COVER STORY
UNION POWER
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Union members are fighting—and winning—in local budget debates around the state.
In local battles to secure funding that will ensure the state’s 5 percent teacher salary increase, and on a range of education issues, VEA members are standing up and speaking up, letting governing bodies know, in the strongest way they can, that schools and educators can no longer be neglected. And, in finding their voice, they’re demonstrating our power. MONTGOMERY COUNTY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION members were a constant, dogged presence during the months the Board of Supervisors and School Board debated the budget for county schools, and will now reap the benefits of their efforts. “We went to many meetings of both groups,” says MCEA President Matthew Fentress, “as well as having individual conversations with our superintendent and local politicians. Our members continued to advocate, both in person and through email.” Late in the process, MCEA brought in a secret weapon: Delegate Chris Hurst, who addressed the Board of Supervisors while sporting an MCEA shirt. “He was a rock star,” Fentress says. “Funding our schools and
valuing our teachers is the fundamental core role of state and local government,” Hurst told county leaders. “School employees must be our priority in every budget we prepare on behalf of the taxpayer and it certainly should never be the first line item to start cutting just because it’s often the largest pool of money.” When all the talking was over, the county’s School Board had kept its promise to MCEA and presented a 3.5 percent raise and no health insurance premium increase. Fentress called it a “win for MCEA and a win for all of MCPS,” and noted that both Superintendent Mark Miear and more than one Board member said publicly that it wouldn’t have happened without the hard work of MCEA members.
