As the presidential candidates scramble to get out the vote, downballot races and voter initiatives across the country could reshape our schools.
In Georgia, a referendum to create a new state-operated agency to take over struggling schools is on the ballot. It’s modeled on what Louisiana did when it created the New Orleans “opportunity district. ” Here’s what Ashana Bigard and the children of New Orleans have to say about what has happened to their schools—voters beware!!
Massachusetts voters are considering bringing in more charter schools. Students in that state have been actively resisting the combination of public-school budget cuts and more charters—Emily Kaplan reports
The political fight against the “charterization” of public schools got pretty intense this year. Our lead Education Fellow Jeff Bryant explains what’s the matter with charters in this important post, Five Truths About Charter Schools.
Incredibly, Melania Trump has announced that her top priority as First Lady would be to combat bullying. Watch our animated video on how the “Trump Effect” is actually making bullying worse—and what students and teachers are saying about it.
No matter what happens in the election, attacks on the teaching profession and on high-quality, publicly funded schools will continue to be a threat to our democracy. Here's some more information on the situation teachers face, and why fewer people are going into teaching, and veteran teachers are retiring.
As education fellow Peter Green writes,
“If you think the economy is improving, you probably don’t work in a public school.”
That should worry all of us, since public schools are the cornerstone of our democracy.
Join the fight to defend our schools, and keep informed by checking out The Progressive’s Public School Shakedown page.
Happy Election Day!