Just a few days left!

Only a few days remain until thousands of students across the state speak up to demand that Governor Schwarzenegger and the Legislature fully fund schools in California and reject nearly $5 billion in proposed budget cuts.

As we get closer to the Day of Action this Friday, here are a few things you can do to show your support:

1. Sign an electronic postcard to the Governor — Tell him why schools cannot withstand such a large budget cut
2. Try out our new upload tool — Learn how to upload pictures and video from your cell phone to Right To Learn on April 18
3. Promote your Day of Action — Use these PDF signs, official RTL logos, and other resources to promote your Day of Action event around your school

Some schools asking parents for funds

Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times wrote a great, yet saddening, column this morning about how his daughter’s school is now asking parents to make up the $180,000 that is expected to be cut from their budget next year.

“I feel more than a little lucky to live in a good neighborhood with a great public school that parents are passionate about,” Lopez writes. “At the same time, I can’t help but think about the impact of budget cuts at schools where there’s not a chance of parents raising anywhere near $180,000.”

Despite its faults, public education has been an equalizing force in the United States for generations. Efforts like these, while understandable, stand to further rub salt in the wounds of school funding inequality and expand the chasm between high-income and low-income schools.

Many schools can’t, or won’t, choose to tax their parents for what was supposed to be a free, high-quality education. They shouldn’t have to. Educating tomorrow’s leaders is a communal responsibility and something that needs to be fixed in the halls of the capitol in Sacramento.

Join with the Right To Learn Campaign in demanding that Governor Schwarzenegger and the legislature find a better solution to California’s budget crisis.

Petition circulating to save Prop 98

A new petition has been circulating online that calls for the Governor and legislature to preserve Proposition 98, California’s minimum school funding guarantee.

We strongly encourage everyone involved in Right To Learn to read more about Proposition 98 and sign the petition!

And, if you haven’t yet, don’t forget to sign up to lead or participate in a Day of Action on April 18!

Ventura School District Rally April 18th

Right To Learn recently partnered up with the Ventura Education Partnership(VEP), a community-based, non-profit, non-political association made up of parents, business, and community members. VEP was established in 1988 to support and enrich education in the Ventura Unified School District through community partnerships.

We were both so excited to learn that we were both planning actions on April 18th against the budget cuts, and it only seemed natural that we team up! Through this partnership, we’ll hopefully gain participation of the 5 high schools in the Ventura School District, with the idea that our online organizing tool on RTL site will help high school students recruit for the Ventura School District rally.

If you’re in Ventura and want to be part of the Right To Learn Day of Action, but not sure what to do, organize your friends and peers to go to the the rally!

A Rally for our Children
Friday, April 18, 2008
4 p.m.
Buena High School Quad, 5670 Telegraph Rd., Ventura

Featured speakers:
Assemblyman Pedro Nava
State Senate candidate Hannah-Beth Jackson
Congressional candidate Jill Martinez
Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Chuck Weis
Ventura Superintendent Trudy Arriaga
Ventura Board of Education President John Walker
Ventura Board of Education Vice President Mary Haffner
Ventura County Board of Education Trustee ML Peterson
VUEA President Stephen Blum
California Teacher’s Association Secretary Dan Vaughn
Parents, students & teachers

For more information, call VEP @ 805-641-500, ext. 1550 or visit www.vep4vusd.org or send an email to: info@vep4vusd.org.

Download a Ventura Rally Flyer!

GOP Lawmakers Propose Education Bills

Republican Assembly members announced a series of bills aimed at education reform Thursday. While none of the bills called for increased funding directly, they do call for eliminating some of the regulatory burden schools and districts face around their finances.

“The key of what we’re trying to do is strip some of the handcuffs that are put on them,” said Republican leader Mike Villines of Clovis. “Most of them will say if they can use funds in different ways to manage tough times, that’s what we want to do — give them flexibility to do it.”

Inspiring Youth Leaders at Successful San Diego Summit for Right To Learn and YouthNoise

March 29^th, 2008: San Diego, CA. We had another successful and exciting summit in our series of Youth Rising events across the U.S. this year. Our California summits in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Fresno, L.A., and San Diego were important in order to bring students together to discuss real issues in each of the regions’ education systems. In the end, we planned, plotted and discussed how we wanted to take action. San Diego was no exception to this energy, excitement and commitment.

Great HIGHLIGHTS from the day included:

1. Mr. Random Abiladeze performed and facilitated a great discussion about his poetry and put on a great performance during lunch. Random does classroom visits all over the state and is always so interestingly intrigued by meaningful conversations…which leads him to discussions about education and Right to Learn. He also performed in Fresno and we’ll keep him in our sights for future things we do. Tons of talent and a truly warm and generous person who I deeply respect for his art.

2. TracenDANCE- a youth arts and dance non-profit also performed and wow-ed us with their artistic portrayals of movement as a means to discuss social issues- one about technology taking over our lives, one about loving who we are, and one about making your voice be heard. It was GREAT stuff.

3. Participants!!! We had 35 participants from 2 colleges and 12 different high schools. If I could have put together a group of leaders, I could not have done it better. These people that showed up just go to prove how advanced and full of passion young people are. For some reason, we just got the most excited and perfect individuals to attend this summit. They were all amazing, but here are some of my most memorable participants.

a. Miranda, one of our CitiJos and YouthNoise users attended! It was awesome to have that connection, and she was so gosh darn pumped and has started a Day of Action at Scripps Ranch High.

b. Rodrigo, another participant, picked up a RTL flyer the few days before the event, organized classroom visits that Thursday before, and on Friday had 300 young people at his school signed up to do a DAY OF ACTION at his school. This guy was filled with so much knowledge and excitement I could have sworn he’s been organizing for years. He just got it- media advocacy, partnering with parents and teachers, personalizing student stories, educating all his peers on the issue, organizing an event at the school board meeting next week, and extending the movement to be “A MOVEMENT OF ALL OF US, not just one persons idea.” I’m not even kidding, we’ll see him running something big in the future. Keep an eye out.

c. Katrina and Paul - both attend Preuss Charter School in S.D., a charter school in San Diego that buses students from across the region. The budget cuts are affecting their transportation services and may cut some of the bus routes out (not good). They are excited about starting a day of action and doing a “School tour” with their classes..visiting the bigger S.D. public schools to connect with students and learn more about what’s happening in other places. They both are outreach organizers for their school, and are articulate and smart as hell. Seriously. Amazing.

4. Volunteer San Diego volunteers and the SAVY Leaders. They are super amped about all this education stuff. They are dedicating their April Newsletter to the idea of advocating for education. Their staff offered to be adult allies for the students and were amazing positive forces. The leader that showed up from their group were motivated and ready to present this education advocacy at the Global Youth Service day as well!

5. Third Monday in October film screening. We had about 35 folks show up for the screening and talk with Vanessa Roth, the filmmaker. Vanessa is really excited to be working with us, and she just recently won an Oscar for her film “Freeheld” in the documentary short category. She is very dedicated and passionate about education and is working on a future project with Dave Eggers and the McSweenys publishing and 826 Valencia folks on a piece called “The Teachers Project.” They are going to be getting teachers to submit videos and stories about their experiences- trials, tribulations, ups/downs, what sucks what doesn’t, why they love to teach. Then they are going to select stories and create another film from it. She likes us!

Overall this was an amazing summit. We had 5 different groups working on a variety of types of actions for the Right To Learn Statewide Day of Action on APRIL 18, 2008. Sign up your school today and speak out against the budget cuts!

If you want to learn more or get involved in any more of these events Youth Noise hosts, check out www.youthnoise.com/summit or email Lauren at lauren@youthnoise.org .

 

San Diego Students Hold “12k for K-12″

We wanted to congratulate the students from Westview High School that organized more than 1,000 students, teachers, parents and community members to come out for the “12k for K-12” this weekend. This action was completely conceived, organized and executed by students from schools in Poway USD.

The protest march received a ton of media attention and helped raise the profile of these devastating cuts in the eyes of the public.

Remember - you can join thousands of students statewide on April 18 to protest the cuts by holding an action at your school. Sign up today to participate!

O’Connell speaks out against cuts

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell criticized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed cuts of $4.8 billion from next year’s education budget during a visit earlier this week at Lincoln High School in San Diego.

These comments come on the heels of comments O’Connell made earlier this month in Alameda after students protested the cuts by holding a walk out.

“It’s an abdication of the governor’s responsibility to set priorities,” O’Connell said about the budget at that time.

Join with thousands of other students to protest against the cuts on April 18 by leading a Day of Action at your high school or college. 

“Yacht Party” ad questions priorities

The Courage Campaign today released this advertisement highlighting the choices of some legislators who voted to preserve a tax loophole for yacht owners instead of providing more funding to California schools.

The group is hoping to run the ad on CNN, MSNBC, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report next week.

What do you think? Is this a fair criticism? What should be prioritized as the legislature begins to debate the budget?

If you think schools deserve to be at the top of the list, sign up today to lead a Right To Learn Day of Action on April 18!

Cuts would leave students with less qualified teachers

The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning recently released a report examining the potential effect of the proposed $4.8 billion education budget cut on the state’s teaching force.

In the Fall of 2007, students across California told the Right To Learn Campaign that they needed more high-quality teachers. Unfortunately, according to this report, students will get the exact opposite if these cuts are to pass.

“The shrinking pool of available candidates will make it even harder for struggling schools in poor neighborhoods to recruit and hire fully prepared teachers,” it says.

We must stop these cuts and continue to push for the best teachers available for California’s students.

Join in the campaign today and lead a Right To Learn Day of Action on April 18!