Join the Campaign for our Schools: Write a letter to President Obama | Parents Across America

Join the Campaign for our Schools: Write a letter to President Obama | Parents Across America:

Join the Campaign for our Schools: Write a letter to President Obama

by pureparents

We are passing along a request from Diane Ravitch who is working with teacher blogger Anthony Codyon what they are calling the Campaign for our Schools:

Please write your thoughts about what needs to change in federal education policy and send a letter to President Obama by that date.

You can write it now and follow instructions here.

Anthony Cody, experienced middle school science teacher and fabulous blogger, has offered to coordinate our campaign to write President Obama on October 17.

We call it the Campaign for Our Public Schools.

Our campaign is meant to include everyone who cares about public education: students, parents, teachers, principals, school board members, and concerned citizens. We want everyone to write the President and tell him what needs to change in his education policies.

Tell your friends about the Campaign. If you have a blog, write about it. Wherever you are, spread the news. Join us.

Here are the instructions:

You can send your letter to Anthony Cody (anthony_cody@hotmail.com) or this blog.

Please write your thoughts about what needs to change in federal education policy and send a letter to President Obama by that date.

You can write it now and follow instructions here.

Anthony Cody, experienced middle school science teacher and fabulous blogger, has offered to coordinate our campaign to write President Obama on October 17.

We call it the Campaign for Our Public Schools.

Our campaign is meant to include everyone who cares about public education: students, parents, teachers, principals, school board members, and concerned citizens. We want everyone to write the President and tell him what needs to change in his education policies.

Tell your friends about the Campaign. If you have a blog, write about it. Wherever you are, spread the news. Join us.

Here are the instructions:

You can send your letter to Anthony Cody or to this blog.

Or you can send it directly to the White House, with a copy to me or Anthony.

Anthony will gather all the emails sent to him and me and forward them to the White House.

1. Email your letters to anthony_cody@hotmail.com.

2. Or submit them as comments to this blog. You can respond to this post or to any other post on this blog about the October 17 Campaign for Our Public Schools.

All letters collected through these two channels will be compiled into a single document, which will be sent to the White House on Oct. 18.

In ADDITION to this,

3. You can mail copies of your letters through US mail to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 20500

4. You can send them by email from this page: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

If you choose to write or email the White House, please send us a copy so we can keep track of how many letters were sent to the President.

One more thought: when you write to the President, also write to your Senators and Congressman or -woman and to your state legislator and Governor. Send the same letter to them all.

Let’s raise our voices NOW against privatization, against high-stakes testing, against teacher bashing, against profiteering.

Let’s advocate for policies that are good for students, that truly improve education, that respect the education profession, and that strengthen our democratic system of public education.

Let’s act. Start here. Start now.

Join our campaign. Speak out. Enough is enough.

Diane)

or to this blog.

Or you can send it directly to the White House, with a copy to me or Anthony.

Anthony will gather all the emails sent to him and me and forward them to the White House.

1. Email your letters to anthony_cody@hotmail.com.

2. Or submit them as comments to this blog. You can respond to this post or to any other post on this blog about the October 17 Campaign for Our Public Schools.

All letters collected through these two channels will be compiled into a single document, which will be sent to the White House on Oct. 18.

In ADDITION to this,

3. You can mail copies of your letters through US mail to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 20500

4. You can send them by email from this page: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

If you choose to write or email the White House, please send us a copy so we can keep track of how many letters were sent to the President.

One more thought: when you write to the President, also write to your Senators and Congressman or -woman and to your state legislator and Governor. Send the same letter to them all.

Let’s raise our voices NOW against privatization, against high-stakes testing, against teacher bashing, against profiteering.

Let’s advocate for policies that are good for students, that truly improve education, that respect the education profession, and that strengthen our democratic system of public education.

Let’s act. Start here. Start now.

Join our campaign. Speak out. Enough is enough.

Diane

Jersey Jazzman: Joel Klein On the Fainting Couch

Jersey Jazzman: Joel Klein On the Fainting Couch:

Joel Klein On the Fainting Couch

by Duke

The EduShyster is fast becoming one of the real reform movement's all-stars. Here, he skewers corporate edu-vulture Joel Klein:

What’s that haters, you’re still not buying it? You think that Mr. Klein is nothing more than a glorified snake oil salesmen peddling techno gimmickry to schools in order to sop up tax payer money? Jeez, go easy on the brother, haters! It turns out Mr. Klein doesn’t think much of you either:

The critique that really ignites a response in me, however, is the idea that education companies are motivated only by money. Like any other business that invests its capital to develop and market products or services, educational businesses need to secure a return on their investment. But there are no guarantees for educational entrepreneurs, just like there are no guarantees in other fields. You take a risk and hope for a return. But that doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs are motivated solely by profit. If you have any doubts about that, just ask the people at Facebook or Twitter, who surely want to change the world (but won’t be able to unless they can provide their investors a return). This kind of attack on motive—i.e., that profits are all that innovators care about—is not only wrong, it’s frankly deeply offensive. [emphasis mine]

Quickly, someone get Joel the fainting couch! He is deeply offended that anyone would ever question his 

Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs —

Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs —:

Chavez Monument Offers Inspiration for Farmworker Advocates

AFOP Commends the Dedication of the César E. Chávez National Monument and Reflects on the Path Forward

Washington, D.C.—Yesterday afternoon, President Barack Obama established the César E. Chávez National Monument recognizing the legacy of the workers’ rights champion. The dedication of the monument honoring the farmworker advocate and civil rights leader marks the first time in living memory that a Mexican American has been officially honored.

“As a former farmworker, I found it to be an inspirational event honoring a great civil rights leader and his hard work to protect the farmworkers who harvest our nation’s food,” said Jesús Gamboa, president of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) and Proteus, Inc. Chief Operations Officer.

The historic occasion took place at La Paz in Keene, California, where the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) is headquartered and Chávez lived. It was attended by President Obama; Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, an ardent defender of farmworkers; Paul Chávez, the son of the César Chávez; and thousands more, including many notable Latino advocates, farmworkers, and school children, who came to pay homage to the man who made so many sacrifices to ensure safer and more humane working conditions for workers.

Some in the advocacy community have questioned the administration’s actions yesterday, however, given its withdrawal earlier this year of updates Secretary Solis proposed to the safety rules for children employed in agriculture.

“We commend the Obama Administration for establishing this monument, but are still profoundly disappointed in its action in April to pull the updates to the Hazardous Orders for children employed in agriculture. Without those updates, farmworker children’s lives continue to be put in jeopardy harvesting America’s food,” said Norma Flores López, director of AFOP’s Children in the Fields Campaign and chair of the domestic issues committee for the Child Labor Coalition. “It was a missed opportunity to follow in the footsteps of César Chávez who advocated so persuasively for the protection of the nation’s farmworkers.”

Those rules, which have not been updated in more than 40 years, came after changes were made to the Hazardous Orders for children employed in non-agricultural occupations; those proposed changes were implemented with little fanfare or difficulty.

“While some things have improved for farmworkers over the years, AFOP knows much remains to be done, and I was encouraged to hear the President underscore that point during his speech yesterday,” said Gamboa. “This historic step provides us with motivation for the path forward. In the words of César Chávez, ‘¡Si se puede!’”

The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs is the national federation of nonprofit and public agencies that provide training and employment services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers. 

For additional comment or interview, please contact Ayrianne Parks at  (202) 828-6006 x140 or Parks@AFOP.org

Daily Kos: Bus tour with teacherken: In Cleveland with labor and seniors

Daily Kos: Bus tour with teacherken: In Cleveland with labor and seniors:

Bus tour with teacherken: In Cleveland with labor and seniors

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

This is crossposted from the National Education Association's Education Votes blog, for whom I am serving as an embedded blogger on the Stop the Greed Agenda Bus Tour. This post focuses heavily on Voter Suppression.

On Monday afternoon the East bus for Patriot Majority USA’s Stop the Greed Agenda Bus tour stopped near a complex of union offices in Cleveland.  Several groups hosted us, with the stop organized by AFSCME, along with the Ohio Education Association, the AFL-CIO, and especially the Laborers Union, outside of whose offices our bus was parked and we held our rally.

Mariah Hatta of Patriot Majority USA begins the event:

Mariah is a native of the region, having grown-up in nearby Oberlin.  Both her mother, a social worker, and her father, a retired teacher, were present.

Harriet Applegate, Executive Secretary, North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor spoke next:

please continue Daily Kos: Bus tour with teacherken: In Cleveland with labor and seniors:

Initiative 1240: Don’t be charter fooled, the song | Seattle Education

Initiative 1240: Don’t be charter fooled, the song | Seattle Education:

Initiative 1240: Don’t be charter fooled, the song

Posted on October 9, 2012 by seattleducation2011 | Leave a comment

For more videos, go to Educationrumination.

http://www.no1240.org/

Learning from Chicago | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Learning from Chicago | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Learning from Chicago

by thenotebook

Sub Title: 

As charters and cuts erode teacher jobs here, Philadelphians draw lessons from the organizing successes of another big-city union.

Author: 

by Bill Hangley, Jr.

Author Bio: 

Bill Hangley, Jr. is a freelance contributor to the Notebook.

Asked what “portfolio management” means to him, Jerry Jordan’s answer was swift and certain:
“Big business. Outsourcing. It’s literally getting rid of public service,” said the president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
But when asked about the PFT’s strategy for slowing a trend that has seen thousands of teaching jobs shifted to non-union charter schools, Jordan’s answer was more general: “We have to work more closely with the parents and the people in the community in order to make sure our schools are funded adequately. We can’t survive another billion-dollar cut.”

Image: 

Image Caption: 

Anissa Weinraub of Teacher Action Group

Photo Credits: 

Harvey Finkle

read more

HechingerEd Blog | Are new online standardized tests revolutionary? Decide for yourself.

HechingerEd Blog | Are new online standardized tests revolutionary? Decide for yourself.:

Are new online standardized tests revolutionary? Decide for yourself.

by Sarah Garland

New high-tech standardized tests are coming soon to schools across the country, but will these new tests really revolutionize how we measure whether children are learning? The designers of the new tests, which a majority of states plan to adopt in two years, are allowing a sneak peek at sample questions, so you can decide for yourself.
Two competing state coalitions have taken on the job of designing the new tests, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, and both have posted examples of what’s coming on their websites.

• Sample English/Language Arts question from Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
• Sample Math question from Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
• Sample question from third grade assessment from PARCC
• Sample math question from high school assessment from PARCC

In some questions, which the test designers have called “computer enhanced,” students will be asked to drag words or numbers across the screen, or to highlight phrases or sentences in a reading passage. In one example 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Would Monsanto Trust a Lab Worker with 5 Weeks Training? Should You Trust a Teacher with a 5 Week Educational Training Period?

Missouri Education Watchdog: Would Monsanto Trust a Lab Worker with 5 Weeks Training? Should You Trust a Teacher with a 5 Week Educational Training Period?:

Would Monsanto Trust a Lab Worker with 5 Weeks Training? Should You Trust a Teacher with a 5 Week Educational Training Period?

by stlgretchen

Would you take on more college debt for $7,000 take home pay? What and where is the payoff?

The Monsanto Fund is donating to St. Louis Teach for America.  From the St. Louis Post DispatchMonsanto donates $1 million to Teach for America:

The Monsanto Fund has donated $1 million to Teach For America’s local efforts to recruit teachers for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

 

The gift from the philanthropic arm of Monsanto Company will enable Teach For America to recruit a greater number of teachers with STEM expertise to St. Louis classrooms during the next four years and provide them with the support and resources. The donation will help Teach For America bring up to 270 teachers with STEM backgrounds to the region by 2016.

School Quality Snapshot - Year 2012 (CA Dept of Education)

School Quality Snapshot - Year 2012 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Introduces School Quality Snapshot

New Online Accountability Tool Provides Transparency for Parents and Public

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today unveiled California's School Quality Snapshot (PDF; Posted 09-Oct-2012), a new online accountability tool that puts school test scores, class size, fitness levels, and graduation rates for all 10,000 public schools statewide at the fingertips of parents and the public.

"Until now, parents had to scan more than a dozen different Web pages to compile this much information about their child's school. The School Quality Snapshot brings it all together in real time—in a colorful and concise format that's easy to follow and understand," Torlakson said. "It's a significant step forward in transparency and accountability for parents and the public."

The two-page Snapshot provides a five-year overview of information about each school and its performance on key indicators, all accessible through the California Department of Education's Web site . CDE staff from the Analysis, Measurement and Accountability Reporting Division and the Technology Services Division collaborated to develop the Snapshot using existing state resources.

Parents, teachers, administrators, and all members of the public will have access to the Snapshot for any school in the state. And the Snapshot provides state- and district-level data for comparison purposes.

Information about a school's performance on the Academic Performance Index is a focal point of the Snapshot and can be found at the center of Page 1. Continuing on Page 1, on the left-hand side, are five years' worth of a school's California Standards Test (CST) results at the proficient-and-above level for English-language arts, mathematics, and science. And on the top right, a pie chart visually summarizes a school's enrollment by race/ethnicity. Underneath are diagrams showing subgroup enrollment and also average class size.

On the second page are CST results for history/social science, the percentage of students in the Healthy Fitness Zone from the Physical Fitness Test, the percentage of graduates meeting University of California "a-g" requirements, the cohort graduation rate, suspension and expulsions as a percentage of enrolled students, Average SAT scores, the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) English-language arts grade ten passing rate, and the CAHSEE mathematics grade ten passing rate.

The Snapshot will be formally released Thursday as part of the state's annual report on school accountability.

"No amount of information, no matter how it is compiled, tells the full story of what's happening in our schools," Torlakson said. "But one of our goals in developing our Blueprint for Great Schools was to give parents and the public more information about student learning and school success, and the School Quality Snapshot is a step in the right direction."

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

SI&A Cabinet Report – Health care provider offers grants for student-led obesity projects

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

Health care provider offers grants for student-led obesity projects
By Tom Chorneau
Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Fifth and sixth graders from largely Hispanic schools in San Luis Obispo served as outreach envoys in a campaign aimed at reducing consumption of sugary drinks among young people.

Students at Peralta Elementary in Oakland started a garden, took cooking classes and developed their own recipes using ‘super foods.’ And up in Siskiyou County, high school students led younger children in a fitness and health awareness program.

With obesity rates among California’s adolescents climbing upwards of 30 percent, school and health care officials are seeking new methods to encourage and educate kids on the benefits of better nutritional decisions and physical activity.

One program that seems to have gained some traction is the HEROES wellness initiative, sponsored by UnitedHealthcare and Youth Service America, that offers grants of up to $1,000 for youth-led projects that include both an activity and a service-based component.

Now in its fifth year, HEROES has engaged more than 20,000 children nationally while awarding grants totaling just 

The suspension rates for charter schools: How about 56%? | Seattle Education

The suspension rates for charter schools: How about 56%? | Seattle Education:

The suspension rates for charter schools: How about 56%?

by seattleducation2011

Why do graduation rates and test scores seem to soar at charter schools? We have stated on this blog, as has been stated elsewhere, that these charter schools counsel students out of their schools or expel them for whatever reason that they have deemed necessary. Remember, charter schools can have their own set of rules outside the regulations of a state, city or school district, and the parents have to sign on to those qualifications. Ed reformers will say it’s freedom from regulations, I say it’s freedom for a charter school to do what they want to keep their stats looking good enough to get more students and therefore district and Title 1 money and to keep their charters with the state. It’s freedom from the rights and protections that students and their families normally enjoy as being part of a public school system.
At the end of this post, I will list some articles and studies that provide more detailed information on this phenomenon.
The next time a Stand for Children representative says that charter schools are not tied down by regulations, you can tell them exactly what that means.
What provoked this post is some research that was done and then provided by EduShyster. Here is an excerpt:

Academic Parent-Teacher Teams: Everyone Benefits from True Collaboration | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

Academic Parent-Teacher Teams: Everyone Benefits from True Collaboration | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

Academic Parent-Teacher Teams: Everyone Benefits from True Collaboration

by Tarsi Dunlop

With the recent release of the movie Won’t Back Down and the high-profile Chicago teacher union strike, it seems US public education is, once again, getting negative coverage in the mainstream media, with parents pitted against teachers or teachers pitted against administrators.  Committed education professionals, in their advocacy on behalf of our nation’s public schools, continually highlight the importance of collaboration among teachers, administrators, parents and community members when it comes to ensuring high-performing public schools. The belief is that we are all in this endeavor together and we each have an important role to play. One inspiring example of effective parent-teacher engagement can be found in theAcademic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT) model.
read more

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Turning right off the interstate: How Obama and I settled the teachers strike

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Turning right off the interstate: How Obama and I settled the teachers strike:

Turning right off the interstate: How Obama and I settled the teachers strike

by Mike Klonsky

Driving through southern Ohio to speak to students at Kenyon College and Bowling Green University I hear the steady stream of right-wing radio and see the dozens of anti-Obama billboards paid for by Clint Eastwood and his wing-nut superpac. In the towns, there's more of a mix of Obama and Romney signs and of course, the university towns are mostly Obama. Those in the know think that Obama will narrowly win Ohio. I'm not so sure.

The main media spokesman for the Republican Party and for national conservatives is of course, Rush Limbaugh. Here's what his 20-30 million listeners, mostly small town and rural, heard from Rush about the Chicago teachers strike:

It was all a set-up, says Rush, so that Pres. Obama could step into the fray and settle it by getting union head, 

Register to Vote — Barack Obama

Register to Vote — Barack Obama:

Connect with Facebook to quickly look up your voter registration and get your friends registered to vote.

Not on Facebook? Check your registration status here.

Can Adderall Fix Bad Schools? - Technology - The Atlantic Wire

Can Adderall Fix Bad Schools? - Technology - The Atlantic Wire:

Can Adderall Fix Bad Schools?

by Rebecca Greenfield

Here's a modest proposal: Let's dose up kids stuck in low-income schools with Adderall, even if they don't have A.D.H.D, to compensate for the advantages enjoyed by kids in richer schools. That's what Dr. Michael Anderson, an Atlanta pediatrician who calls himself a "social justice thinker" has started doing, reports The New York Times's Alan Schwartz. "I don’t have a whole lot of choice," Dr. Anderson told Schwartz. "We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the kid’s environment. So we have to modify the kid," he said. Schwartz notes that he isn't sure if Anderson is part of a "wider trend," but cites "some experts" who say the drug is being used in low-income elementary schools on kids whose parents want them to have better performance. And from the sounds of it, Schwartz isn't alone. "We as a society have been unwilling to invest in very effective nonpharmaceutical interventions for these children and their families," Dr. Ramesh Raghavan, a child mental-health services researcher at Washington University in St. Louis told Schwartz. "We are effectively forcing local community psychiatrists to use the only tool at their disposal, which is psychotropic medications."
Anderson says he is just "evening the scales a little bit." Of course lots of kids in rich education environments 

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Tuesday, October 9, 2012

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Deasy warns that looming budget cuts threaten classroom gains 

http://www.yesonprop30.com/

Education Headlines

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Boy brings gun to school

A single, accidental gunshot rang out in a south Stockton seventh-grade classroom Monday morning, wounding no one but resulting in the arrests of two boys, ages 11 and 12, Stockton Unified Police Chief Jim West said.

Administrator was criticized for yelling, berating

The administrator suing San Diego Unified School District to undo her pending demotion was repeatedly criticized by people who worked for her, according to dozens of pages of records obtained by The Watchdog.

LAUSD to promote arts education on city buses, billboards

Original works by renowned Los Angeles artists will be posted on billboards and city buses as part of the "Arts Matter" exhibition and fund-raising campaign designed to revitalize arts education in LAUSD.

Layoffs claim L.A. band teacher who turned novices into champions

Ray Vizcarra resurrected Fairfax High's band, teaching students to play instruments from scratch. They soon won all-city competitions. But the Los Angeles Unified had to cut jobs, and he lacked seniority.

Oakland schools seek kitchen upgrades with November ballot measure

Public schools in Oakland are looking for major kitchen remodeling with a measure on the November ballot. If approved, Measure J would authorize the Oakland Unified School District to issue up $475 million in bonds to improve school facilities.

EdSource: Rift widens between backers of ed initiatives 30 and 38

All pretense of goodwill is gone between backers of the two competing education tax measures on November’s ballot.

Deasy warns that looming budget cuts threaten classroom gains

L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy warned Monday of “catastrophic” consequences for local schools if California voters fail to approve tax measures on the November ballot.

Monday, October 8, 2012

San Diego school property sale brings $36 million in bids

Top bids for two old campuses and nearly seven acres of land for sale in the San Diego Unified School District have come in $13 million over the asking price.

Sacramento Unified asks voters to approve two school bonds

The Sacramento City Unified School District is asking voters to approve two school bonds totaling $414 million to address a host of construction projects as well as health and safety issues.

Novato charter school plan sparks debate

As proponents of a new charter school in Novato prepare to file paperwork with the school district, a group of parents has organized in opposition, saying the charter would siphon funds from other schools.

A leading teacher of teachers says feedback should be used fast | GothamSchools

A leading teacher of teachers says feedback should be used fast | GothamSchools:

A leading teacher of teachers says feedback should be used fast

by Philissa Cramer

Good teachers are not born; they’re made slowly, over time, through sustained and deliberate practice.
That’s the theory behind “Practice Perfect,” the new e-book by Doug Lemov, managing director of the Uncommon Schools network of charter schools and author of “Teach Like a Champion,” a 2010 book with 49 concrete strategies for improving student engagement and classroom management. (GothamSchools’ Elizabeth Green wrote about Lemov and his approach in a 2010 New York Times Magazine story.)
“Practice Perfect” aims to provide similarly user-friendly ideas — 42 of them — for attaining  incremental improvement. Lemov and his co-authors, two of Uncommon Schools’ top educators, say the strategies would be useful in any field — but they are particularly apropos for teachers, whose performance carries high stakes for 

Second California Student Union Conference « CA Student Union

Second California Student Union Conference « CA Student Union:

Second California Student Union Conference

POSTED BY CASTUDENTUNION ⋅ OCTOBER 3, 2012

FILED UNDER  CONFERENCE

Unite to Fight for Public Education! 
Come to the Statewide Student Union & Movement-Building Conference!

REGISTER NOW!

What: Statewide Student Union Movement-Building Conference
When: Saturday, October 20, 2012, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: UC Berkeley, Dwinelle Hall 145
Who: Anyone who cares about public education!
Campus Map | Facebook Event Page | More Info

Questions & concerns, contact >> students4ademocraticuniversity@gmail.com

Email CA Student Union Purpose & Structure Proposals to >> castudentunion@gmail.com
Submission Guidelines | Sample Proposal

*** About the Conference ***

Occupy Education is hosting a statewide conference on Saturday, October 20, 2012 to lay the groundwork for a statewide student union to fight for public education at all levels (K-12, AdultEd, CC, CSU, and UC). We will also consider immediate strategies and actions to stem the barrage of cuts and longer-term strategies to restore funding for education. We have been gathering to strategize our defense of public education for the last three years, and are further inspired by the student movements in Chile, Quebec, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

At the last conference, held at Santa Monica College in May 2012, we agreed on beginning to organize around the spirit of guiding principles and mandates (below). During this next conference, we hope to lay the groundwork to build a base of student activists, organizers, and defenders of public education across all levels of public education and all regions of California. We invite students, teachers, workers, and parents from all levels of education, along with anyone else who wants to work toward the education system California deserves, to join us on October 20 and help us build the coalition that will take us there.

*** Why work together? ***

Today we live in a national climate of austerity. The survival of public education, the institution we count on to prepare us and our children for a productive adult life, is now seriously under threat. We have seen painful cuts and fee increases at all levels of education. Yearly tuition at both UCs and CSUs have TRIPLED since 2003, pricing countless promising young people out of a quality education, or forcing them deep into debt. Per pupil spending at California’s K-12 schools has fallen from 23rd in the nation to 35th in only four years and at a time when education budgets are being slashed across the country. It is up to us, students, workers, teachers, and parents to defend and restore our once unparalleled public education system and ensure that all Californians get the education they deserve.

We can’t all do this alone! There is resistance to these attacks from all corners and all levels of education, but we can’t work in isolation. If we each restrict our efforts to an individual school or school system, we might be able to cope better with the cuts we receive, but the cuts will continue to be passed down from Sacramento and Washington D.C. nonetheless. California is a wealthy state, but it is up to each of us to make sure that a sane fraction of our resources ends up the classroom.

*** Conference Goals ***

We expect to have inclusive discussions with students and groups from different colleges and different levels of organizing, to achieve the following three goals:
- Discuss and vote on a draft of principles and goals
- Decide on concrete next steps in the formation of a viable statewide student union
- Concretize the actions we will take this Fall against new cuts, fee hikes, and school closures that have been announced

We invite students and student groups from all campuses to come prepared with proposals for
1) actions this Fall
2) next steps needed to build a student union (structure, education, logistics, etc.)