National Day of Action for Education - March 1
From the Occupy Seattle Public Education Working Group, and reprinted without edits:
On Thursday, March 1, Seattle will join cities across the country taking action to support Public Education.
The Seattle events will start with a rally at Westlake Center at 2:45 p.m., followed by a 3:30 p.m. march to the Gates Foundation to support a ‘Grade-In’ conducted by teachers from the Seattle Education Association and a teach-In about charters by UW Professor Wayne Au. At 4:30 p.m., members of the group plan to challenge Gates Foundation policy analysts to a “Policy Throwdown” -- a General Assembly style open discussion of education and charter issues facilitated by Jesse Hagopian.
The purpose of the action is to oppose charter school legislation being pushed by the Gates Foundation and other wealthy individuals against the wishes of voters. We believe that schools should be fully funded by public dollars and school policy should be fully governed by public representatives - not manipulated in secret by the 1%.
The Washington State Supreme Court recently ruled that the State is out of compliance with its “paramount constitutional duty” to fully fund education. K-12 education's share of the state budget has been in decline since 1981. Since the "Great Recession", Washington State has cut $10 billion from public education and social services, with over $3 billion slashed from K-12 funding alone. Washington State now ranks 42nd in the nation in per-pupil spending and has the 3rd highest class sizes in the country. State universities have raised tuition by over 47% in the last three years.
But rather than devote more funding to providing quality public education, state politicians are putting forward legislation that would open the door to charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately controlled. These unaccountable schools are exempt from state standards and union contracts. The Gates Foundation is a leading backer and promoter of charter schools nationwide, despite the fact that their own CREDO study showed that only 17% of charters perform better and 37% performed worse.
This article from the Washington Post, and the leaked secret memo it excerpts, describe the Gates Foundation’s plans to secretly manipulate public opinion by taking advantage of the dire financial condition of the national school districts:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/gates-spends-millions-to-sway.html
We call on all students, teachers, workers, and parents from all levels of education -- pre-K-12 through higher education -- and all Occupiers, labor unions, and organizations of oppressed communities to mobilize on March 1st to tell those in power: The resources exist for high-quality, publicly-controlled education for all.
We demand:
- Full funding for public education and social services
- Full public control of education policy
- Tax the 1%
- No budget cuts
- No tuition hikes
- No attacks on teacher unions
- No privatization of public education
Students and teachers should not have to pay for the crisis created by the 1%. We refuse to accept the dismantling of our schools and universities, while the banks and corporations make record profits. We refuse to accept budget cuts, educational re-segregation, attacks on teacher unions, rising class sizes, massive tuition increases, outrageous student debt, and increasing privatization and corporate control.
RALLY AND MARCH FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION
March 1 National Day of Action for Education: Full Public Funding and Full Public Control!
On Thursday, March 1, Seattle will join cities across the country taking action to support Public Education.
The Seattle events will start with a rally at Westlake Center at 2:45 p.m., followed by a 3:30 p.m. march to the Gates Foundation to support a ‘Grade-In’ conducted by teachers from the Seattle Education Association and a teach-In about charters by UW Professor Wayne Au. At 4:30 p.m., members of the group plan to challenge Gates Foundation policy analysts to a “Policy Throwdown” -- a General Assembly style open discussion of education and charter issues facilitated by Jesse Hagopian.
The purpose of the action is to oppose charter school legislation being pushed by the Gates Foundation and other wealthy individuals against the wishes of voters. We believe that schools should be fully funded by public dollars and school policy should be fully governed by public representatives - not manipulated in secret by the 1%.
The Washington State Supreme Court recently ruled that the State is out of compliance with its “paramount constitutional duty” to fully fund education. K-12 education's share of the state budget has been in decline since 1981. Since the "Great Recession", Washington State has cut $10 billion from public education and social services, with over $3 billion slashed from K-12 funding alone. Washington State now ranks 42nd in the nation in per-pupil spending and has the 3rd highest class sizes in the country. State universities have raised tuition by over 47% in the last three years.
But rather than devote more funding to providing quality public education, state politicians are putting forward legislation that would open the door to charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately controlled. These unaccountable schools are exempt from state standards and union contracts. The Gates Foundation is a leading backer and promoter of charter schools nationwide, despite the fact that their own CREDO study showed that only 17% of charters perform better and 37% performed worse.
This article from the Washington Post, and the leaked secret memo it excerpts, describe the Gates Foundation’s plans to secretly manipulate public opinion by taking advantage of the dire financial condition of the national school districts:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/gates-spends-millions-to-sway.html
We call on all students, teachers, workers, and parents from all levels of education -- pre-K-12 through higher education -- and all Occupiers, labor unions, and organizations of oppressed communities to mobilize on March 1st to tell those in power: The resources exist for high-quality, publicly-controlled education for all.
We demand:
- Full funding for public education and social services
- Full public control of education policy
- Tax the 1%
- No budget cuts
- No tuition hikes
- No attacks on teacher unions
- No privatization of public education
Students and teachers should not have to pay for the crisis created by the 1%. We refuse to accept the dismantling of our schools and universities, while the banks and corporations make record profits. We refuse to accept budget cuts, educational re-segregation, attacks on teacher unions, rising class sizes, massive tuition increases, outrageous student debt, and increasing privatization and corporate control.