Turning Up the Heat to Fund Our Future
Turning Up the Heat to Fund Our Future
Merrie Najimy,
President
Greetings,
Our Red For Ed Moment Is Here. The debate over education funding is heating up because of your activism through the Fund Our Future campaign. March, April and May are the most critical months in the next phase of this effort - our once-in-a-generation chance to win major funding increases for our public schools and colleges and win it with no strings attached! Get ready to take action on these important dates.
March 21: Public Higher Education Advocacy Day at the State House. This is our chance to make a pitch for the Cherish Act, which would bring a big increase in funding for public higher education, leading to lower tuition and fees for students and fairer treatment of staff and faculty.
March 22: Legislative hearing on the Promise Act and other school funding bills. The Promise Act is backed by the MTA and the rest of the Fund Our Future coalition. It would raise more than $1 billion for our public schools!
April 8-14: Week of Action. Stay tuned for more information about regional hearings set up by the campaign to make sure that legislators hear directly from you about why our schools and colleges need more funds.
May 1: International Workers' Day and Immigrant Rights Day. Rally with our immigrant students and families to demand Safe Communities, protect parents' rights on the job and fund public education. More information to come.
May 16: Red for Ed March on the State House! This day of action on Beacon Hill will include meetings with legislators and a march in the late afternoon. Buses will be provided from various locations. More details will follow.
There are also many community forums listed on our Events Calendar. Please attend one if you haven't already. And keep those resolutions coming. We are up to 70!
New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools
Plan to attend a Public Property for the Public Good Rally at noon on March 23 at the Kempton School, 135 Shawmut Ave, New Bedford.
City and state officials have been working behind closed doors to avoid hearing community members' voices in determining the future of public education for residents of New Bedford. Join educators, students and parents in the fight for quality public schools and the resistance to charter school expansion in New Bedford.
Blizzard Bags
With many schools closed on Monday because of the storm, the issue arises again: What do members think about "blizzard bags"? Please share your thoughts with us about this subject.
Book Brings History Home
Bill Schechter, a retired MTA member and progressive education activist, has written a book that several colleagues have read and recommended to me. It is called Bringing History Home: A Classroom Teacher's Quest to Make the Past Matter. From the author's note: "The book focuses on mobilizing pedagogy and curriculum through a variety of activities and resources - music, poetry, field trips, simulations, crafts, current news and civics - to deepen students' involvement with the subject matter." Schechter is making the case against standardization and in favor of giving teachers more freedom to use their creativity to make learning come alive for our students.
In Solidarity,
Merrie