CalSTRS is the California State Teacher Retirement System. It is a public agency that manages the 280 billion dollar fund that pays pensions for California public school teachers and community college professors. As one of the largest public pension funds in the world, CalSTRS has significant power to either help renew or to help revoke the social license of the fossil fuel industry. 

​CalSTRS Board Members Who Have Called for Divestment

+State Treasurer Fiona Ma (September 2019)

+State Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond (March, 2021)

CalSTRS Board Members Who Support Investing in the Fossil Fuel Industry (updated 4.2021):
-Harry Keiley                 
CalSTRS Board Members with an Unknown Position on Investing in the Fossil Fuel Industry     
 -Keely Bosler                -Joy Higa                                 -William Prezant         
-Jennifer Urdan             -Karen Yamamoto                -Betty Yee               -Sharon Hendricks 

Statewide Educators Organizations

+California Federation of Teachers~March, 2016 (represents about 100,000 CalSTRS members)

+Faculty Association of California Community Colleges~September, 2020 
​(about 9,000 CalSTRS members)

+California Faculty Association~March, 2021 (about 29,000 CalPERS members)

Note: The California Teachers Association (CTA) is one of the last major statewide organization representing educators that has not yet spoken up for climate justice and fossil fuel divestment. Local chapters of the CTA representing nearly 50,000 CTA members have passed their own divestment and climate justice resolutions. CTA members have been working since 2013 to get a statewide CTA divestment resolution, but the CTA State Assembly has not yet done so. 

Regional Bodies

+Sonoma County Educators Council (SCEC)~October, 2021 (represents 34 local CTA chapters in Sonoma County)~vote was unanimous

Local Teachers Unions That Have Called for Divestment
(by county)

Sonoma County

+Twin Hills Teachers Association~2013

+Harmony Union Teachers Association~January, 2020

+Windsor District Educators Association~November, 2020

+Santa Rosa Junior College Faculty Association~December, 2020

+Santa Rosa Teachers Association-February, 2021 and 2013

+Gravenstein Union Teachers Association-September 2021

​Los Angeles County

+United Teachers of Los Angeles---December, 2019

+Santa Monica-Malibu Teachers Association~November, 2020

Alameda County

+Albany Teachers Association~January, 2020

+Oakland Educators Association-October, 2019

+Association of Piedmont Teachers~November, 2020

+Berkeley Federation of Teachers (CFT)-February, 2020

San Francisco County

+United Educators of San Francisco Retired (Retired division only, not the entire chapter)~January, 2020

​San Mateo County

+Sequoia District Teachers Association~October, 2020

Currently, the fossil fuel industry has social license to operate in a manner that puts young people and future generations at significant risk. Communities of color face disproportionate harm from fossil fuel pollution and the climate neglect organized by the fossil fuel industry. Local CTA chapters, the statewide CTA, and CalSTRS can play an important role in revoking this social license. Many CTA members may be surprised and disappointed to learn that the CTA has not yet spoken up for climate justice and fossil fuel divestment. Passing local CTA chapter divestment resolutions is a very powerful way to signal to CTA state delegates that CTA members will not silently abide climate neglect organized by the fossil fuel industry. The more local CTA chapter divestment resolutions, the easier it will be for CTA state delegates to pass a statewide divestment resolution. Were the CTA to pass a divestment resolution, it is certain that the CalSTRS board would reconsider their current commitment to fossil fuel investments. The fact that the CTA has not yet passed a divestment resolution could be one of the main reasons CalSTRS has not yet divested. 

Even if CalSTRS did not divest, by speaking up assertively for divestment and for climate and environmental justice, the CTA would strengthen our relationship with our students. Silence from adult witnesses exacerbates the psychological harm young people may experience as a result of climate neglect. Passing a divestment resolution sends a signal, not just to the CTA and CalSTRS, but also to your students. This signal from your local teachers union can help them face the climate burden with greater resiliency.

Since 2013, Fossil Free California has led the campaign to get CalSTRS to divest. They were joined in early 2019 by Earth Guardians Bay Area and Youth versus Apocalypse. School for Climate Action volunteers became active in the campaign in December, 2019. Team Marine from Santa Monica High School joined the campaign in the summer of 2020. 

Over the past seven years, the unions representing more than 150,000 California educators have asked CalSTRS to divest from fossil fuels. The #DivestCalSTRS campaign is having an impact: two out of eleven CalSTRS board members have spoken up for fossil fuel divestment. ​