Please fund the $34 million for MLK that is shown in the MNPS Capital Improvement Budget.

We parents value excellence in our teachers. We value their ability to effectively teach and to inspire our children to learn and develop myriad types of success throughout their lives. Our teachers should never need to compete with each other in this way; they should work together for the good of all of our children. This competition for “merit” pay will also lead to an increased emphasis on testing and teaching to those tests – rather than on teaching our children how to learn and how to develop their best talents and abilities. It will discriminate against teachers who work with ELL students, Special Needs students and students who live in poverty, and lead to an exodus of experienced teachers from high poverty districts.

Nature is disappearing from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. Since 2007 Oxford University Press has cut the names of at least 30 plant and animal species -- and numerous other words associated with nature and biological diversity -- from the pages of its Junior dictionary.

I am a 1992 graduate of SC State University. I ask that the Governor and State Legislators strengthen and support SCSU and not hurt or close the school. The Governor and Legislators choose members of the Board of Trustees at SCSU and share responsibility in the success and failure of this institution. I ask that you help to make SCSU a great success story.

Governor Cuomo is trying to force the implementation of educational reforms that are unfair to our public school teachers and administrators. Please sign this petition to let our elected officials know the way we want them to vote on merit pay for teachers.

The Principal is only a symptom of the bigger problem. The Board of Education and The Superintendents continue to employ, protect and allow Kimberly Taylor Around Children. BOCES LEADERSHIP IS BROKEN. REPLACE THE DECISION MAKERS!!!!! Because a week suspension is noRecent Petition Entries: 911. Max McDonald from Nyack, NY signed this petition on Feb 14, 2015. Do not stop the petition. BOCES IS COVERING UP AGAIN. Kim Taylor was removed from hilltop. But just moved to building 10. Another school in the boces program. She is still around children 910. Martin J. Coleman from Woodbury, NY signed this petition on Feb 14, 2015. I am a civil rights attorney for people with disabilities. Most of my cases are brought5 under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Given her language used by Ms. Taylor, as quoted on the internet, any case ever brought against BOCES under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or IDEA will be more difficult to defend if Ms. Taylor is not severed from employment with BOCES. Please terminate her from her position. Thank you. Martin J. Colemant a fitting response to a person who subjects children to degradation, abuse, embarrassment, fear and administrators needs to be held accountable for those they employ. There is not enough accountability or pressure on school administrators to remove abusive educators. Children in schools are too often victims and abused by the educators entrusted to educate, support and protect them. There needs to be better screening processes for those put into these positions and an ongoing checks and balances to ensure our students continue to be in the care of responsible, reasonable and caring professionals.

I am the owner of a State Licensed Group Daycare Home. My daycare is located in a rural area. I employ 3 workers. And over half my enrollment is from children on the CCAP program.

On Thursday February 12th 2015, the NJ State Legislature's Education Committee will vote on whether or not to recommend to make standardized testing (such as PARCC) illegal before grade 3 and to force schools to provide an Opt-Out policy for older students. A third legislation under discussion would limit the use of PARCC results for the next 3 years. It is imperative that the many wonderful legislators who have sponsored and co-sponsored these bills go into session with the views of their constituents in hand and available to share with others. By signing this petition, you give our elected officials the tools they need to get the job done.

I am an elementary teacher who has seen excellent colleagues leave the profession because they don't feel free to do what's best for kids. I have been rated poorly based on my students' performance on the state test while I was on maternity leave. The next year I was rated much better...because I was actually at my job for the full year. This system is highly flawed. Merit pay incentives will only make the situation worse.

New York State owes New York City schools billions of dollars. This money is needed to increase the quality and effectiveness of public education. Charter schools can and do raise money in obscene amounts. That money is NOT governed by the same guidelines as money the public schools are allocated by the state. When charters are co-located in our public school buildings, they create a caste system in an already segregated school system. They create a “have” and “have not” situation in schools, with the real public schools being the “have nots.” That being said: When at the 11th hour before 2014's state elections, legislation was hurried through changing the rules governing charter schools. They do NOT have to pay rent, nor do they have to find their own space. More importantly, New York City has to find space for them in existing public schools or find them space elsewhere and the city must pay for their rent and renovations. The money to do this would come from OUR school budget, and taking money from OUR school budget means less in our classrooms. This causes the quality of our children's education to decrease, thereby creating an unequal public education system which is constitutional right of EVERY child in the United States! That being said: This petition is to request that New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman investigate the civil rights violations these actions pose on students in New York City's real public schools. Furthermore: Please view the the document below showing the contributions made to Governor Cuomo by charter school proponents, totaling over $1.6 million. Eva Moskowitz and her cohorts have donated almost $700 thousand alone. These figures strongly suggest that the governor was and is complicit in these civil rights violations. Andrew Cuomo’s Campaign Contributors With Charter Schools Affiliation Great Public Schools PAC Belongs to Eva Moskowitz CEO of Success Academy $65,000 Joel GreenBlatt Success Academy co-founder $50,000 Julia Greenblatt Joel Greenblatt’s wife $23,000 John Petry Success Academy co-founder $60,000 Samuel Cole Success Academy Board $42,500 Bryan Binder Success Academy Board $20,000 Jill Braufman Success Academy Board $57,500 Daniel Loeb Success Academy Board, StudentFirstNY BOD $60, 367 Margaret Loeb Daniel Loeb’s wife $29,000 John H. Scully Success Academy Board $50,000 Daniel Nir Success Academy Board $65,000 Charles Strauch Success Academy Board $25,000 Jarrett Posner Success Academy Board $2,500 Andrew Stone Success Academy Board $60,000 Dana Stone Andrew Stone’s wife $25,000 Gregory Sawers Success Academy Board $10,000 Catherine Shainker Success Academy Board $2,000 Suleman Lunat Success Academy Board $1,000 Kent Yalowitz Success Academy Board $5,000 Steven M. Galbraith Success Academy Board $35,000 Larry Robbins KIPP NY Board (charter school organization) $90,800 Winston Fischer Civic Builders BOD (non-profit developer specializing in charter school construction) $64,500 Jessica Fischer Winston Fischer’s wife $13,000 Kenneth Fischer Winston Fischer’s brother $67,500 Steven Fischer ...

I am asking your help to get the day care subsidies for poor families reinstated. These are federal funds that Illinois got and diverted to other uses. I am a director at the not-for-profit West Austin Development Center where 200 needy kids are about to be sent home, the teachers are working without the promise of pay and the last of the reserves are being used to pay the rent and keep the heat on. If we don't get funded by February 20, we have to close the doors.

I am a mother, a grandmother, a teacher, a senior citizen and a voter. I consider the thought of merit pay for teachers to be appalling. I would find it equally distasteful should it apply to healthcare, public safety, or the military and no one with any sense would consider such a thing, so why is it being considered for children's learning? Politicians should keep the private sector out of public education. Let them start their own private schools, they can well afford it. Public money is for public education. Stop the nonsense, please. There should be some things that money can't buy. This is one of them. TEACHERS TEACH BECAUSE THEY CAN, NOT BECAUSE THEY NEED A MONETARY REWARD.