Wisconsin Public School Advocates to Rally at the Capitol, Saturday July 30, 3:00 PM

99K PDF, via a TJ Mertz email:

As hundreds of thousands of public school supporters gather in Washington DC the weekend of July 28 to 30, 2011, Wisconsin advocates will hold a rally in support of the Save Our Schools agenda at 3:00 PM on Saturday July 30, near the State St. entrance to the Capitol.

"Public schools are under attack. There is a need for national, state, and local action in support of our schools. Wisconsin has been ground zero in this; the Save Our Schools demands from the Guiding Principles provide a great framework to build our state movement and work to expand opportunities to learn" said education activist Thomas J. Mertz.

The Save Our Schools demands are:

• Equitable funding for all public school communities
• An end to high stakes testing used for the purpose of student, teacher, and school evaluation
• Teacher, family and community leadership in forming public education policies
• Curriculum developed for and by local school communities

Doing more with less doesn't work. "The time to act is now. While phony debates revolve around debt ceilings, students and teachers across the country are shortchanged. We need real reform, starting with finally fixing the school funding formula, and putting families and communities first. What child and what teacher don't deserve an excellent school?" said rally organizer Todd Price, former Green Party Candidate for Department of Public Instruction and Professor of Teacher Education National Louis University.

The event will feature speeches from educators, students, parents and officials, as well as opportunities for school advocates from throughout Wisconsin to connect and organize around issues of importance in their communities.

For more information, visit: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/ and http://saveourschoolswisconsin.wordpress.com/

Related:

• Locally, via a kind reader's email, the Madison School District's preliminary budget plans to spend about $362,000,000 for 25,000 students, about $14,480 per student.. The District's budget has been largely flat for several years, after growing at 5.25% annually for some time.
• Was the $5 Billion Worth It? A decade into his record-breaking education philanthropy, Bill Gates talks teachers, charters--and regrets, Mea Culpa on Small Learning Communities; Does More Money Matter?; the article mentions that we spend about $600,000,000,000 annually on public education.
• How does Wisconsin compare?
• Several Wisconsin Senate recall elections occur in a few weeks. (WEAC has many links along with Madison Teachers, Inc, AFT-Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association.
• Chris Wilson: Two "simple" graphs reveal US Federal Government cash and debt positions.
• Wisconsin Ranks #4 in tax burden, Minnesota 7 and Massachusetts 11.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 25, 2011 1:05 PM
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