Grassroots Organizing Just Won $1.5 Billion for Public Schools

Yesterday the landmark Student Opportunity Act was signed into law in Massachusetts, guaranteeing an additional $1.5 billion in funding for k-12 public schools across the Commonwealth:
Yesterday the landmark Student Opportunity Act was signed into law in Massachusetts, guaranteeing an additional $1.5 billion in funding for k-12 public schools across the Commonwealth:
Do your schools provide enough resources to students in your community? Do you ever wonder why some schools have more resources than others? How does funding in your school district work?
According to a 2015 bipartisan Foundation Budget Review Commission Report, Massachusetts schools are underfunded by $1 billion and $2 billion! So what is being done to solve this education crisis?
Do your schools provide enough resources to students in your community? Do you ever wonder why some schools have more resources than others? How does funding in your school district work?
According to a 2015 bipartisan Foundation Budget Review Commission Report, Massachusetts schools are underfunded by $1 billion and $2 billion! So what is being done to solve this education crisis?
Join us as we talk to two state experts to understand the answers to these questions.
The following is testimony in support of the Education PROMISE Act (S.238/H.586), which aims to provide public schools the funding they need to deliver high-quality, equitable education across Massachusetts.
Members of the committee,
My name is John Jackson and I am the President & CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, whose national headquarters is in Quincy.
When striking Los Angeles teachers won their demand to call for a halt to charter school expansions in California, they set off a domino effect, and now teachers in other large urban districts are making the same demand.
More than a hundred people attended the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance’s (MEJA) first statewide convening in late June. Held in central Massachusetts, organizers and representatives from community, parent, youth, and educator groups from across the commonwealth gathered for a day of strategizing, network-building and inspiration to help build a stronger network to fight for public education.
In many ways 2017 seemed like a never-ending stream of bad news and attacks on public education. However, advocates kept up the good fight and the movement for education justice saw growth and increased capacity. Thanks to our grantee partners and allies working tirelessly in communities across the country, we’d like to share some good news!
Hair is an integral part of black cultural expression, but it has little to do with educational development, says John H. Jackson, president and CEO of the Schott Foundation. His response, highlighted in recent media reports, was a sharp dressing-down of a charter school in Malden, Mass., that disciplined African American girls who wore braided hair extensions to school.
The overuse of suspensions in Massachusetts schools is harming educational opportunities for all students, but with the burden impacting black students and students with disabilities more than other groups, according to a study released by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies and supported by the Schott Foundation. The study is the first ever to quantify the school-level days of missed instruction due to discipline, reporting both the black/white gap and the impact on students with disabilities. The report advocates that the state adopt "days of lost instruction" as an accountability measure.
A week after the 2016 election, activists, policymakers, philanthropic leaders and scholars came together at the Boston Public Library to reflect and strategize how to pursue educational & social justice after Trump's victory.
A week after the 2016 election, activists, policymakers, philanthropic leaders and scholars came together at the Boston Public Library to reflect and strategize how to pursue educational & social justice after Trump's victory.
Speakers included: