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12-529: In 1854, in response to a call from the California Superintendent of Public Instruction, John Swett , for a "teachers' institute", the first California State Teachers Convention was held in San Francisco . The event soon became a regular occurrence, being again held in 1861, 1862, and 1863. These institutes saw generally low attendance, typically fewer than a hundred teachers, all of them male. During

24-494: A lawful, protected activity in the private sector, it did not include public workers or teachers. Wisconsin passed the nation's first public employee bargaining law (1959), and several large, urban affiliates of NEA or the American Federation of Teachers started winning bargaining rights (New York in 1961, Denver in 1962, Chicago in 1966). After a decade of school strikes and teacher organizing, California K-14 educators won

36-586: A legal right to dictate to teachers is entirely erroneous." In his 1876 book, History of the Public School Systems of California , Swett becomes one of the first Californian educators to specify that mature children actually belong to the state or society, writing: "Children arrived at the age of maturity belong, not to the parents, but to the State, to society, to the country." San Francisco Public Schools Too Many Requests If you report this error to

48-728: Is considered to be the "Father of the California public school" system and the " Horace Mann of the Pacific". John Swett was an only child born July 31, 1830, in Pittsfield, New Hampshire , to Lucretia (born French) Swett and Ebenezer Swett, who were Congregationalists . He died August 22, 1913, in Alhambra Valley , near Martinez , California. He married Mary Louise (Tracy) Swett on May 8, 1862, in Sonoma , and they had 6 children. During his life he

60-767: The 1863 institute, the California Educational Society was formed. On June 10, 1875 at the California State Normal School (now San Jose State University ), after the California Educational Society had become largely defunct, the organization reoriented itself and changed its name to the California Teachers Association . CTA won its first major legislative victory in 1866 with a law providing free public schools to California children. A year later, public funding

72-670: The School Board there was dissatisfied with his administration because he had taken no steps toward its accreditation by the University of California and because no women had been sent to the university since 1884. In 1890 he was elected superintendent of the San Francisco Public Schools on the Republican and Reform Democratic tickets. In 1895 he retired to his estate, Hill Girt Ranch. His most important accomplishment

84-610: The following on page 111: It must be remembered that Superintendent Swett maintains the proposition that parents have no remedy against the teachers, and that: "As a general thing the only persons who have a legal right to give orders to the teacher are his employers, namely, the committee in some States, and in others the directors or trustees. If his conduct is approved by his employers the parents have no remedy as against him or them." (See Swett's Biennial Report, 1864, page 166.) And we must not forget that this same superintendent has said that: " The vulgar impression that parents have

96-668: The right to bargain collectively in 1975 when the CTA-sponsored Educational Employment Relations Act, also known as the Rodda Act, was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown . A turning point in CTA's history came in 1988. That was the year teachers fought to pass Proposition 98, the landmark state law guaranteeing about 40 percent of the state's general fund for schools and community colleges. John Swett John Swett (July 31, 1830 – August 22, 1913)

108-588: The state of California. Running in 1863, during the Civil War , as a National Union Party (Republican) candidate he was elected California State Superintendent of Public Instruction and served until 1867. Other positions he held were Deputy Superintendent of the San Francisco Public Schools (1870–1873), Principal of the Denman School (1873–1876) and Girls High School (San Francisco) (1876–1889);

120-420: Was a close friend of Sierra Club co-founder John Muir . Swett arrived in California in 1853 to mine gold but quickly sought work as a teacher in San Francisco . In 1862 he became a Freemason , joining San Francisco's Phoenix Lodge No. 144. In 1863 he was instrumental in founding the California Educational Society, which would become the California Teachers Association , the largest teachers' union in

132-562: Was making the California school system free for all students. In his report for 1866–67, he stated: "The school year ending June 30, 1867, marks the transition period of California from rate-bill common schools to an American free school system. For the first time in the history of the State, every public school was made entirely free for every child to enter." In his 1878 book The Poison Fountain Zachariah Montgomery criticized, among other things, Swett's autocratic style. He states

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144-614: Was secured for schools that educated nonwhite students. More early victories for organized labor established bans on using public school funding for sectarian religious purposes (1878–79); free textbooks for all students in grades 1-8 (1911); the first teacher tenure and due process law (1912); and a statewide pension, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (1913). While the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 made collective bargaining

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