that “We don’t want just a budget, we want a just budget”.

Lt. Governor John Garamendi was one of our guest speakers at this years conference. He informed us that he will run for governor of California at the next general election. He said that it will take 7/10th’s of 1% of the wealth of California to fully fund education in our state. This year the California republican party acted harshly, stupidly, and mean spirited and that didn’t help the budget. We were asked to call 1-888-268-4334 and urge our legislators to support the Conference Committee Budget, AB 1781. Call tomorrow Thursday, August 7, 2008 and fight for your budget. This number is from the CTA so don’t get discouraged to hear them pickup the phone. You should be transfered to the right place.

This years Wally Award winners are…

• Teresa Jimenez (didn’t catch the chapter)
• Delia Alvarado (Salinas #149)
• Grace Sloan (Retiree council #5030)

This years Circle of Stars recipients were…

• Antelope Valley 612
• Sulphur Springs 298

The Legislator of the Year award went to Sen. Gloria Negrete Mcleod. She said that she was glad to be here to receive this award. Yet, “I’m embarrassed to come to your and we don’t have a damn budget passed”.

The PACE (Political Action for Classified Employees) committee raised $1,748 in their raffle this week.

After lunch a member brought a motion to the floor to reconsider Resolution 7 Withdrawal from Iraq. The motion was defeated by the delegates. Our association budget was passed shortly after that. Not many delegates went to the microphones with questions. Maybe they had the answered in this mornings budget session.

Faye Page was inducted to the Honor Roll and Carol Jones was inducted as a Life Member. Our Activists of the Year were Michael Casias and Eddie Padilla both from Merced City Schools #530. Shortly after that we were excused for the day (Early). Later this evening (7:00 PM) we will have our annual member dinner.

In the morning I attended more Education Days seminars. I went to “Retirementville”. I’ve attended a few retirement seminars in the past and every time I learn something new. This time I learned about the different service credit purchase options. A document called Service Credit Purchase Options was handed out at one of the sessions and it lays out what kind of purchase options members have, the timelines for completing the process, and the forms necessary to purchase additional service credit. Go to the CalPERS website (www.calpers.ca.gov) to access your account and download the forms. I recommend you all go to the website, create an account, and get familiar with the website. CalPERS will require you to use the online calculators before calling them to begin your retirement process.

At today’s conference 1,647 delegates in attendance. Counting visitors, guests, and vendors there were 2,046 people in attendance. Soon after we had the first reading of our annual budget. Bud Dougherty, Executive Director, gave the first reading. They are projecting a prudent surplus of $1.8 million (1.5%) this year. I also learned that 98% of our budget comes from our dues. I didn’t catch where the other 2% comes from. So, having 226,026 members statewide and multiply that by $278.18 dues paid per year per member gives us $62,875,913.

226,026 (members) X $278.18 (dues)
= $62,875,913 (projected budget)

I must say that our IT folks can teach our districts a thing or two about technology budgeting. CSEA puts our districts to shame. They have a regular hardware replacement cycle and repurposing of older machines that lowers our total cost of ownership. I wish our district employed these types of practices. Maybe we wouldn’t have so much antiquated equipment across our district. Enough said about that!

After the budget first reading we continued to work on the resolutions. This year we didn’t have that many resolutions, but they were debated and the democratic process was in full force. We did complete debating and voting on all the resolutions by the end of business day. And the results are…

• Resolution 6 - CSEA Provide Release Time for committee Members - ADOPTED
• Resolution 2 - Electioneering Ethics and Campaign Limitations - Amended Campaign Expenditure Reports - ADOPTED (with amendment)
  This resolution was amended to include language that would require candidates to submit amended reports within six months of original deadlines. The amendment was adopted and the amended resolution was adopted.
• Resolution 3 - Electioneering Ethics and Campaign Limitations - Process for Revision - DEFEATED
  A member asked to have Policy 203 (page 5) read to all the delegates in attendance. So, Rob Feckner read the policy. The sound system at the convention center isn’t that great and some delegates commented that it had been better in prior years. After a few point of orders Rob finished reading Policy 203. In the end the resolution was defeated.
• Resolution 4 - Regional Presidents Meetings - Flexibility in Scheduling - ADOPTED
  During the debating members once again complained about the sound system. The resolution passed by over 60% of the voting delegates. Right after a Roll Call vote was called for. The Roll Call vote was defeated by the membership. This, unfortunately, ran into our lunch hour.

After Lunch we jumped back into resolutions mode.

• Resolution 7 - Withdrawal from Iraq - PULLED
  Right away a member objected to the resolution. The membership agreed and the resolution was not considered.
• Resolution 8 - Partial Retirement - DEFEATED

That’s it! Business on resolutions has completed. Right after the disaster fund donation buckets were passed around collecting donations from the generous delegates.

Next came the Members of the Year. This years winners are…

—————————————————————

Maintenance and Operations Services
Kenny Henschel
Warehouseman
Rio
Chapter 329

Special Services
Ruth Ann Hansen
Employment Technician
Butte College
Chapter 511

Paraeducator and Instructional Assistant Services
Stella Doran
Instructional Assistant
Laguna Salada
Chapter 128

—————————————————————

Transportation Services
Sharon Galliani
Bus Driver
Fort Bragg Unified
Chapter 487

Food Services
Darcy Fields
Satellite Kitchen Assistant
Laguna Salada
Chapter 128

Office Services
Nancy Malcolm
Secretary
Tamalpais
Chapter 549

—————————————————————

Congratulations to our great classified who go above and beyond the call of duty for the students in our districts.

The first day went without a hitch. I attended a technology think tank session this morning. It was part of the Education Days seminars. For all you technology folks out there I’d like to let you know that we recommended CSEA to create a tech listserv. The listserv would allow us to share best practices, problem solving, policies, standards, and other stuff that surround our daily work days. We’re going to make the recommendation on our conference evaluation. Hopefully they’ll implement this great tool for us.

Opening ceremonies went off without a hitch. There was a salute to our veterans and our heroes that are still in the military serving across the world. They displayed the photos with soldiers names and locations they are stationed in. It was really awesome. Then came the memoriam. There are so many soldiers that have lost their lives for this nation. The list was so long that they had to squeeze their names on the screens. There wasn’t any room for their photos. CSEA did a good job showing our patriotism.

During Rob Feckner’s State of the Union address he said that the state of our union is “rock solid!”.

We were also reminded that CSEA has officially endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the November 2008 US President General Election. Link to the PACE Bulletin 2008 General Election Endorsement: United States President (PDF). Get ready to start campaigning. November is just around the corner. Before we know it we will be voting in a new President.

Feckner reported that our CalPERS is sound. It suffered a little during the latest stock turnover, but it is still well diversified and sound. “CalPERS is healthy and your retirement is safe”, says Feckner. Go to the CalPERS website to get more information about your pension. (http://www.calpers.ca.gov/)

Our Keynote speaker was Ray Culberson, Director of Youth Services, San Bernadino Unified School District. His keynote focused on kids in chaos. As a prior kid in chaos during his youth he had a lot to say on the topic. He said that classified staff connect with students in chaos more than any other employee in our districts because we talk to them from the heart. He had four rules on how to deal with kids in chaos.

1. Never take it personal (kids will always say silly things in the heat of the moment and don’t take it personally)
2. Get home sane (let the issue go in one ear and out the other)
3. Never hold a grudge (we cannot help students if we have a grudge with them)
4. Don’t allow your ego to overshadow what you do

It was a really powerful keynote dealing with at-risk students. Remember that we can all make a difference in their lives.

The number of delegates who have reported to this years conference today was 1,573. Including all the visitors and staff there were 1,976 people in attendance at today’s conference floor. Roy Hartnell (Lucia Mar 275), conference committee chair, had to read three pages of the special rules of order for this year’s conference. It took a long time and was a perfect time to go take a bathroom break - sorry Roy. Not that I did, but if I had to that would have been the time. Roy read 22 rules.

The first day of business ended with finally voting on a 2006 resolution in the Unfinished Business portion of the agenda. Resolution #5, Live Feed of CSEA State’s Monthly Board Meetings to the Field Offices, Santa Monica College Chapter 36, was unanimously voted down by our chapter members. The session ended shortly after. 8:00 AM tomorrow will start the next round of education days. See ya’ tomorrow!

			High / Low (°F)
Sunday -Aug 03		Sunny	105°/83°
Monday - Aug 04		Mostly Sunny	104°/83°
Tuesday - Aug 05		Isolated T-Storms	101°/84°
Wednesday - Aug 06		Isolated T-Storms	99°/82°
Thursday - Aug 07		Partly Cloudy	101°/81°

Get your Shorts ready! Also, for you non-smokers remember that we are no longer in California so people will be smoking all over the place. Get your aspirin ready for those headaches.

Courtesy of Weather.com