Welcome back to another exciting and challenging year in public education.

Each of you is the expert in the learning needs of your students. That is why it is so important that your voices are being heard in the sweeping changes facing our profession. Some of these include: the opportunity for a waiver from the 2014 requirements of the ESEA - "No Child Left Behind" Act, implementing the Common Core Curriculum through the work of the PARCC Consortium and the Guiding Coalition at the state level, and developing the rules and timelines for Act 1209 - Teacher Excellence and Support system. All have regular input from your professional organization's governance and staff.

AEA continues to attempt transforming the culture of its governance and staff to better serve the needs of members. We must all strive to work together to improve the profession by being actively engaged in best practices of teaching and learning. Learning comes from all of the contacts each of us has with others. Our charge is to assist all to develop to their total potential. One of my favorite teachers had a sign over the door inside the classroom, "Have I done my best today?" I challenge each of you to take up that mantra. Our students, co-workers, families and our country do not have a single person who should not give their best, striving to maximize their personal potential and encourage their students' growth.

The Arkansas Education Association is the only education association in Arkansas that represents all public school employees on legislative policies. We work with other stakeholder groups, including the Arkansas Department of Education, on the laws that shape our profession. AEA members serve on the Professional Licensure Standards Board, the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System Board of Trustees, in the legislature and in many other decision making groups that affect the lives of working families.

I thank you for being a member of the professional education association in the state of Arkansas. Please call or e-mail me anytime. I want to visit with each of you to hear our common dreams and needs to improve the profession. Thank you for all that you do for the members and the students of Arkansas' public schools. WE are the AEA! Have you done your best today?

Sincerely, Donna Morey