ENDORSEMENT OF JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT

WHEREAS, the 1.3 million members of the American Federation of Teachers have a long and proud tradition of advocating publicly on behalf of high-quality education, healthcare and human services in our country; and

WHEREAS, John Kerry has been a steadfast and consistent friend to AFT members—compiling a 97 percent AFT voting record in his 19 years in the Senate—and has a distinguished record of fighting for public education, healthcare and public services; while many policies of the Bush administration have harmed our members, the institutions in which we work and the people we serve; and

WHEREAS, the AFT and its members are committed to improving the public and private institutions in which we work, strengthening public education, raising standards of conduct and academic achievement for all students, expanding educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, increasing access to and the affordability of higher education, providing quality, affordable healthcare and needed public services to all Americans, and supporting working families; and

WHEREAS, John Kerry has consistently opposed private school vouchers and other proposals that undercut public education, while President George W. Bush signed into law a private school voucher plan in Washington, D.C., the first federal private school voucher program in U.S. history; and

WHEREAS, John Kerry is committed to fully funding the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and making necessary changes to ensure its fairness and effectiveness, while the Bush administration’s budget shortchanges NCLB by $9.4 billion in 2005 alone; and

WHEREAS, John Kerry supports mandatory funding for special education so that the federal government lives up to its commitment to help states meet the cost of educating children in these programs, while the Bush administration is strongly opposed to guaranteeing the necessary funding for special education programs; and

WHEREAS, John Kerry has a plan to provide every child with healthcare while reducing the private insurance costs for every American by 10 percent, while the Bush administration has neglected to help the now 44 million uninsured Americans; and

WHEREAS, John Kerry has a plan to make higher education more accessible, proposing $25 billion for a State Tax Relief and Education Fund to stop the education cuts and tuition increases at colleges and universities across the country and has consistently supported increases in the maximum Pell grant award, while the Bush administration attempted to change the rules for Pell grant eligibility at a time when the Bush administration’s economic policies contributed to state budget deficits of nearly $90 billion, forcing cuts to higher education budgets and higher tuition rates; and

WHEREAS, John Kerry’s economic plan would repeal the Bush administration’s tax cuts for families making over $200,000, give new tax incentives for corporations to expand their businesses in the United States and hire American workers, and provide 10 million new jobs, while the Bush administration has presided over the loss of 3.1 million jobs, advocated the outsourcing of American jobs to other countries and squandered an $80 billion budget surplus, creating a record $521 billion budget deficit; and

WHEREAS, John Kerry opposes premium increases for Medicare and cutbacks in Social Security benefits, while the Bush administration’s unprecedented budget deficits endanger the ongoing health of both programs; and

WHEREAS, John Kerry has been a life-long advocate for the environment, fighting to clean up toxic waste sites, keep our air and water clean and protect pristine wilderness areas, while the Bush administration drastically cut environmental protection programs, softened fuel economy standards, weakened enforcement of the Clean Air Act and other anti-pollution laws and supported an industry-friendly energy bill, drafted in secrecy; and

WHEREAS, John Kerry has a demonstrated record of supporting employee collective bargaining rights in the public and private sector and will fight to protect overtime pay for workers, while the Bush administration ended collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal workers, overturned and weakened workplace safety rules, and sought to take overtime pay away from 8 million employees, going so far as to have the Bush administration’s Labor Department publish guidelines for employers to avoid having to pay overtime to veterans and low income worker:

RESOLVED, for the sake of the children and citizens we serve, the institutions in which we work, the membership of the AFT and the future of this great union, that the American Federation of Teachers hereby endorse the candidacy of John Kerry for president of the United States; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT, its local affiliates and members commit themselves to tireless and resolute support of John Kerry’s presidential election campaign in 2004; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT, its state and local affiliates and members conduct voter registration programs to maximize the number of members who are registered to vote and who turn out in support of John Kerry for president; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT and its state and local affiliates engage and recruit members to participate in the AFT’s member-to-member communications to ensure that AFT’s members are well-informed on the issues and the candidates' positions on these issues.