Take Action to Demand Equal Quality Public Education!
Take Action to Demand Equal Quality Public Education!
FULL Funding for Boston’s Public Schools!
Wednesday, March 3
5:30 pm - Press Conf./Picketline
School Committee, 26 Court St., Boston
for more information: Coalition for Equal Quality Education
equaluqualityeducation@gmail.
www.equalqualityeducation.com
Across the country, students, teachers, faculty and other workers, along with concerned parents, community activists and organizations, will be using the week of March 4 to strike decisively to defend public education and the right to pursue higher learning. Here in Boston the Coalition for Equal Quality Education (CEQE) has chosen Wednesday, March 3rd to initiate a campaign against budget cuts and charter schools. This date was chosen to to coincide with a regularly scheduled Boston School Committee meeting. CEQE has endorsed the March 4 National Day of Actions to Defend Education.
Over the next several weeks CEQE will be organizing protests at Boston School Committee budget hearings culminating with a major protest on March 24th when the School Committee is scheduled to vote on next years budget. Boston Public Schools are now facing more budget cuts and layoffs. Heat is being turned down, teachers and staff are being laid off, educational programs are being cut, and at least 2 schools will be closed. Safe, reliable transportation of BPS students is once again being threatened with budget cuts. Supt. Johnson is planning to reintroduce the same 5-Zone Plan that was defeated last spring. This plan will lead to the further re-segregation of public education and limit choices for parents & students.
At the same time that funding for public education is being slashed the state legislature recently passed legislation to allow for the creation of more charter schools. Charter schools are publicly & privately funded corporations (The Bradley Foundation, Entertainment Properties Trust, & Wall St. investment banks to mention a few) whose purpose is to make a profit off of the education of our youth while robbing public education of badly needed funding & resources. Contrary to the claims by charter proponents charter schools will not eliminate the opportunities to learn (achievement) gap. In fact, charter schools do not provide adequate services for ELL and Special Education students. According to the Massachusetts Teachers Association 19% of BPS students are ELL as compared to 2% for charters. In contrast, Boston Public Schools are required to educate every student that walks through the door. Students who don’t fit the charter profile due to low grades or other challenges will be forced to leave charter schools and return to an even more underfunded & under-resourced BPS. In short, the proposed budget cuts and the expansion of charters creates a two-tier, separate & unequal education system: one that is highly funded for students who fit the charter profile & the other severly underfunded for everyone else.
The effects of the economic crisis have been felt in all sectors. Hundreds of thousands have faced having their homes foreclosed on or being evicted. Millions have lost their jobs and have added to the ranks of unemployed, especially people of color. Many families face hunger on a daily basis.
The crisis has not abated but continues like a storm. Federal, state and local governments are now cutting back on vital social services; closing schools; defunding education, health care and other needs; and laying off more workers.
There has been an accelerated push to privatize public education under the guise of “school choice,” using the crumbling infrastructure of inner city schools as an excuse. This crumbling is due to decades of systemic underfunding.
Parents and their children are wooed by for-profit and even nonprofit charter schools as a way out. But the charter schools offer a clear and present danger to teachers’ unions and are not bound to provide English as a Second Language or special education services. Charters can be granted to companies or a group of individuals who ultimately select the students and control the curriculum and budget.
Besides the above, corporations and financial institutions would like to get their hands on the $800 billion a year spent on education.
The Obama administration has contributed to the race to privatize public education. It has dangled $4 billion in front of strapped state governments to compete for by devising a new plan for education. This “Race to the Top” program calls not only for diminishing or eliminating altogether the cap on charter schools, but also calls for the tying of teacher pay to performance, opening the door for the firing of teachers at “underperforming schools.” Just this past week, the school committee in Central Falls, Rhode Island voted to fire every educator at Central Falls High School at the end of the school year. This anti-union attack on the hard won rights of teachers was applauded by Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
The state budget crisis, which grew out of the general economic crisis, has provided state governments across the country a pretext for further attacks on public education. As of December, 36 states have made higher education budget cuts, resulting in tuition increases and reductions in faculty and staff. Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have cut aid to K-12 schools. Additional cuts across states are expected to be widespread in 2010.
In this climate of severe and relentless education cuts, the protests that will take place in conjunction with March 4 is just the beginning of a movement to unite students, educators and other workers against the attacks on public education. As the struggle continues to grow post-March 4, it will be critical to link together the movements for jobs and education with the movement to stop the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For more information on the March 4 National Day of Actions to Defend Education:
- Visit the Web site for more details at http://www.defendeducation.
- Endorse the call by sending an email to march4nationaldayofaction@
Labels: Education , Events
FULL Funding for Boston’s Public Schools!
Wednesday, March 3
5:30 pm - Press Conf./Picketline
School Committee, 26 Court St., Boston
for more information: Coalition for Equal Quality Education
equaluqualityeducation@gmail.
www.equalqualityeducation.com
Over the next several weeks CEQE will be organizing protests at Boston School Committee budget hearings culminating with a major protest on March 24th when the School Committee is scheduled to vote on next years budget. Boston Public Schools are now facing more budget cuts and layoffs. Heat is being turned down, teachers and staff are being laid off, educational programs are being cut, and at least 2 schools will be closed. Safe, reliable transportation of BPS students is once again being threatened with budget cuts. Supt. Johnson is planning to reintroduce the same 5-Zone Plan that was defeated last spring. This plan will lead to the further re-segregation of public education and limit choices for parents & students.
At the same time that funding for public education is being slashed the state legislature recently passed legislation to allow for the creation of more charter schools. Charter schools are publicly & privately funded corporations (The Bradley Foundation, Entertainment Properties Trust, & Wall St. investment banks to mention a few) whose purpose is to make a profit off of the education of our youth while robbing public education of badly needed funding & resources. Contrary to the claims by charter proponents charter schools will not eliminate the opportunities to learn (achievement) gap. In fact, charter schools do not provide adequate services for ELL and Special Education students. According to the Massachusetts Teachers Association 19% of BPS students are ELL as compared to 2% for charters. In contrast, Boston Public Schools are required to educate every student that walks through the door. Students who don’t fit the charter profile due to low grades or other challenges will be forced to leave charter schools and return to an even more underfunded & under-resourced BPS. In short, the proposed budget cuts and the expansion of charters creates a two-tier, separate & unequal education system: one that is highly funded for students who fit the charter profile & the other severly underfunded for everyone else.
The effects of the economic crisis have been felt in all sectors. Hundreds of thousands have faced having their homes foreclosed on or being evicted. Millions have lost their jobs and have added to the ranks of unemployed, especially people of color. Many families face hunger on a daily basis.
The crisis has not abated but continues like a storm. Federal, state and local governments are now cutting back on vital social services; closing schools; defunding education, health care and other needs; and laying off more workers.
There has been an accelerated push to privatize public education under the guise of “school choice,” using the crumbling infrastructure of inner city schools as an excuse. This crumbling is due to decades of systemic underfunding.
Parents and their children are wooed by for-profit and even nonprofit charter schools as a way out. But the charter schools offer a clear and present danger to teachers’ unions and are not bound to provide English as a Second Language or special education services. Charters can be granted to companies or a group of individuals who ultimately select the students and control the curriculum and budget.
Besides the above, corporations and financial institutions would like to get their hands on the $800 billion a year spent on education.
The Obama administration has contributed to the race to privatize public education. It has dangled $4 billion in front of strapped state governments to compete for by devising a new plan for education. This “Race to the Top” program calls not only for diminishing or eliminating altogether the cap on charter schools, but also calls for the tying of teacher pay to performance, opening the door for the firing of teachers at “underperforming schools.” Just this past week, the school committee in Central Falls, Rhode Island voted to fire every educator at Central Falls High School at the end of the school year. This anti-union attack on the hard won rights of teachers was applauded by Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
The state budget crisis, which grew out of the general economic crisis, has provided state governments across the country a pretext for further attacks on public education. As of December, 36 states have made higher education budget cuts, resulting in tuition increases and reductions in faculty and staff. Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have cut aid to K-12 schools. Additional cuts across states are expected to be widespread in 2010.
In this climate of severe and relentless education cuts, the protests that will take place in conjunction with March 4 is just the beginning of a movement to unite students, educators and other workers against the attacks on public education. As the struggle continues to grow post-March 4, it will be critical to link together the movements for jobs and education with the movement to stop the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For more information on the March 4 National Day of Actions to Defend Education:
- Visit the Web site for more details at http://www.defendeducation.
- Endorse the call by sending an email to march4nationaldayofaction@
Labels: Education , Events
1 Response to "Take Action to Demand Equal Quality Public Education!"
Post a Comment