MA Week of Action Against High-Stakes Testing and for the "Schools We Deserve"

Recently, parents, students, teachers, and community members across Massachusetts took part in a statewide week of action against the overuse of high-stakes standardized testing. The events were organized by the newly-formed Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance and their local partner, the Boston Education Justice Alliance. Read more>

PA Activists Demand Fair Funding in State Bus Tour

As Pennsylvania's state budget deadline looms, organizers like the PA Alliance to Reclaim our Schools (PA AROS) and a coalition of faith and community leaders are ramping up pressure for a budget that fairly funds Pennsylvania schools. PA AROS organized a statewide bus tour this past month, which stopped at 13 cities to meet with parents, students, teachers, state senators and other local leaders. The tour finished on June 29 with a rally at the capital. Read more>

$2.4 Million for Restorative Justice in NYC Schools

Grassroots organizers in New York City have been fighting for school discipline reform for years, and their hard work paid off this week when the City Council passed next year's budget with $2.4 million in funding for restorative justice programs. Read more>

AR Organizer Writes Powerful Op-Ed on Charleston

In a powerful op-ed, Bill Kopsky, Executive Director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, reflects on the shooting in Charleston, SC, the history of racism in this state, and the work yet to be done to end discrimination in communities across the nation. Read more>

NY Organizers Defeat Harmful Tax Credit, Chart Expansion Proposal

In this year's state budget deal, organizers in New York defeated a proposed tax credit that would have provided up to $1 million in taxpayer subsidies to wealthy residents for donating to private schools. They also held the line on charter expansion and prevented lawmakers from increasing the charter school cap. Read more>

PA Commission Issues Fair Funding Recomendations

One of the major issues facing Pennsylvania is the upcoming budget, and especially the current debate around how to fairly and fully fund all Pennsylvanian schools. Currently, Pennsylvania has one of the largest funding gaps between districts in the country. The Basic Education Funding Commission's new report gives recommendations for a fair funding formula, clarifying what factors must be considered and highlighting its overall importance. Read more>

New Factsheets on Raising Revenue to Fund Schools

Last year, we released an online toolkit called "Investing in the Future: Revenue Options to Give Every Child the Opportunity to Learn," which presented strategies that states can use to raise revenue to fund important investments in education, transportation and more. Recently we released a series of fact sheets that distill the critical takeaways from the toolkit and offer brief overviews of strategies like instituting a millionaire’s tax or closing tax loopholes for large, profitable, multi-state corporations. Read more>

Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card

The 4th edition of the Education Law Center's "Is School Funding Fair" report card is out this month, giving advocates and organizers across the country another round of valuable data on how well states are (or aren't) investing in their schools and students. Read more>