On May 7th, 2015, Alliance Collins Family administration announced that all physics classes would be completely phased out by the end of the following school year. Mr. Chu, Alliance Collins Family’s physics teacher, would lose his job by the end of next year. We, as current and former students of Collins Family High School, believe that Mr. Chu is an effective teacher. He has made a deep and lasting connection with countless students, despite having come from a different background. Through his position as a physics teacher, Mr. Chu has worked tirelessly to encourage and prepare students to go into fields in engineering and other sciences, which are fields underrepresented by the Latino student population that Collins Family High school serves. As students, we have seen too many good teachers leave Collins Family High School. Mr. Chu has made a commitment to stay and continue to serve this student body. Collins Family High School should do everything in their power to allow Mr. Chu to stay as a full time teacher.

We have an opportunity to make a real impact on early education in Massachusetts. This move is long overdue. Massachusetts should lead on education, but when it comes to early education, we've fallen behind. Since 2001, we’ve seen a 50% decrease in the state’s commitment to early learning. We can do better. Every child deserves the same strong start. Right now, the Massachusetts Senate is debating their budget, and we have a chance to deliver a win for our youngest learners and their teachers. The relationships young children form with their teachers is critical to their thriving. But, thanks to continual cuts to public programs, we're struggling to keep high-quality educators in the field, which has a 30% turnover rate. These cuts are short-sighted. For every $1 we spend on early education, we save $7 over time as kids require less special education, perform better and earn more in the workforce. It's not just smart, it's the right thing to do. We've got just a few days to build support for two amendments that will make a big difference: - Early Education Rate Reserve Amendment, #547 - which would invest in early educators and stabilize the workforce. - Early Ed Quality Programming Amendment #601 - which helps improve quality in early learning programs. The Senate will vote soon on these amendments. Can you sign our petition right now?

Dr. McCreary works for families for Excellent Schools, an organization that is extremely active in the privatization of public education. Families for Excellent Schools has set records in money spent lobbying the New York state legislature, and launched a $3.6 million dollar ad campaign against the Mayor of New York City for his asking that 3 charter schools pay rent for using public property. The organization is ruthless and artificial. They are far more interested in privatizing education than they are in public education. There is no place for Dr. McCreary in BPS. She needs to be removed from Dr. Changs' cabinet immediately. For TONS more background information about this petition, please copy and paste this link into a new browser tab http://bit.ly/1EQ4gTO

A lack of education has many long-term effects for the state of Arizona. We have too many low wage workers and do not attract industries that bring high-paying jobs. Many of our most promising college graduates probably leave Arizona and relocate to cities with better-paying careers. More funding for education can change this trend and improve the well-being of our citizens.

The Iowa State Board of Education is meeting this week to discuss whether to adopt new science standards for K-12 students that include climate change education. An Iowa science standards review team has recommended adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards, but vocal legislators and groups that deny climate science are trying to stop them. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have already adopted the NGSS, which were developed by the National Academy of Sciences and science educators in 26 states, including Iowa. For the first time, all students in grades 8-12 would learn about the data and evidence that leads to the scientific consensus on climate change. But those who deny climate science are digging in against the standards. State Rep. Sandy Salmon (R-Janesville) introduced legislation in 2014 and this year to stop the NGSS from being adopted or implemented. She recently said, "The focus is on promoting the politically controversial topic of climate change, which is a highly debatable topic, man's impact on the environment, as a scientific fact." As you know, there is no debate among scientists about the fact of human-caused climate change. Given what's at stake for our kids and grandkids with climate change, learning about it at school is essential. A strong foundation in climate science will position students to help develop solutions. Please sign the petition calling on the Iowa State Board of Education to adopt Next Generation Science Standards that include climate science. Thank you for taking action! Sincerely, Maria Filippone Small business owner, physician, mother and Climate Parents member Des Moines, IA

In the world where cultural history is disappearing every day, I believe the craft rich India beautifully made traditional objects must be preserved. Museums, caretakers of these crafts, must be supported and sustained to make history and traditions available to future generations. Leadership and foresight is needed. Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian, built 20 years back has more than million objects of Native Americans, American Indians, that are cared, respected, showcased and preserved. I find this incredibly short sighted and should be stopped.

When I graduated from high school, I did not know how to grow my own food. The majority of Hawaii's students graduate yearly having no acquired skills of self sustainability. Stop sending our graduates into the workforce without the skills necessary to self sustain themselves and their families.

I have three children, two of whom were given devices for which they have no demonstrated need. Arlington has wonderful teachers. They deserve a 1:1 program that has been developed to meet their needs and implemented with sufficient training for them and sufficient transparency for the rest of the community.

Cambridge teachers feel that the over emphasis on testing and data collection is pulling them away from the creative, engaging teaching and learning that their students need and deserve. As Cambridge parents and community members, we wholeheartedly support our public school teachers as they advocate for the children in our community.

For the fifth year in a row, SASD is faced with making deep cuts in our schools because of a broken state funding system that is based on politics rather than on what it actually costs to educate children. In the past 4 years, SASD has eliminated more than 40 full-time teachers and support staff from our schools just to balance the budget. This year we face another massive budget deficit as a result of inadequate state funding. Any additional cuts in programs and services in SASD will have a negative impact on every child in the school district. We need our lawmakers to fix the broken state funding system for education this year —our children cannot afford to lose more from their schools. Our state lawmakers must invest additional state resources into schools so that SASD will will not need to make additional cuts this year and instead be able to begin to restore cuts to programs and services that we have made in recent years and put in place the full set of programs and services our children need.

I'm starting this because entitlement is poison, just because you have a complaint or don't agree with someone doesn't mean you can petition them to lose their job.

The PERS ruling means more teacher layoffs, larger class sizes and shorter school years. We need to block this year's kicker and work towards reforming the law so that we may someday have a stable enough funding source to plan ahead and make long-term investments in our future.