“All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential."
~Harvey Milk

Standing Rules


By-Laws: PDF HTML
Standing Rules: PDF

  1. The right to vote on Caucus business shall be limited to current Category A dues paying members. The rights of debate and discussion shall be limited to current Category A and Category B dues paying members. Non-dues paying visitors may not participate in debate, discussion or voting. The treasurer shall be the final authority in matters of question regarding validity of membership.

  2. The order of business at meetings of the Caucus shall be the discretion of the Co-Chairs, with the advice of the Executive Committee and as amended/adopted by the members in attendance.

  3. Standing Rules may be amended or deleted at any meeting of the Caucus.

  4. Minutes of the meetings of the Caucus shall be provided to the membership at the first meeting of the Caucus at the next meeting of the CTA State Council.

  5. An official Parliamentarian shall be appointed at the discretion of the Co-Chairs. Any questions of a parliamentary nature may be directed only through the presiding officer/chairperson. The Parliamentarian may advise the chair; only the presiding officer may rule.

  6. Bylaws will be provided to each new member and will be available at all meetings of the Caucus.

  7. Elections shall be conducted under the general guidelines of the CTA Elections Manual with open nominations and equal access for all voting members.

  8. No memberships will be sold on the Friday of Council either at the booth or meeting room.

  9. Dues for the CTA-LGBTQ+C shall be no more than those for the NEA-LGBTQ+ Caucus.
 

CTA-LGBTQ+ Caucus Membership Dues Structure

The following CTA-LGBTQ+ Caucuse dues structure and definitions revision shall apply to all members, effective July 1, 2006:

  1. Category A (Voting members):.
    1. $20 - Regular (Active) membership (CTA Caucus Only)
    2. $40 - Joint (Active) membership (Both CTA and NEA Caucuses)
    3. $35 - Domestic Partners membership (CTA Caucus only; must be two CTA members who reside at same address)
    4. $65 - Joint Domestic Partners membership (Both CTA and NEA Caucuses; must be two CTA members who reside at same address.
    5. $5 - Student membership (Must be a Student CTA member)
    6. $5 - Retired membership (Must be a member of CTA –Retired)
  1. Category A (Voting members):.
    1. $10 - Associate membership (Anyone who is not a CTA member)

CTA/NEA Candidate Interviews & Recommendations

  1. The Executive Committee will issue a request to members of the Caucus for volunteers to serve on the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee for the current council year.

  2. The Executive Committee will appoint a Chair of the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee and the four committee members.

  3. The Chair of the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee will recommend a 5-member interview committee, including the chair, to the Executive Committee for approval.

  4. The CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee will serve from September 1 through the following June 30.

  5. No more than 2 of the committee members may be Class B members.

  6. Members of the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee must be Caucus members in good standing and membership must be verified with the Caucus Treasurer prior to candidate interviews.

  7. Candidate interviews will take place the afternoon of the regularly scheduled Caucus meeting of each CTA State Council Meeting.

  8. The Candidate Interview Committee Chair shall contact CTA Governance to obtain the names and email address of officially recognized CTA/NEA candidates.

  9. The interview committee will only interview candidates after the position has been officially declared open by CTA.

  10. The Chair of the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee shall send an email to each candidate that has filed a declaration of candidacy, and copied to the Caucus Co-Chairs. The email shall:
    1. Introduce the Caucus;
    2. Indicate that the Caucus is interested in interviewing the candidate;
    3. Request that candidate respond to schedule an interview;
    4. Provide a date and time range for the interview; and
    5. Provide a deadline for responding;
  1. The interview committee will interview all CTA/NEA candidates expressing an interest in seeking the Caucus’s recommendation that respond before the indicated deadline. It is the sole responsibility of the CTA/NEA candidate to schedule the interview appointment and attend the interview;

  2. The CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee will meet in private to interview each candidate, using the questions formulated by the committee and approved by the Caucus Co-Chairs. In fairness to all candidates seeking the Caucus recommendations, all candidates will be asked the same questions and scored using the same scoring rubric.

  3. After interviewing all candidates for an office, the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee will mee to discuss the results of the interviews, using the scoring rubric as a reference point, and making a final recommendation to the Caucus.

  4. The Chair of the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee shall submit a written “CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee Summary”, which shall include a list of all candidates interviewed, offices for which they were interviewed, each interviewers rubric scaled score, the recommendations of the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee, and a summary of why the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee is making its recommendation, to the Caucus Co-Chairs no later than 30 minutes prior to the first Caucus meeting.

  5. The Chair of the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee shall present each recommendation to the Caucus for a vote approving its recommendations. The Candidate Interview Committee shall present one of the following THREE recommendation categories on which the Caucus membership will vote – “YES RECOMMENDATION”, “NO RECOMMENDATION”, or “YOUR CHOICE RECOMMENDATION”.

  6. Members of the Caucus shall have the opportunity to question the Chair of the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee regarding the Committee’s recommendation, but under no circumstances shall the score for any candidate be provided to any member of the Caucus, other than the Co-Chairs.

  7. Members of the Caucus will have the option of approving the committee’s recommendation or, by substitute motion, either rejecting the committee’s recommendation, selecting an alternate candidate or taking a position of ‘no position’ on any race.

  8. The CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee will not reopen interviews for any position for which they have already interviewed.

  9. The Chair of the CTA/NEA Candidate Interview Committee will notify recommended candidates and provide them with recommendation stickers.
 

Declared National and Natural Disaster
Emergency Procedures

  1. The safety and health of our members is the highest priority. The Caucus should approach governing during a declared national or natural disaster by following all government health directives and advisories, even if this causes disruption to how we would ordinarily govern ourselves.

  2. In accordance with NEA, if an affiliate is operating under a government directive or advisory that limits the gathering of people to 10 or less, then it is strongly suggested that meeting agendas are reduced to items of urgency and importance, and all other items are set aside until a regular in- person meeting can be held.

  3. The Caucus Steering Committee may change the standing rules governing meetings to allow for more flexibility during national and natural disasters.

  4. As a result of the current crisis, the Caucus Steering Committee has authorized the following changes, modifications, and recommendations to bylaws, election procedures, and standing rules until the conclusion of the crisis. Upon conclusion of the crisis, the Caucus Steering Committee will make recommendations to the membership regarding permanent changes to bylaws and election procedures in the case of a declared national or natural disaster. Any permanent changes to the bylaws shall be approved through the bylaw amendment process currently in Caucus Bylaws. The below changes are only authorized as temporary during the crisis:
    1. Steering Committee:

      1. Virtual (remote) meetings for the Steering Committee that are connected electronically may be held if Steering Members have the opportunity to interact in the meeting. Steering Members shall be able to be seen and heard by the entire Steering Committee, allowing complete participation. A roll call attendance and subsequent votes shall be conducted by the Secretary.

      2. Procedurally, the following rules should be adhered to:
        1. All votes are roll call votes (each person’s vote is individually recorded);
        2. The secretary will take notes of the entire meeting;
        3. When a participant casts a vote, all other participants must be able to see the person voting on the screen as the vote is being cast.
    2. Internal Caucus Elections/Ratifications/Candidate Recommendations where the entire Caucus membership votes.

      1. Procedurally, the following rules should be adhered to:

        1. All procedures must be in alignment with the relevant rules in the most current governing documents.
        2. Electronic voting and vote by mail can still be done.
        3. In the event the Caucus is unable to utilize either electronic voting or vote by mail due to financial or technological constraints, and the election has not been started, the election will automatically be put on hold until the disaster has concluded and the Caucus operations have resumed.
        4. In the event the Caucus has started an election prior to the disaster being declared, and the Caucus does not utilize electronic voting or vote by mail, the election timeline shall be suspended for the duration of the national or natural disaster. The timeline will resume where the timeline was suspended upon the Caucus operations resuming.
    3. Extension of Terms of Office

      1. During a disaster, the Caucus will allow the Caucus Steering Committee to adopt emergency procedures to allow for the extension of terms of office. These procedures should only be used if the regular term of office is going to expire soon. The extension of the term should be reasonable and no longer than required to get back to normal Caucus operations. Once the declaration of the national or natural disaster has been lifted, an election for new terms should be conducted at the next in-person NEA Representative Assembly. If no action is taken by the Steering Committee and no election is held during the crisis, the extension of terms shall be automatic.

      2. If there is a resignation of a Caucus Steering Committee member during the extension time period, the Co-Chairs will follow the vacancy language in the Caucus bylaws.
  1. Caucus Recommendation & Interview Committee will be paused until the next in-person State Council opportunity.

(modifed and adopted May 2020)