“All hands on deck!”
by Sandra Bliss, co president of RC 12
That is the mobilization we need from all NYSUT members. You have seen the TV news reports, heard the radio news on NPR, received emails/ tweets/ facebook posts, and talked with your family/friends/neighbors/people on the street.
YOU ARE ANGRY!
Public education, the foundation of our democracy, has enemies ready to destroy the future of our children and our country. It is happening in New York State; right now! How can that be possible? Governor Cuomo has said public education is a monopoly which must be broken!
How is Cuomo going to break public education? “Starve the beast” tactics are employed. Schools have been deprived of $5.9 billion though GEA and loss of foundation aid. Tax caps, tax freeze and underfunded public schools are in place. Then bogus standardized tests with manipulated scores “prove” public schools are failures. For profit charter schools are given taxpayer dollars to operate schools without accountability or transparency for the public dollars they spend or the “education” they do or do not provide.
Lack of funding deprives students of their New York State constitutional right to an education. The Board of Regents says $2 billion of new money is needed for our schools this year. NYSUT says $2.2 billion is required and schools must be equitably funded. Twenty per cent of our students live in poverty. The funding gap between low income and wealthy school districts is $8,600 per year per student. This must end now!
Cuomo says if you pass my “reforms” you can have $1.1 billion. Cuomo is holding our students hostage. Cuomo’s “reform” proposals take local control away from our school districts. The “reforms” are bogus. They have been proven not to work! Schools need the resources to be able to educate all children. That takes $$$. Money does matter because it pays for programs for students.
You have read all the details in the NYSUT United Teacher newspaper. So what do you do?? STAND UP and TAKE ACTION. Go to www.nysut.org and keep up to date on the details of the battles. Educate yourself and everyone around you.
Sign up to receive NYSUT Member Action Center Alerts on the home page of www.nysut.org. Take action when you receive an alert. If you don’t have a Smartphone to download the app, send a fax from the NYSUT homepage and you will receive emails with each new alert.
Attend rallies, forums, and meetings of your teacher association along with your in-service colleagues. Bring your family, friends, neighbors. Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers and send handwritten letters to your legislators. Call your legislators. Contribute to Vote/Cope so NYSUT can run media campaigns in the newspapers and on TV.
To sign up for text alerts from NYSUT send a text by entering: 38470 in the recipient bar and in the message section type: NYSUT.
