Then you win

[Michael Stauch]

http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/8081656/article-Board-OKs-budget--saving-teacher-positions?instance=homefirstleft
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/29/556552/durham-county-oks-tax-increase.html
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7526131
http://durhamcounty.mync.com/site/durhamcounty/news/story/53138/durham-county-commissioners-approve-new-budget/
http://www.wral.com/news/local/politics/story/7871150/

What up y'all,

so sorry I couldn't make it to the commissioners' meeting yesterday, but clearly y'all held it down! Above is all the coverage from our victory in the budget fight in Durham!

Best is the Herald Sun coverage, which quotes Elisa calling the budget a partial victory and saying, "Class sizes will be much greater and the chance of student success much less," she said. "In fact, the annual challenge should revolve around increasing the number of classroom positions, not preserving the too few that already exist."

And that about sums it up - we did an amazing job fighting against a bunch of folks who didn't think it was possible or didn't want to think it was possible to save any jobs, and we won, convincing them to do what it takes to save teachers' jobs. But the struggle continues next year, as these budget cuts aren't going anywhere. (Countries at the G20 in Toronto this weekend agreed to continue cuts to public services.)

So congrats everyone, and I look forward to fighting alongside y'all in the future!

Mike