A bill is about to hit Governor Jan Brewer's desk that would ban state universities from collecting student fees and transferring money to non-university recognized organizations like the Arizona Students Association (ASA). It's a blatant attack on students and their right to affiliate with organizations like ASA and other student associations like the US Student Association. She could sign the bill in the next few days but we're going to tell her that we care about the right for students to organize and build strong student associations. Tell Governor Brewer to veto this bill!

My son Munir attends the head start program. He has developmental delays. They have worked so hard and changed the course of his development. He would have had years of struggling without their early intervention. Our childrens education should be our top priority, and these cuts should be stopped. Please consider the future leaders of our country. We need a country filled with strong educated men and women.

Young people who learn to play a musical instrument thrive in school and in life. The study of a musical instrument has been proven to assist with math skills, communication, self-confidence, time management and self-discipline. Francis Parker Elementary School 23 would benefit from a more robust musical instrument program that exposes all students to a variety of instruments.

The breakaway district proposed by Senator Bodi White in Senate Bills 73 & 199 is unfair to the East Baton Rouge Public School System (EBRPSS) and its current students and poses a threat to school systems across the state by setting a dangerous precedent of allowing an unincorporated area—a neighborhood, not a city—to withdraw from the existing school system without regard to racial or economic equity. The Proposed Breakaway District: --Further Segregates Our Schools: The creation of a Southeast Baton Rouge System will further segregate what is already a racially identifiable school district. According to Dr. James Richardson, Professor of Economics at Louisiana State University who conducted a study sponsored by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and Baton Rouge Area Chamber, the area EBRPSS serves is currently 46.94% African-American. Its student population is 81.06% African-American. In contrast, the area of the proposed district is only 23.08% African-American (Richardson 3). If the Southeast Baton Rouge School System is created, EBRPSS will become 86.02% African-American. Such segregation will likely prompt another desegregation lawsuit. --Exacerbates Economic Inequity: The proposed area is not only predominantly white. It is also wealthier. The mean family income of the southeast area is $93,856. The mean family income of the current EBRPSS area is $74,097. If the breakaway district is allowed, that will fall to $70,205 (Richardson 6). Currently, 80.2% of students in EBRPSS qualify for free and reduced lunch (District At-A-Glance). Only 67.4% of current EBRPSS students in the southeast area qualify for free and reduced lunch. If the southeast area, one of the wealthiest in East Baton Rouge Parish, is allowed to withdraw, the percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch will increase in EBRPSS and decrease in the proposed southeast school system. It is generally known that students living in poverty face significant barriers to academic success. Overcoming these barriers becomes more difficult with higher concentrations of poverty within a student body. Further concentrating poverty in our public schools will not improve educational outcomes for the greater Baton Rouge area. --Subverts Laws Providing for Parental and Student Choice: In addition, the proposed Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System would deny approximately 3,800 students access to schools they currently attend. Remarks made by breakaway proponents—the spokespersons for Local Schools for Local Children and Senator Bodi White, the sponsor of the legislation—indicate they regard separating from EBRPSS as a means to avoid complying with state and federal mandates that children be allowed to attend the school of their choice. They repeatedly criticize EBRPSS for busing students to schools outside their attendance zone. Senator White even criticized the busing conducted in the 1980s which was required by the federal desegregation order. That forced busing ended in 2007 following the resolution of the desegregation lawsuit. Students who are currently bused to schools outside their attendance zone are bused at their request, either to allow them to attend a specialized program, including magnet schools created to comply with the federal desegregation order, or when, as required by state and federal laws, the child chooses to escape a “failing” school. Breakaway proponents dismiss the significance of these facts. Senator White insists busing is wasteful and creates distrust in the southeast community. The creation of this district appears to be a means of subverting state and federal laws by prohibiting children from exercising their right to attend the schools of their choice. --Unfairly Burdens EBRPSS with Construction and Legacy Costs: The proposed district would deprive EBRPSS of access to new buildings for which it paid $98 million, and, even after protracted debates during last year’s session concerning unfair financial burdens to EBRPSS, the legislation fails to require the proposed district to adequately compensate EBRPSS for its share of more than $10 million in bonded debt from the building projects in the southeast area as well as for "legacy costs" for employee benefits for retirees. In his report, Dr. James Richardson, the LSU Professor of Economics, estimated legacy costs would range from $42 million to $242 million (13). An amendment to last year’s bill provided the new district *may* pay EBRPSS a mere $2.5 million. This year’s bill does not even provide that woefully inadequate amount, and requires the new district to pay for *only* those teachers it hires from the EBRPSS. This is not a true accounting of legacy costs (10-14). Roy Heidelberg, co-author of the BRAF/BRAC report with Dr. Richardson, notes, "Legacy costs have to do with broad promises made to workers, and if you are not accounting for every worker to which this promise has been made then you are not accounting for legacy costs. Thus, if in attempting to account for legacy costs the bill states that the breakaway will only be responsible for those workers who leave EBRPSS and enter into employment with SE, then they are not accounting for legacy costs at all. They are simply altering the employment agreement with a small sector of workers." In regards to the bonded debt, the bill’s language, whether by design or oversight, is legally ambiguous and does not specifically require the new district to reimburse EBRPSS for the portion of the debt attributable to construction projects in the southeast area. --Threatens Steady Improvements Made By EBRPSS: EBRPSS is not a “failing” district as proponents claim. EBRPSS received a District Performance Score of “C,” rising 6.7 points from last year and 18.8 points since 2008. It is one of only seven districts with a concentration of poverty above 80% to earn a C. It is doing a remarkable job when compared to districts with similar demographics and it continues to improve,...

Studies show how important it is for children of all ages to learn about comprehensive sexual education (CSE). This form of education includes information about the reproductive system, different methods of birth control, and sexually transmitted diseases. Many people believe that teaching abstinence-only sexual education is the best method, but it's just not effective in lowering teen pregnancy rates. Teenage parents are more likely to end up in poverty, to have their children go to prison, or to have their children become teen parents as well. CSE implementation can help lower teen pregnancy rates, so please support the cause! For more information please visit stayteen.org, thenationalcampaign.org, or candiesfoundation.org. Thank you for your support!

The Recovery School District, an agency of the Louisiana Department of Education, currently controls seven schools in Baton Rouge called the Baton Rouge Achievement Zone. The RSD is using one of these schools, Prescott Middle School with a seating capacity for 1,000 students, as an administrative building. The children of the East Baton Rouge School System need this facility back as a school to ease overcrowding among middle schools. As background, the RSD took over these schools because the schools were deemed “failing” by the Louisiana Department of Education. Parents were then given the choice of sending their children to schools run by the RSD or choosing another school run by the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. The student capacity of the seven RSD schools is 6,285. According to an RSD count conducted several months ago, there are 2,633 students attending these schools, indicating that the vast majority of parents in the seven schools chose another school run by the EBRPSS. It is incredibly inefficient for all of these school buildings to remain in the hands of the RSD when the majority of their former students have exercised choice and chosen to remain with the EBRPSS. In light of the state’s budget situation and the frozen funding for public education, the tax payers of Louisiana and East Baton Rouge Parish need to know our education officials are doing every thing they can to use resources efficiently. Even the drafters of the RSD recognize the need to keep as much money as possible in the classroom as demonstrated in the following section of the Louisiana law that created the RSD: “Except for administrative costs, monies appropriated to the Recovery School District that are attributable to the transfer of a school from a prior school system and monies allocated or transferred from the prior system to the recovery district shall be expended solely on the operation of schools transferred from the prior system to the jurisdiction of the district.” La R.S. 17:1990(3)(a). The consequences of this inefficient use of space by the RSD are particularly acute among middle school students since two of the RSD schools are middle schools. Of the 15 middle schools in EBRPSS, two have exceeded their capacity, one is at full capacity and four are within fifty students of being at capacity. This problem will only get worse as there is currently 486 more fifth graders going into middle school for the 2012-14 school year in the EBRPSS than there are eighth graders leaving. We urge the RSD to give this school building back to the EBRPSS. There are at least 2,652 empty desks at their other schools that could be turned into administrative space. The Superintendent of the RSD, Patrick Dobard, says he is committed to ensuring that “every student in Louisiana has access to a high-quality public school.” Mr. Dobard can demonstrate this commitment to parents across the EBRPSS by giving us back Prescott Middle School.

Amendments to Bill H 3435, known as the Healthy Youth Amendment, covers changes to create a more comprehensive health education approach for children at all age levels within the SC public school system. In order to do this teachers and administrators need to be trained on medically accurate information, and have access to evidence-based curricula which would be taught in a consistent manner among all schools in the area. If Bill 3435 is passed, schools will also be held accountable to comply with the law.

I attend Brainerd High school, and we have senior projects. Most school just have a paper and present it but we have to do a portfolio, a paper, and then present, but we have no help and little time and the worst part is if we fail this then we completely fail.

School Crossing Guards are a vital and integral part of our educational system and of the daily lives of children protecting them as they go to school and home, also our elderly citizens as they go about their daily lives and anyone else in need of assistance.

I am so much affected by this issue because right now, i am enrolled in an adult school and is still planning to take up other courses in the near future.

School-Within-School (SWS) will move to the Prospect school building on Capitol Hill next fall. That building was originally scheduled for a renovation in 2014. Now, DC Public Schools and Mayor Gray are trying to delay the improvements until 2016, fully three years after our kids start attending school there. The city says this area of Capitol Hill is a top priority for improving schools, yet they're still planning to delay the SWS renovations. Instead, we should fund improvements to make the building fit SWS's program at this critical moment of expansion. That's what will attract more parents to join and stay with DC public schools rather than moving to charters.

The removal of the Subsidized Graduate Student Loan which went into effect in July 2012 due to pressure from the Republican Party has & will continue to affect & hurt many students who simply can't afford to continue their studies without this loan. It is a disappointment that the administration seemed to give in to pressure & removed this loan. Through your help we hope that many more students can continue their studies and contribute to this great nation by reaching their full potential and goals, while seeing their dreams become a reality.