Parents Across America Action Alert

This, from Parents Across America...

PAA Action Alert

Tell your congresspeople: Parent "choice" is not parent voice

On Wednesday of this week, a House education subcommittee held a hearing, supposedly on parent engagement. It is clear, though, that House leaders narrowly define parent engagement as choice using charters, parent trigger laws and vouchers.

You can read PAA's response here. We sent letters detailing our concerns to subcommittee chair Rep. Duncan Hunter and members of the House and Senate education committees.

PAA believes (and polls agree) that most parents want better schools in their own communities, not more school closings and privatization. But our voices need to be heard in Washington, D.C., where they "choose" to listen to charter operators and other corporate reformers, not parents.

So, we're asking you to e-mail your U.S. representative and senators with a quick message. Put "Parent choice is not parent voice" in the subject line and, for the message, write something like this: "As a parent, I do not choose privatization, charter schools, vouchers, or trigger laws. I expect you, my representative in Congress, to fight for a quality education for every child and high-quality neighborhood schools where I have a real voice in school policies and programs, and my child has experienced teachers, small class sizes, quality preschool and kindergarten programs, a rich curriculum with fewer tests, and a safe, healthy environment."

A phone call to their local office would be even better! Let us know how they respond!

Join Massachusetts parents and others in standing up against Stand for Children

PAA Oregon member Susan Barrett wrote a ground-breaking post for PAA's blog last July, exposing the way a formerly grass-roots group had been taken over by corporate reformers with an agenda very different from the group's original purpose.

The same thing has now happened in Massachusetts, where 39 former Stand for Children activists have posted a letterand a petitionagainst a SFC ballot measure that promotes a corporate reform agenda: "Venture capitalists and deep-pocketed corporate foundations, such as Bain Capital and the Walton Family Foundation, are moving aggressively to remake MA public schools based on their right-wing ideology. They are funding "Stand for Children" to sell a ballot initiative that would undermine our children's learning environment and sharply restrict teacher job protections. Don't let them do in Massachusetts what they did to Illinois!"

Let's support our fellow activists! Sign the MA petition!