The California Teachers Association is on to something in declaring a "state of emergency" and rallying at the Capitol and across the state this week.

Public education in California has borne a disproportionate share of budget cuts in the last three years, resulting in larger class sizes; reduced art, drama and athletic offerings; and shortened school years.

Gov. Jerry Brown's original aim in his proposed budget was to hold education harmless – with essentially flat funding, a little less than the year before.

But – and it was a big caveat – that depended upon getting voter approval in June for a ballot measure to keep taxes at the same rates that were in effect in 2010 for the next five years. That June ballot opportunity has passed.

So now what? The very taxes that Brown proposed to be extended were voted on by the Legislature – not voters – in 2009. The focus, again, is on legislators. As one teacher's sign said at the Capitol on Monday, "Do your job, so I can do mine."

Yet CTA is missing a big opportunity in actually reaching out to educational allies and Republican legislators to help get the votes needed.

And in its message to the larger public, the focus has been more on teacher jobs than building support for public education. The line is: "More than 40,000 educators and support staff have been laid off in the past three years. This year, another 20,000 teachers could be lost."

A better approach would be to outline the impact on this generation of kids, their parents and the future prosperity of the state. Instead of doing this and building coalitions across the education community, the CTA is instead going out of its way to poke a stick in the eye of large numbers of people – an odd, counterproductive strategy.

For example, CTA is pressing legislation that would upend 20 years of settled charter school law, alienating the reform community.

It is also conducting an assault on the state's new "parent trigger" law – seeking to require teacher signatures for parent-requested charter conversions. Doesn't CTA want the support of parents in struggling schools in the battle for education?

CTA also has gone out of its way to target for defeat a reasonable bill by Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, that would allow school districts to base layoffs on teacher performance, not just seniority – including an improved evaluation system based in part on student performance assessment and outcomes. Doesn't CTA want to pick up Republican votes on the budget by working on reasonable reforms?

And here is the kicker: CTA has filed a claim against the Sacramento County Board of Education for its decision to authorize a network of charter schools to address the "severe and persistent" achievement gap between African American and white students. Doesn't CTA want the support of local boards and the African American community in fighting for public schools?

Sacramento County board member Brian Cooley directly questioned CTA's priorities Tuesday night. "Save the fight for saving public education in California," he urged. He called CTA's threats of a lawsuit "misguided and wrong," saying such action "flies in the face of putting children first."

The CTA should be offering real leadership and bringing people together to work on getting the four votes needed for a temporary tax extension. Time is running out.

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