We support a return to excellence in California Schools. Top performing states spend $16,000 - $22,000 per student per year. California’s goal - for 2021 - is to spend less than half that amount per student. Meanwhile, California spends $60,000 per year per prison inmate, and one-half of our inmates are high school dropouts. Since 1980, we’ve built 19 prisons and 1 university.

My Grandchildren attend New Castle Schools, and their current cafeteria workers give good caring service. Why break something if it is not broken.

The population of gifted students in Pace has exploded, and the school district's response is to reduce the time spent in the program specifically designed to challenge them. Isn't it the responsibility of an educational institution to provide the foundation to allow ALL children to reach their maximum potential? The gifted program needs not only to be protected, but expanded. The decision to reduce the class time for these children needs to be changed so that ALL children are provided what they need to succeed.

On October 29th, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Alderman Roberto Maldonado (26th ward) announced that Logan Square's Ames Middle School is going to become a military academy -- despite more than a year of local parents' protests. Elected officials failed to talk to parents of Ames about the plan, then ignored the families who have spoken out against this takeover. 87% of families surveyed in the Ames community said they did not want a military high school. If the takeover goes through, children at Ames will have a military curriculum, elevating military programs at the expense of extracurriculars like music, sports, and art. But there's still time to reverse this decision -- it has to be approved by the Chicago Board of Education. Add your name now to support families in Logan Square who do not want Ames to become a military academy.

Inadequate state funding has caused children in our public schools to face unprecedented cuts to educational programs and increases in class sizes. Higher education has become less affordable and less accessible for college students as state funding for PASSHE universities has been slashed. We need Governor Corbett to make investing in public education his top priority to ensure a bright future in Pennsylvania for us all.

I am a teacher at a MCPS. I am very familiar with the amount of capital and human resources administering the Maryland State Assessment requires. Even though MD is switching over to the Common Core State Standards, which will be assessed by PARCC, the state is planning to administer the MSA this year. Our testing coordinators have literally been told the scores won't be looked at or matter. If this is the case, it is an irresponsible waste of taxpayer money and instructional time to administer this test.

Thousands of Pennsylvanians and public school supporters spoke out after Laporshia Massey died when she waited too long to get treated for an asthma attack -- all because her school did not have a nurse on duty. Governor Corbett was shamed into releasing the $45 million in school funding he was sitting on so that public schools could rehire staff. It was a great win for Philadelphia’s schoolchildren, and it gave me hope that we had turned a corner towards the schools that my child, and everyone’s children, deserve. Then I got the news that Philadelphia School Superintendent William Hite intends to funnel $10 million of that $45 million into charter schools. The $45 million was meant to help neighborhood public schools close their budget gap. What has that lack of funding meant to the district? It means 24 neighborhood public schools have been closed, thousands of teachers and support staff laid off, libraries closed, and enrichment programs cut. Why should charter schools get a cut of the $45 million when they have not been subject to the same staffing cuts? Furthermore, between financial mismanagement, lack of oversight and poor student performance, charter schools aren’t working in Philadelphia, except to drain funds from neighborhood public schools. As SRC member Joe Dworetsky put it, “The average net loss to the district when a student goes to a charter school is $7,000 per student.” When charter schools are already draining resource-starved neighborhood schools of funds, they should NOT get a cut of the $45 million. Tell Superintendent Hite to spend the money where it is most needed: in Philadelphia’s public schools. Teachers, parents and students want to make sure the district uses the $45 million to restore the programs and staff that have been cut from neighborhood public schools -- like the school nurses, counselors, and the clerical support staff that keep schools running smoothly. Education experts agree: every school needs a school nurse and one counselor for every 250 kids. We told Governor Corbett. Now we have to tell Superintendent William Hite: that $45 million should go to rehire staff at Philadelphia’s public schools.

My public high school uses an ID system in which each student is issued a certain color of card. Gold and platinum cards are privilege cards and red cards are not. Poorly based off of "grades and attendance" has left many 4.0 students with red cards for missing 1 day to go visit a college.

Sequestration cuts would chop funding for programs in the Department of Education by $2.5 billion. In addition, Head Start -- a federal program that promotes the school readiness of children ages birth to five from low-income families -- would be cut by $398 million. This would be the largest cut EVER to education programs. As President Obama said about these cuts: "If you think education's expensive, wait 'til you see how much ignorance costs."

Post-Katrina, schools in New Orleans are disconnected and our city does not have a shared vision for quality schools for all children. We believe children learn to their fullest potential when we are uniting to ensure that all students receive a quality education. Public input from all New Orleans stakeholders in decision-making is essential to the success of our students and our schools. Let’s unite under a shared quality school vision to equip all students for a successful future. Please view the quality school vision here: http://utno.la.aft.org/files/utno_vision_statement_public_0.pdf

I was recently informed that i cannot bring in a small bag of toys to celebrate the season. This is elementary school. We used to have Halloween parades where the smaller children would parade proudly in their costumes, followed by a small party at the end of the day. Children need to celebrate things in life. To have fun at school. So they will want to be there. Little by little this is being taken from them. They will not want to go to school, or learn. Make learning fun. They will have plenty of time for political and religious unrest and pressure to succeed. A little down time is not a bad thing! I can understand the need for healthy snacks, and I think it's great that in America we can all choose what religion we want to practice. If you don't want to celebrate, you don't have to, but why because you don't, does my children have to suddenly abide by your views??? If you agree, sign. I don't know if it will make a change, but I do want the administration to know, there is a voice on the other side of this argument!

On September 19, management at the St. Paul Public Schools walked out of negotiations and asked the state mediator to close our negotiations to the public so parents and other members of the community couldn’t hear what we were talking about. At the Saint Paul Federation of Teachers, we have worked hard over the last year to partner with parents, students and community members to identify the top priorities to deliver the schools St. Paul children deserve. Combined with research, we have turned these priorities into the strongest and most innovative set of contract proposals ever introduced by a teachers union. Our report and proposals can be seen at www.spft.org. Over the last few weeks, our members have been having conversations and collecting signatures from over a thousand community members on this petition. Please join those that have already pledged their support by signing today.