The Loving Cities Index

This week Schott released a groundbreaking report—measuring the level of supports provided by 10 cities to ensure their children have the opportunity to learn and succeed. What makes the Loving Cities Index unique is that it reaches beyond schools to also measure vitally important community factors, including affordable housing, healthy food, mental health access, livable wages, and public transportation. The report aims to reverse policies and practices rooted in racism and bias and replace them with policies that create loving systems from birth.

Right now, family income is the greatest predictor of success in school. To change that we don't just need loving schools, we need Loving Cities.

Read the report and RSVP for our Loving Cities webinar >

Is School Funding Fair?

The seventh edition of Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card, released by Education Law Center today, again shows public school funding in most states is unfair and inequitable, depriving millions of U.S. students of the opportunity to succeed in school.
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Student and Teacher Leadership Will Change the Politics of Gun Control

This time is different. After the horrendous shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students are taking over the debate on gun control that politicians in both parties have so horribly botched for decades.
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West Virginia Teachers Are on a Statewide Strike. Here’s Why.

Teachers and service personnel across West Virginia are striking on Feb. 22 and 23, the first statewide walkout in nearly 30 years. According to a 2017 study that ranked each state’s average teacher salary, West Virginia is the sixth worst in the country.
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Grassroots Education Organizers: 'The Impulse to Police School Communities Will Not Prevent Further Tragedies'

Schott grantee partners the Alliance for Educational Justice, Dignity in Schools Campaign and Journey for Justice Alliance released a statement on the tragic school shooting in Florida, warning against the impulse to simply spend more on policing:

"Unfortunately, too often after these kinds of tragedies, the response is to prioritize and further embed invasive security measures and increased law enforcement presence, surveillance and activity in schools throughout the country..."
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March is Community Schools Advocacy Month

The Coalition for Community Schools is planning a month of community school advocacy to target legislators at the local, state and federal levels, and their forthcoming Policy Playbook will direct people to specific activities to do throughout the month to capture the attention of elected officials across the country. Sign up for March Advocacy Month and the Coalition will send you the campaign tools needed to take action.
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