QUEST (Quality Education for Every Student) is a group of parents who have come together to fight for quality, equity and transparency in the Boston Public Schools. We can be found at facebook.com/questbps and can be reached at qualityforeverystudent@gmail.com.

I have seen the devastating effect of LCFF flexibility on ROCP funding firsthand here in Orange County as well as in Los Angeles County. I work with CTE credentialed teachers who are unable to find teaching jobs because programs are being cut from high schools. I see students having fewer CTE elective options every year. Please help!

I have seen the effect on adult schools near my home in Yorba Linda and neighboring communities. We need to safeguard adult education programs from further funding erosion.

In 2012, the ability to repeat classes at community colleges was quietly taken away by the California legislature. Perhaps as an unintended consequence, seniors in the community can no longer benefit from physical and mental lifelong learning. We urge you immediately to restore this right to seniors in California's community colleges by exempting them from repeatability constraints.

Kids are stressed out! Children today are certainly more stressed out than their parents realize. One in five children said they worried a great deal about things going on in their lives, and nearly a third admitted to stress-related symptoms such as difficulty sleeping, according to the American Psychological Association's annual Stress in America report. Yet the same report found that only 8 percent of all parents were aware that their children experienced any stress at all. A regular meditation practice has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety; relax a busy mind; shift negative thoughts into positive ones; and lessen symptoms of depression. Researcher professor Felicia Huppert of the University of Cambridge said in a press release, "Psychological well-being has been linked to better learning, social relationships and academic performance, so the enhancement of well-being is likely to improve a range of outcomes in the school context."

University of Missouri - Kansas City has denied disabled students a student council for over 80 years. Now UMKC students and Student Government Association have approved a resolution to finally give disabled students a voice on the Student Government Association. But, the UMKC administration has refused to approve a Disabled Student Council as part of their annual budget. Please sign this petition in support of a University of Missouri Kansas City Disabled Student Council.

Dr. Sue Sisley's termination has effectively terminated the U.S. marijuana research that received approval from federal authorities, period.

My brother Paul Sanders is a public school teacher, 7th and 8th grade science. He is loved by all. And is known as coach sanders. Please ask for his story. There's so much to tell. And he has absolutely been done wrong. cathy.trammell@yahoo.com.

Millions of Americans depend on Pell Grants each year to be able to make college more affordable. Research has shown that need-based grant aid, like Pell Grants, increases college enrollment among low- and moderate-income individuals. But with college costs skyrocketing over the last three decades, Pell Grants have lost much of their purchasing power. The Middle Class CHANCE Act, introduced in the Senate by Sens. Mary Landrieu (LA) and Mazie Hirono (HI), and the House by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (CA-16) seeks to combat the financial hindrance on college access for these individuals by increasing the purchasing power of Pell. The bill increases the maximum award of Pell Grants, and restore year-round Pell Grants, among other things. Read more http://bit.ly/chance-act

UCONN's Board of Trustees just approved a 6.5% tuition hike to attend Connecticut's flagship public university. For in-state students, that means a rise in cost of $1,000. With fees, room and board, the price to attend UCONN for an in state student is now $24,774 a year. For out of state students, the price will go up to $44,698, which is more than many private colleges. UCONN is also planning on raising tuition prices by 6.8% in 2016. Such a large increase in tuition means many students will not be able to attend UCONN in the coming years because they cannot afford it, or fall further in to debt. These tuition hikes are in response to underfunded government grants. If UConn needs more money, the state should fund it, not workers, who have already made concessions, or students, who can't afford to pay more. Public schools should be affordable to any student who wants to attend and qualifies to get in. The state should bare extra costs, not students. Tell the Board of Trustees and the Connecticut Legislature that if they want to raise UConn's budget, the state should pay, not students or workers.

The University of California, Berkeley administration, in collaboration with the International and Area Studies Department administration, is employing a set of drastic transitions which are infringing on the Peace and Conflict Studies Program. Born in response to the tumultuous global political climate of the 1980s, the driving force for Peace and Conflict Studies was civic-minded students seeking to make peace a central focus of their academic experience. Focusing on the “peace-side” of Peace and Conflict Studies, PACS allows students the academic space to engage with advanced knowledge, transitioning from conflict to conflict resolution, violence to nonviolence, human rights violations to human security, and most importantly, instead of leaving students feeling unable and inept in a depressing lack of agency, PACS teaches students peace-building strategies to make a better world tangible. Integrating the “peace-side” of Peace and Conflict Studies is by far the most unique and significant facet of a PACS education in that it allows students to realize themselves as potential actors, using applicable knowledge to make effective sociopolitical change. Unfortunately, PACS is being slowly deteriorated, dismantled, and debilitated by greater administrative forces. Below are five central points as to what exactly is being seen within the PACS program and how this minimization has come to occur. 1. Although between 2001-2010 there was over 400% increase in PACS enrollment, between 2010-2014 there has been almost a 40% decrease in PACS enrollment. To keep it brief, due to the massive administrative changes, restructuring, and relocation of International & Area Studies (IAS) into another academic department on campus, a sharp transition in IAS operations occurred in 2010. In the last four years, all majors inside of IAS have experienced severely reduced enrollment except for Political Economy. This shift in IAS administration has begun to propagate, expand, and support Political Economy at the expense of PACS and all other academic programs in the Department as made apparent by the enrollment numbers, resources, and statistics below. Percentage change of enrollment between Spring 2010-2014: PACS - 36% decrease (106 students in Sp. 2014) Middle Eastern Studies - 40% decrease (12 students in Sp. 2014) Latin American Studies - 61.5% decrease (10 students in Sp. 2014) Development Studies - 36.5% decrease (47 students in Sp. 2014) Asian Studies - 53% decrease (15 students in Sp. 2014) Political Economy - 8% increase (385 students in Sp. 2014) 2. The PACS major’s design is being minimized to include only three academic concentrations instead of the previous six. Previously there were the following six concentrations: Conflict Resolution, Culture and Identity, Global Governance, Human Rights, Human Security, and Nonviolence. Now the major is being reduced to offer only three concentrations, homogenizing these vast fields within Peace Studies and disallowing students from opportunities in academic fields unique to Peace and Conflict Studies. 3. The recent loss of two core faculty, Dr. Julie Shackford-Bradley whose appointment was not renewed and former Chair of the PACS Program Dr. Jerry Sanders who has retired, leaves PACS understaffed and unstable. The loss of two core faculty has reduced the total core faculty of the Peace and Conflict Studies program to three part-time lecturers. In comparison to other top ranking universities’ Peace Studies programs, UC Berkeley’s PACS program stands incredibly inadequate. For example, American University’s International Peace and Conflict Resolution School has six core faculty, five professors and one associate professor. In addition, The KROC Institute for International Peace Studies at The University of Notre Dame boasts almost two dozen core faculty members. With other top-ranking university Peace Studies programs having a much larger core faculty presence, in addition to their ladder-rank and professor status as opposed to UC Berkeley’s part-time lecturer positions, the minimal PACS faculty at Berkeley is now an embarrassment. 4. Due to the loss of two core faculty, the PACS program is no longer able to offer the number of courses it traditionally offered, as well as being forced to outsource core PACS courses to instructors outside of the PACS program. Compared to the total number of PACS courses offered previously (36), the number of courses being offered in Fall 2014 stands 64% lower at only 13. This stark reduction in the number of courses available severely diminishes the PACS program as well as eliminates students’ ability to engage with courses on pertinent topics such as Human Rights & Global Politics, International Conflict: Analysis and Resolution, and Global Change & World Order. Not to mention that some of the offered courses still stand in an uncertain “STAFF” status, meaning there is no set instructor for the course and that they could be cancelled. In addition to the reduction of courses, due to the termination of core faculty, we are seeing a shift in who is teaching which PACS courses. Now, lecturers from outside of the PACS program are being brought in to teach core PACS courses, such as PACS 190: Senior Seminar in which students finalize their PACS education by writing a capstone project. By outsourcing PACS education to academics from other fields, PACS students are unable to engage deeply with academic intellectuals who are experts in their “peace-side” of Peace and Conflict Studies fields. 5. PACS no longer has any staff personnel, no PACS-specific advisors, and is therefore incredibly under-resourced. Due to this lack of resources, PACS no longer holds any events and no longer hosts any panels/panelists. Compared to other programs and departments on campus which frequently hold panels, discussions, lectures, and events, PACS’ complete lack of resources disallows the program from engaging in any substantive academic ev...

Some ideas shouldn’t be up for debate. The earth travels around the sun. What goes up must come down. Climate change is happening. If this sounds uncontroversial, that’s because it is. The truth of human-caused climate change is backed by resounding scientific consensus supported by data gathered from decades of rigorous, peer-reviewed research. But a loud and well-funded fringe have gone to war against our children’s right to learn about climate change. They’ve launched coordinated attacks in each state that has considered adopting Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a set of education standards meant to ensure that kids learn 21st century science, including climate science. Worse, they’ve won some battles: in April, for instance, Wyoming became the first state to block NGSS. Now the fight for climate science education has come to New Jersey. The New Jersey State Board of Education is scheduled to vote on science education standards during its meeting on July 9. When Michael Heinz, the science coordinator for the NJ Department of Education, was asked whether there were any obstacles to adopting NGSS, his reply was clear: "External political influence that has an issue with human-induced climate change or evolution," he said. "Those are really the only two things." We must keep that from happening. With superstorms, flooding, sea-level rise, and other climate change impacts intesifying, our children must have the tools to understand, analyze, and formulate solutions to deal with a rapidly changing climate. That’s why it’s important that you, along with other New Jerseyeans and allies from around the nation, speak up now. Let's make sure that the Board of Education hears from parents, grandparents and other supporters of climate science education loudly and clearly before they vote this month. Tell them to vote to adopt Next Generation Science Standards that include climate science education.