COPE (Committee on Political Education)

What is COPE?

  • COPE stands for Committee On Political Education It’s our union’s Political Action Committee. We don’t use membership dues to contribute to candidates and ballot initiatives, so we need a separate fund to fully participate in the political process.
  • COPE gives us a fighting chance in the era of unfettered spending by anti-union, anti-teacher Super PACS (google Citizens United for a better understanding of this). As unionized educators, people power is undoubtedly our strength, but we also need financial resources to support, protect and improve public education.
  • Convinced? Click here to download the application form! It can be ponied to the PVFT office, dropped off in person, or given to your site rep.

What has COPE done for us lately?

  • COPE helped elect three PVFT endorsed School Board Trustees.
  • COPE helped pass Proposition 55, an extension on the millionaires’ tax that will help stabilize school funding across the state for 12 more years.
  • COPE helped re-elect state legislators who support unions and listen to teachers.
  • Convinced? Click here to download the application form! It can be ponied to the PVFT office, dropped off in person, or given to your site rep.

Why join COPE?

  • To defend our right to due process, which is currently under attack.
  • To defend our legal right to bargain our working conditions, which is currently under attack.
  • To defend our right to approve voluntary deductions so we can continue to have powerful local unions and a Political Action Committee to fight back! This is currently under attack.
  • To help elect our state and local leaders who set the policies we live and work under. Here are a few concrete examples: Our elected school board members set the District’s negotiating parameters (how much of a raise they can agree to); Our elected state legislators introduce, support, or oppose bills that govern state education policies and directly affect the education budget; Our elected county supervisors appoint the agricultural commissioners that have the power to improve policies for pesticide use around our schools.

Convinced? Click here to download the application form! It can be ponied to the PVFT office, dropped off in person, or given to your site rep.