Parent Eric Neiwert's call to action on Facebook: Oregon parents and other interested parties. I need you to make your voices heard. This past week the Oregon legislature announced a K12 budget that is $600 Million short of what is recommended by educators statewide. What is clear is that this budget will result in cuts to school districts across the state. In my children's district, Gresham-Barlow School District, this will result in a $5 million cut. This means either a 10 day reduction in each of the next two years or 45 additional staff will be cut. This is after sustaining cuts over six years leaving us with bare bones programs that shortchange our students.

We need a loud and collective voice to make sure our concerns are heard. We are tired of having inadequate funding for our schools and want to ensure that they are receiving the best education they can.

As a senior in high school I'm now realizing how expensive college is going to be. Students and parents would benefit from this tremendously.

We the undersigned educators, parents, and concerned citizens recognize the need to educate the whole child. We believe that children are individuals, and that differentiated instruction should occur to meet the needs of students. Valuable instructional time is being lost in order to teach to the tests. Weeks of direct instruction are being lost to prepare and administer the PARCC assessments. Many educators feel that these tests are two full grade levels above students comprehension levels. Moreover, there were no wide scale public hearings held to allow for educator input. Have we learned nothing from the failed mandates of No Child Left Behind? We must stop the reliance of high standards tests as indicators of students future success. We must stop toxic testing!

Please sign only if you live in the Cooperstown CSD. We truly appreciate the support of everyone who has signed so far, and are hoping the impact will be greater if most signatures are from taxpayers. • There is no clear statement of the role and responsibilities for the position of Director of Student Services/Executive Principal. • There was insufficient taxpayer input concerning the creation of the position of Director of Student Services/Executive Principal. • Enrollment levels have steadily declined at Cooperstown Central School. o 2010 enrollment: 1,025 o 2014 enrollment: 888 • Cooperstown Central School has a current enrollment of 888 average-needs students, housed in two buildings (Elementary School and High School). Each building has a Principal and shares a Superintendent. The added Executive Principal is unnecessary in a community with a school of this size, given the decline in enrollment as outlined above. • Comparable schools within the region do not have “extra” administrators in order to implement the Common Core curriculum and APPR. Teachers currently in the employ of the school with certifications in administration can take on some of these administrative duties for less cost. • The salary of ~$94,000/year, plus benefits, would be better suited to hiring faculty, support staff, and curricular support, especially in the areas of AIS services, arts programs, extracurricular activities, foreign language, and special needs students. As taxpayers, parents, and teachers, we urge the CCS Board of Education to eliminate the position of Executive Principal/Director of Student Services. Our schools are not in need of increased administration, but rather academic support. The $94,000 + spent annually on this position is not in the best interest of our students, our teachers, our school, or our community.

We are West Roxbury Student Government leaders and are asking that the School Committee, Mayor, and City Councilors amend the budget so that NO SCHOOLS ARE CLOSED! Here is why: -There is no public plan in place for how the buildings and schools will be used in the future -There was was no community process to identify the schools -Parents and students were not notified in a timely way -Parents who don’t speak English were given even less notice -Seats for selective application schools may already be filled or unavailable -Many of the students have already been displaced more than once -Students are not being given options that are equal or better than their current schools -The schools identified are not the poorest performing schools in the district -Perkins Pathways Program students will have no way to complete their programs -There is an ongoing investigation at the Office of Civil Rights regarding the discriminatory impact of school closings in 2010 -The savings is only $2.2 million in a $50 million deficit--the harm greatly outweighs the savings -This does not just impact the schools being closed, it will have a ripple effect of instability across the district Until there is a thoughtful, community-driven plan for all of the schools and buildings in the district, including a comprehensive facilities master plan, no schools should be closed.

We request that the decision made on March 5 to end the decades long tradition of graduation at Gordon be overturned. We ask the H-W school committee to adhere to its own stated core belief: engaged citizens of the 21st Century demonstrate respect for themselves, other people and their cultures…by exercising common sense as a good neighbor. For decades Gordon College has lent their venue to the neighboring school district to host Hamilton-Wenham High School graduation ceremonies. Some background: Since 1994, Gordon has provided use of AJ Chapel and our campus "at cost"-so that the school district has only paid for their police traffic detail and any out of pocket expenses (costs they'd incur even if they held the graduation at HW high school). They only use the facility-it's their ceremony, it's never been intended to imply some endorsement of Gordon and our mission, and our only intention as an institution has been to reflect Christ's teaching that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. As such, it has much symbolic value for our good relations with the communities with which we have co-existed for more than 50 years. On March 5th the School Committee held a meeting to decide the graduating venue for the 2015 ceremonies. In attendance were High School Seniors and Parents, and other members of the Hamilton Wenham community who presented overwhelming reasons why the relationship with Gordon should be maintained. Despite an overwhelming majority, the committee voted to move the graduation against the community's wishes. Please listen to the people. More info, video and written statements from the meeting at westandwithgordon.com

Boston Public Schools Interim SuperIntendent proposed to closed West Roxbury Academy without due process and proper justification for closure. This negatively impacts students in many ways. Many of the students have already been displaced more than once. Additionally, students were told that they would have free choice of any Boston Public School, yet are not being given options that are equal or better than their current schools. The proposed savings is only $2.2 million in a $1 billion budget--the harm greatly outweighs the savings. Lastly, this does not just impact the schools being closed, it will have a ripple effect of instability across the district and the city of Boston. Help us speak out about this injustice. At least present us with a plan of action, instead of taking actions without a plan or a Boston School Committee vote.

Historically, Iowa’s leaders have placed high priority on educating our children. The funding increases from year to year of greater than 10% allowed Iowa students to thrive, and our state to proudly claim the top spot for quality of education. However, today Iowa ranks 35th in the nation in terms of funding per pupil. Unfortunately, there are members in both our state government and state Legislature who believe the 35th spot is satisfactory, and they stubbornly stand by the proposed 1.25% increase in per pupil spending for the upcoming school year. This meager increase is well below general inflation, and will not even allow Iowa districts to provide education at the same level they are at this year, let alone permit schools to make the necessary annual investment needed to bring the quality of education in Iowa to back near the top. There is no better investment than in the young minds of our future leaders. For more information read: http://www.uen-ia.org/attachments/call%20to%20action/Call%20to%20Action%20School%20Funding%20Mar%206%202015.pdf

The University of North Carolina system has been a national model. But a series of recent decisions undermine that status. Over the summer, for example, with no student input, the Board of Governors voted to cap student financial aid -- directly affecting the ability of 16 colleges within the North Carolina system to keep their doors open to any student with the talent, desire, and drive to attend regardless of ability to pay. As student leaders and advocates, we are asking the Board to rescind its financial aid cap and that instead all public North Carolina colleges cap student loan debt for those from low and hard-pressed middle-income families. Without need-based financial aid, many of us would not have been able to attend or impact our respective universities in the way that we have: “If it had not been for financial aid, my student loans would have been exceptionally higher and I would not have been able to afford my degree.” –Quantia Sutton, senior at Fayettville State “Without financial aid, I would miss out on an often neglected aspect of [socioeconomic] diversity, and my undergraduate experience would be vastly less dynamic.” –Madeline Finnegan, freshman at NC State Join us in signing this petition demanding that the Board of Governors overturn their decision limiting student financial aid and insisting that there be a cap on student loan debt instead. The student voice should be heard on all decisions affecting financial aid and college affordability. For more information, visit our website www.capncstudentdebt.org -Quantia Sutton, Fayetteville State University, Class of 2015 -Madeline Finnegan, North Carolina State University, Class of 2018 -Hajar Ahmed, University of Virginia, Class of 2014

Our high school's auditorium is acoustically flawed and it takes away from the performances of hard working students. Our high school band has taken first place in multiple national competitions including the Disney festival of bands. With recent budget cuts, we are in jeopardy of teachers being cut and music programs being taken away entirely.

• If it is your goal to see our teachers stressed out to the max: you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to take the heart and passion out of teaching: you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to turn our kids into machines with no possibility to be inspired: you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to tear apart families with the stress of homework and extra tutoring that take away from family time all in the name of preparing for these tests: you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to prove to yourselves that our students are the best with ridiculous testing that has no validity or true measure of anything...you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to torture everyone in the system with teacher pay directly linked with student test results: you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to keep our teachers on edge by changing their goals and schedules and forcing them to change their lesson plans throughout the year to meet these demands: you are succeeding! Is the message we are trying to send clear enough? You are destroying everything good about teaching and learning! The heart of education is dying. The best teachers are hanging on for dear life and many are choosing to leave because they are just fed up with the system. Parents and children are unable to have quality home life because they are in a mad race to complete all of the homework tasks assigned and completely terrified all year of the inevitable testing which is consuming months of teaching the tests and taking up precious learning time! After school activities should be enhancing the children's lives, not enslaving them to their education. The school system has already practically eliminated all of the arts, recess, music, and other enrichments due to "lack of funding.". They should be enjoying sports, friendships, hobbies and family life, not doing more school work! • We parents serve on PTAs and volunteer during and after school. • We donate money and time to help our teachers improve their learning environments. • We raise money in addition to the taxes we already pay because our school doesn't have enough to purchase basic supplies and equipment and make improvements to the school. • We work side by side with the administration and other parents trying to raise money for our school in an effort to make it the best it can possibly be. • We believe our system is completely out of control and that whoever is making the decisions is either not well informed or knowledgeable about the education system or simply does not care! • We believe that the powers that be are completely out of touch with the reality of schools and their barriers, processes and challenges as well as the financial burdens and lack of time to complete all requirements. We need the madness to stop. Our teachers, parents, students, and administration need a break! We encourage each of you to visit at least two schools for a minimum of 45 minutes and meet with teachers, administrations, parents, and students to understand the issues better, to begin to have an open dialog with the people directly impacted, so that you can get a real life perspective and start to understand our plight. • How is it that students and parents were told they would be taking an online writing exam (typed) this year, yet there were no plans, money or time to teach them how to type properly? How is it that a timed writing test can be given to students that have rudimentary typing skills (more likely thumb only texting skills)? • How is it that our schools with their minimal funding and overcrowding can be expected to prepare and test all of their students with insufficient computer labs? • How is it that you expect to inspire brilliance and forward thinking and innovation when you are twisting the learning to the point of absurd stupidity. The amount of time it is taking to teach our children the ridicuous processes/requirements of the lessons could be better spent giving the extra time towards creativity in the classroom which is what really engages the students. If you treat them like robots, they will become robots. • The people across the nation are standing up and demanding a change! What are you planning to do yourself to serve the people that have put you in your positions? Do you care? We want to know what you are prepared to do to find new answers that make sense. We need change!