On November 3, 2015, a tight race to achieve full funding of public schools across Mississippi was lost. Initiative 42, the ballot initiative for “better schools,” was a citizen-led campaign with bipartisan, grassroots support for fully funded public schools. Nearly 200,000 Mississippians from across the state signed a petition to place Initiative 42 on the ballot.
Mississippi's public schools have been underfunded and under-performing for years. Their students, especially in the state's poorer districts, face inequitable learning environments and lack the real opportunity to learn that could help encourage their future successes. Despite these very real problems, however, Tuesday's election failed in passing Initiative 42, a proposed constitutional amendment that would have required adequate and efficient funding of the state's public schools.
Last year, parents, students, teachers, and community members in Los Angeles achieved a huge victory for the city’s public schools: they successfully pushed the LA school board to adopt the “Equity Is Justice Resolution," which will guide the distribution of new state funding to prioritize the highest-needs students and schools.
Last year, parents, students, teachers and community members in Los Angeles achieved a huge victory for the city’s public schools: they successfully pushed the LA school board to adopt the “Equity Is Justice Resolution," which will guide the distribution of new state funding to prioritize the highest-needs students and schools. Their victory is an important step and an inspiring moment in the fight for equity and opportunity in our nation's public schools.
Under a beautiful October sky on the edge of the French Quarter, 700 people from around the country converged on New Orleans. Students, parents, teachers, community activists, labor organizers, policy experts, and advocates of a multitude of issues came together for a weekend of education, collaboration, and engagement.
School closures are both a symptom and a cause of perpetuated inequality, and they leave students of color and those in low-income families without access to the educational resources they deserve. Here is how the Cycle of School Closures works.
Mass school closures have become a popular, "quick fix" for policymakers trying to address struggling schools and budget crises – despite the lack of evidence that closures save money or even improve opportunities for students.
You can't improve a school by closing it. Here's what you can do instead. This is the final part of the OTL Campaign's infographic series on the issue of mass school closures.
Public schools are the heart of every community, a place where the next generation of doctors, engineers, writers and artists learn and grow. They are where parents, teachers and community members come together to support their children and invest in their futures.
Education officials use a variety of justifications to defend the closures, citing everything from budget concerns to promises of better opportunities for students. But as this new infographic from the OTL Campaign illustrates, these justifications don’t hold up to scrutiny. Here's what the evidence from past and current school closures says.
In cities across the country, education officials are closing public schools en masse, impacting thousands of students, disproportionately those from communities of color or low-income families. Officials use a variety of justifications to defend the closures, citing everything from budget concerns to promises of better opportunities for students. But as this new infographic from the OTL Campaign illustrates, these justifications don’t hold up to scrutiny.
