(AXcess News) Berkeley, CA - In January 2010, the California State Legislature passed a school reform bill in an effort to qualify California for federal Race to the Top funds. The bill had widespread and bi-partisan support. The California Teachers Association(CTA)was a leading opponent of the bill and gave an average of $17,800 to each Senator who voted against it, during the 2006 and 2008 election cycles. This amount is 3.3 times as much as the average $5,344 that CTA gave to each Senator who voted in favor of the bill.

For the Assembly floor vote, CTA gave an average of $13,553 to each legislator voting against the bill, during the 2008 election cycle. This is 2.4 times as much as the $5,600 CTA gave, on average, to legislators voting Yes.

Many Democrats voted with Republicans to support the bill. The 7 Senate Democrats who voted No received 114% more from CTA than the 14 Senate Democrats who voted Yes. The 17 Assembly Democrats who voted No received 34% more from CTA than the 25 Assembly Democrats who voted Yes. All Republicans in both the House and Senate supported the bill.

Race to the Top (RTTT) is a competitive grant for billions of federal stimulus dollars. SBX5 1 was specifically intended to help California meet the criteria for RTTT, covering the four education policy reform areas: "standards and assessments, data systems to support instruction, great teachers and leaders, and turning around the lowest-achieving schools." On January 18, after SBX5 1 and a companion bill passed and were signed into law, Governor Schwarzenegger submitted California's RTTT application. Thomas W. Carroll, president of the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability, noted that while California is among several states that passed legislation to help qualify, the state "didn't do enough." The U.S. Department of Education announced last week that California is not among the states that are finalists for Phase 1 of RTTT. The Governor pledged to keep pushing for reforms necessary to make California's application for RTTT competitive.

According to legislative committee bill analyses, organizations that opposed SBX5 1 include the Association of California School Administrators, California Federation of Teachers, California Labor Federation, California Nurses Association, California School Boards Association, California School Employees Association, California Teachers Association, and Californians Together. Among those, CTA has an especially powerful voice: it is the second-highest contributor to California legislators voting on this bill, giving more money between 2003 and 2008 than any corporation and more than every organization except the California Medical Association. In its position paper on RTTT, CTA argues against many of the RTTT criteria. The Los Angeles Times reported that the CTA urged local unions not to sign agreements that would make them implement the RTTT-related changes and that roughly 75% of teachers unions complied by not signing the agreement.

Senator Party Vote on SBX5 1 Contributions from CTA
DeSaulnier, Mark Democrat No $27,800.00
Hancock, Loni Democrat Not Voting $27,800.00
Leno, Mark Democrat No $27,800.00
Wolk, Lois Democrat No $27,800.00
Alquist, Elaine Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Kehoe, Christine Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Liu, Carol Democrat Not Voting $14,400.00
Lowenthal, Alan Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Maldonado, Abel Republican Yes $14,400.00
Simitian, S. Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Wright, Roderick Democrat No $14,400.00
Corbett, Ellen Democrat No $13,400.00
Denham, Jeff Republican Yes $13,400.00
Oropeza, Jenny Democrat Yes $13,400.00
Wiggins, Patricia Democrat Not Voting $13,400.00
Yee, Leland Democrat No $13,400.00
Cedillo, Gilbert Democrat Yes $11,400.00
Pavley, Fran Democrat Yes $7,200.00
Correa, Lou Democrat Yes $6,700.00
Negrete McLeod, Gloria Democrat Not Voting $6,700.00
Padilla, Alex Democrat Yes $6,700.00
Price, Curren Democrat Yes $6,700.00
Steinberg, Darrell Democrat Yes $6,700.00
Dutton, Robert Republican Yes $100.00
Aanestad, Sam Republican Yes $0.00
Ashburn, Roy Republican Yes $0.00
Calderon, Ron Democrat Yes $0.00
Cogdill, Dave Republican Yes $0.00
Cox, Dave Republican Yes $0.00
Ducheny, Denise Democrat No $0.00
Florez, Dean Democrat Yes $0.00
Harman, Tom Republican Not Voting $0.00
Hollingsworth, Dennis Republican Yes $0.00
Huff, Bob Republican Yes $0.00
Romero, Gloria Democrat Yes $0.00
Runner, George Republican Yes $0.00
Strickland, Tony Republican Yes $0.00
Walters, Mimi Republican Yes $0.00
Wyland, Mark Republican Yes $0.00
Average received by all Senators voting Yes (27) $5,344.44
Average received by Democratic Senators voting Yes (14) $8,314.29
Average received by all Senators voting No (7) $17,800.00
Average received by Democratic Senators voting No (7) $17,800.00

Assemblymember Party Vote on SBX5 1 Contributions from CTA
Ammiano, Tom Democrat No $14,400.00
Bass, Karen Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Beall, Jim Democrat No $14,400.00
Block, Marty Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Blumenfield, Bob Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Brownley, Julia Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Buchanan, Joan Democrat Not Voting $14,400.00
Carter, Wilmer Democrat Not Voting $14,400.00
Chesbro, Wesley Democrat No $14,400.00
Coto, Joe Democrat Yes $14,400.00
De La Torre, Hector Democrat No $14,400.00
De Leon, Kevin Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Eng, Mike Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Evans, Noreen Democrat No $14,400.00
Fuentes, Felipe Democrat No $14,400.00
Furutani, Warren Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Hall, Isadore Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Hayashi, Mary Democrat No $14,400.00
Huber, Alyson Democrat Not Voting $14,400.00
Huffman, Jared Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Jones, Dave Democrat No $14,400.00
Lieu, Ted Democrat No $14,400.00
Ma, Fiona Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Mendoza, Tony Democrat No $14,400.00
Monning, William Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Nava, Pedro Democrat No $14,400.00
Perez, V. Manuel Democrat No $14,400.00
Pérez, John Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Salas, Mary Democrat Not Voting $14,400.00
Solorio, Jose Democrat Yes $14,400.00
Swanson, Sandre Democrat No $14,400.00
Torlakson, Tom Democrat No $14,400.00
Torres, Norma Democrat Not Voting $14,400.00
Torrico, Alberto Democrat No $14,400.00
Yamada, Mariko Democrat No $14,400.00
Calderon, Charles Democrat Yes $7,200.00
Fong, Paul Democrat Yes $7,200.00
Galgiani, Cathleen Democrat Yes $7,200.00
Hill, Jerry Democrat Yes $7,200.00
Lowenthal, Bonnie Democrat Yes $7,200.00
Ruskin, Ira Democrat Yes $7,200.00
Saldaña, Lori Democrat Not Voting $7,200.00
Skinner, Nancy Democrat Yes $7,200.00
Adams, Anthony Republican Yes $0.00
Anderson, Joel Republican Not Voting $0.00
Arambula, Juan Independent Yes $0.00
Berryhill, Bill Republican Yes $0.00
Berryhill, Tom Republican Yes $0.00
Blakeslee, Sam Republican Yes $0.00
Bradford, Steven Democrat Yes $0.00
Caballero, Anna Democrat No $0.00
Conway, Connie Republican Yes $0.00
Cook, Paul Republican Yes $0.00
Davis, Mike Democrat Yes $0.00
DeVore, Chuck Republican Not Voting $0.00
Emmerson, Bill Republican Yes $0.00
Feuer, Mike Democrat Yes $0.00
Fletcher, Nathan Republican Not Voting $0.00
Fuller, Jean Republican Yes $0.00
Gaines, Ted Republican Yes $0.00
Garrick, Martin Republican Yes $0.00
Gilmore, Danny Republican Yes $0.00
Hagman, Curt Republican Yes $0.00
Harkey, Diane Republican Not Voting $0.00
Hernandez, Ed Democrat Not Voting $0.00
Jeffries, Kevin Republican Not Voting $0.00
Knight, Steve Republican Not Voting $0.00
Logue, Dan Republican Not Voting $0.00
Miller, Jeff Republican Not Voting $0.00
Nestande, Brian Republican Yes $0.00
Niello, Roger Republican Yes $0.00
Nielsen, Jim Republican Yes $0.00
Portantino, Anthony Democrat Yes $0.00
Silva, Jim Republican Yes $0.00
Smyth, Cameron Republican Yes $0.00
Strickland, Audra Republican Yes $0.00
Tran, Van Republican Yes $0.00
Villines, Michael Republican Not Voting $0.00
Average received by all members of Assembly voting Yes (45) $5,600.00
Average received by Democratic members of Assembly voting Yes (25) $10,080.00
Average received by all members of Assembly voting No (17) $13,552.94
Average received by all Democratic members of Assembly voting No (17) $13,552.94

Top 10 Contributors to those serving in the 2009-2010 session of the California State Legislature
Rank Contributor Contributions, 1/1/2003-12/31/2008
1 California Medical Association $1,637,923.85
2 California Teachers Association $1,509,754.87
3 AT&T $1,421,637.71
4 California State Council of Service Employees $1,327,000.00
5 California Dental Association $1,224,773.73
6 California Professional Fire Fighters $822,757.16
7 California State Council of Laborers $819,500.00
8 California Building Industry Association $804,773.33
9 California Association of Realtors $748,400.00
10 Farmers Insurance Group $733,096.68

Methodology for Contributions by Vote: Campaign contributions data provided by the National Institute on Money in State Politics (NIMSP), and includes state Senate and Assembly campaign contributions from the California Teachers Association. Date range of contributions: Senators include 2006 and 2008 election cycle contributions (January 1, 2005-December 31, 2008) coded by NIMSP as of January 21, 2010; Assembly totals only include the 2008 election cycle (January 1, 2007-December 31, 2008). Votes and bill analyses for SBX5 1 are recorded in the Office of Legislative Counsel's Leg Info database.

Methodology for Top 10 Contributions: Campaign contributions data provided by the National Institute on Money in State Politics (NIMSP), and includes state Senate and Assembly campaign contributions from all contributors. Date range of contributions: 2004, 2006 and 2008 election cycles (January 1, 2003-December 31, 2008) coded by NIMSP as of January 21, 2010.

Source: Maplight.org