Summer 2017:
Welcome to the Fight-Back

The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools and the #WeChoose National Coalition are calling on local labor/community coalitions and youth-led organizing groups to join us this summer to fight back against the Trump/DeVos agenda.

The release of the Trump/DeVos budget proposal last month sets the stage for a “which side are you on” moment: Are you for great public schools, or do you stand with the Trump/DeVos agenda of massive cuts and vouchers? Politicians, as well as everyday people, must decide.
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Democrats and Devos: Partners in the Illusion of School Choice?

The US has refused to realize the 1954 mandate of Brown v. Board to address deep-seated education inequity. Today, more than 60 years later, schools are profoundly separate and unequal based on race and class. State-sanctioned sabotage of human potential runs rampant across the United States and can be measured by curriculum, access to programs and technology, how school discipline is administered and funding.
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"It Really Begins with Our Values": Interview with Edgar Villanueva

Edgar Villanueva, Schott's Vice President of Programs and Advocacy and board chair of Native Americans in Philanthropy recently sat down with Meyer Memorial Trust's Matt Morton to discuss philanthropy, equity, and indigenous communities.
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A Southern California District Resists Bad Education Policy

Instead of massive budget cuts, California is putting more money into its schools and has taken steps to make school funding more equitable. Long Beach’s increase in per-pupil spending now surpasses the state, and the district spends considerably more on certified personnel and instruction than is typical of California districts.
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Salinas, CA Debates Whether School Resource Officers Contribute to Higher Youth Incarceration Rates

Although there is no specific data that shows the correlation between school resource officers and students going into the juvenile justice system, the data of the school to prison pipeline is unquestionably real, said Dan Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the UCLA Civil Rights Project.
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Buffalo Shows Turnaround of Urban Schools is Possible, but it Takes a Lot More than Just Money

In Buffalo, a Rust Belt city still grappling with high poverty and an under-educated population, the results of the Say Yes program have exceeded expectations. Since its launch in 2012, the city’s high school graduation rate has climbed 15 points, to 64 percent, according to New York State education department figures, the highest rate the city has achieved in more than a decade.
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South Texas School District Approves Policy Including Paddling as Punishment

A South Texas school district has approved a new disciplinary method that would permit paddling, according to a report.

Three Rivers Independent School District’s policy would allow for a campus behavior coordinator or principal to deliver the punishment upon a parent approving the new method, KII News reported.
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