VIRGIN ISLANDS CRISIS

WHEREAS, the public schools and public education in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) have suffered severe problems due to a combination of horrific natural disasters and drastic funding shortfalls over the last decade; and

WHEREAS, teachers and paraprofessionals continue to educate children in school buildings and classrooms that are infested with termites, are without potable drinking water, are covered by plastic tarps and have been weakened to unsafe structural parameters; and

WHEREAS, teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff throughout the USVI have continued to report to work and serve the children of the USVI for the past six years while working under a contract that has yet to be fully funded to the level negotiated in 1994; and

WHEREAS, the lack of equitable pay and adverse working conditions has severely hampered recruitment of new teachers and caused many other teachers to seek opportunities outside the territory, that the USVI public schools face a possible teacher shortage of massive proportions for the 2000-2001 school year; and

WHEREAS, the AFT has been representing teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff on the islands of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas for more than 30 years:

RESOLVED, that the AFT and its affiliate locals, the St. Thomas-St. John Federation of Teachers and the St. Croix Federation of Teachers, are committed to working in partnership and with the government of the USVI to tackle these tremendous challenges. These efforts will include:

• Supporting Governor Turnbull’s declaration that the public schools of the USVI are in a state of emergency and working with the administration to address serious school infrastructure issues and school employee salary issues;
• Building a coalition of civic, religious, corporate and labor organizations around a campaign to "Save Our Children and Our Schools":
• Raising significant funding from the USVI corporate community to qualify for federal school construction bonds (Qualified Zone Academy Bonds). Further, increase the total amount of public and private financial assistance to the territorial public schools;
• Expanding professional development opportunities for teachers; and

RESOLVED, that at the federal level, AFT will re-double its efforts to:

• Seek debt forgiveness of some or all outstanding FEMA loans stemming from past natural disasters;
• Secure new revenue sources for education by making permanent the rebating of federal excise taxes on rum;
• Reverse the rule to allow tobacco products that are purchased and taxed in the USVI to be taken into the United States;
• Restore the gasoline excise tax;
• Seek congressional hearings on the "six-pack" passenger regulation imposed on USVI charter boat operators, which puts them at a competitive disadvantage with other Caribbean islands.