Education and Youth

As work and discussion begin on the arduous and controversial process of planning for a new multipurpose arena or renovating the BMO Harris Bradley Center, Common Ground, a well-organized community organization, is reminding stakeholders of its own mission.

The organization, with members who belong to churches, small businesses, nonprofits and neighborhood groups, says it hasn't wavered from its stand that if public funds are dedicated to a new arena, then at least $150 millon of those funds must be used to improve Milwaukee County public schools athletic facilities and recreational spaces.

Marta Parra told her oldest daughter she could never go to college because they didn’t have enough money – Parra hadn’t yet heard of the state’s lottery scholarship.  Now Parra’s younger daughter, a high school student, may not be able to attend either because the lottery scholarship could be reduced as soon as next year due to insufficient funds.

“Austin Interfaith worked from the ground up to get its priorities included in the budget….It represents the interests of low-income families and has become a familiar presence at City Hall in recent years. Austin Interfaith leaders mobilized members to show up en masse to city budget hearings to plug these programs, meet with council members and bombard council offices with calls and emails in the days leading up to the final budget vote. The nonprofit was elated that council members agreed to spend money on all of Austin Interfaith’s priorities, totaling $2.4 million.”

Michael Dresser got it right in describing the trajectory of the Baltimore school facilities bill as going from "non-starter to law," but the story goes far beyond the elected and appointed officials who worked hard to make the deals and shepherd the legislation to passage ("City schools bill a political showpiece," May 17).

The deeper story must include the herculean efforts of the Baltimore Education Coalition (BEC), the innovative policy advocacy work done by the ACLU of Maryland and the powerful community organizing of groups like BUILD and Child First. Our elected officials don't do this by themselves. They were propelled to act by the incredible urgency and public will created by the BEC. BEC made the problem of broken-down, substandard schools real, laid out a vision for a solution and created the imperative so elected officials had to act.

Over the last three years, BEC organized hundreds of meetings in schools, neighborhoods and churches to train and mobilize leaders. Coalition members held dozens of meetings with elected officials, gaining commitments that decent school buildings would be their number one priority for 2013. BEC organized huge rallies in Annapolis including February's 3,000-person rally for new and renovated schools.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Thousands of Baltimore City families petitioned lawmakers for billions in funding to renovate or rebuild about 65 of the school district’s crumbling buildings. Parents, students, teachers and community leaders rallied in Annapolis Monday evening for legislation that would create a block grant each year in the state budget for the city’s schools, enabling the city to leverage that to borrow more money. Supporters say the measure would create more than $1 billion to remodel the dilapidated infrastructure of several schools. Legislation has been filed in Annapolis to create the program.

Supporters of a $2.4 billion plan to rebuild Baltimore's crumbling schools made a show of support in Annapolis on Monday night as thousands of people staged a loud, festive rally outside the State House to urge passage of legislation to launch the program. Teachers, students, parents and others described deplorable conditions in city schools — ranging from disgusting bathrooms and broken windows to stifling classrooms and inadequate computer labs — as they called upon lawmakers to provide the resources to rebuild the state's oldest school buildings. "We're not asking for charity. We're not asking for a handout," said Yasmene Mumby, co-chairwoman of the Baltimore Education Coalition, which organized the rally. "We're asking to use existing state funds to renovate and reconstruct our school buildings efficiently, effectively and in a smarter way."

Rep. Mimi Stewart and Sen. Linda Lopez, both Albuquerque Democrats, joined the Rev. Trey Hammond of Albuquerque Interfaith, a faith-based community organizing effort, as well as a coalition of parents, students and public-school supporters, at a news conference Tuesday to announce the introduction of House Bill 460.

More than 200 leaders of El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization assembled to challenge Clint Independent School District board candidates to “eliminate all disparities in per student funding throughout the district if elected….Challengers Claudia García, Sonia Herrera, Susana Santillan, Dino Coronado and incumbent Patricia Randleel participated at the nonpartisan accountability session at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Horizon City.”

[Photo Credit: Fernie Castillo, El Paso Times]

Candidates for the U.S. Congressional 16th District of Texas, the Senate District 29 of Texas, Texas House of Representatives District 78 and for District 1 of the State Board of Education participated in Sunday’s candidate accountability session…organized by Border Interfaith at the San Judas Tadeo Catholic Church in the Upper Valley.

Before the board meeting on Wednesday, the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization, or EPISO, and the Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project argued that the district’s at-large elected board does not ensure equal representation throughout the communities it serves.