ALSO: Please "like" our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mississippi-United-Against-Charter-Schools/363104560450155 Mississippi is facing an all-out assault on our already failing public education system. The highest elected officials in the state (Governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House, etc.) are planning to unleash misguided Charter School legislation after a failed attempt in last year's legislative session. Mississippi's public school system needs significant reform to provide quality education for ALL students, yet Charter Schools are the wrong course and will only further harm our already floundering public education system. Charter Schools and other "school choice"/voucher strategies to "reform" our public education system are seriously flawed and misguided attempts that will only bring greater inequalities to our public education system and not benefit ALL Mississippi students who deserve high quality, free education regardless of status. We are calling on the Mississippi Legislature, Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the House to refuse to propose and implement any Charter Schools and other "school choice"/voucher legislation and focus on fixing our already existing public education system -- we do not need an entirely separate and unequal education system where privatization will siphon much needed funds to benefit corporate cronies and not the students it is supposedly intended to benefit. Charter Schools are not the answer to MS's education problems, forcing the vast majority to languish without any real education reform to help them achieve their fullest potential. MS cannot afford the creation of an entirely new education system that will only perpetuate the education inequalities in our state. Let us work together for real, positive, sustainable education reform for ALL MS students. Here are just a few of the reasons why Charter Schools are BAD and NOT NEEDED for Mississippi: - diversion of very limited funds - diversion of time, energy, resources - creation of a new, unnecessary, separate school system - selects (cherry picks) the best students, those most likely to succeed at the expense of their fellow classmates - funds historically racist and segregationist academies - funds religiously based schools - great lack of accountability and oversight - for-profit companies' exploitation - faculty, staff, and administration job insecurity - exploitation and violation of employees - potential abuse of students' rights (eg. SPED protections) - does nothing to solve our education crisis beyond creating a new, separate system - exacerbates existing education crisis - potentially poor, narrow curriculum - poor hiring standards (eg. Not required to have state/national teacher certifications) - No Unions as barriers to reform - harm communities as a whole - taking "good" students out of the community - encourages and facilitates the re-segregation of our public schools - poor track record of improving student performance: 83% of CS's either produce NO improvement or WORSE performance in their students Background article on the Myth of Charter Schools: "There is a clash of ideas occurring in education right now between those who believe that public education is not only a fundamental right but a vital public service, akin to the public provision of police, fire protection, parks, and public libraries, and those who believe that the private sector is always superior to the public sector. Waiting for “Superman” is a powerful weapon on behalf of those championing the “free market” and privatization. It raises important questions, but all of the answers it offers require a transfer of public funds to the private sector. The stock market crash of 2008 should suffice to remind us that the managers of the private sector do not have a monopoly on success. Public education is one of the cornerstones of American democracy. The public schools must accept everyone who appears at their doors, no matter their race, language, economic status, or disability. Like the huddled masses who arrived from Europe in years gone by, immigrants from across the world today turn to the public schools to learn what they need to know to become part of this society. The schools should be far better than they are now, but privatizing them is no solution." - From the Myth of Charter Schools http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/11/myth-charter-schools/?pagination=false

This petition is about students who need teachers to help them with their learning disabilities. I have a learning disability and I had to share books in school because we couldn't have our own.

My daughter went to law school and incurred huge debt. She works for a small firm and does not work for a high paying corporate firm. She does this to be there for her children while her husband, a teacher, is incurring expenses pursuing a PhD. They will be in student loan debt forever if they don't get relief. Please do not forget this segment of the population while addressing student loan forgiveness.

My name is David and i am a senior in high school. I am trying to go to a college in the state of Georgia. They have alot of scholarships provided for people trying to go to college but creating more and better scholarships through social media would give a higher percentage of people a chance to experience the college life and going on to persue their careers.

As a result of Hurricane Sandy, thousands of children in NYS will lose weeks of instructional time in school. Many will have to transfer to different districts due to the loss of their homes or destruction of their own school buildings. The upheaval caused by the storm will negatively impact their ability to learn. Results from tests taken under such devastating circumstances cannot possibly be accurate and will be a waste of educational time and taxpayer money. We are calling on the Governor Cuomo, the State Legislature and the State Education Department to skip the state assessments this year.

All moneys collected from the new casinos shall go in addition to the state contribution of this year. There shall be not "state reduction" in the buget.

Why is there a 15-million-dollar focus at the Department of Defense to educate children of the poor in 2013? (As part of NDAA, HR4310)

Voters outside of King County have just approved I-1240, Charter Schools. Charter Schools waste taxpayer money, and have failed to demonstrate any success over traditional public schools.In fact, while only 17% of charters show better results than public schools, 38% do worse. A recent study called them "engines of racial segregation". Well, if voters outside King Co. want them, let them have them. But if they want to waste our insufficient tax dollars on charter schools, they should NOT be getting $0.40 of every levy dollar we tax ourselves in Seattle. We should repeal the Levy Equalization Legislation, and keep our local levy money in local schools, NOT outsourced to failed experiments.

As a teacher for 20 years, I have seen how the curriculum offered to most children has narrowed over that time. Many California children have no instruction in dance, music, theatre or visual arts in their schools. The California state legislature can help turn the tide on this issue by explicitly instructing the California Department of Education and school districts throughout California to 1. hold schools accountable for providing arts instruction to all students and 2. affirmatively state that state and federal categorical funds can and should be used to support standards-based arts instruction.

Having spent more than 25 years working in public education I am concerned that the "reforms" championed by US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, will ruin public eduation while opening up the "market" to privatization. Follow the money. Who benefits from producing tests, evaluating tests, and publicizing test results? Who stands to suffer? Is this reform? A NY State child now starts the year being tested by her teachers in every subject so as to "prove" that the child knows little in order to create a favorable comparison for the end of the year. Is our goal to improve drop-out rates of students and teachers?

I am a former graduate from ITT Technical Institute and received my Associates Degree in Computer Network Systems in July 2006. Now it's November 2012 and I have no job leading to any IT position. The only jobs I were only able to obtain are "minimum wage" jobs. With $20,000 in debt, student loans doubled in 6 years, and searching for something that doesn't exist I feel robbed out of a education. According to the student loan act it should be discharged if I didn't benefit from the education, which I haven't. Why am I working mininum wage $8.25/hr jobs? When I first saw the ITT Tech commercial in 2002 I thought it would be a excellent choice to further my career, but now 10 years later it's a disaster. My student loans are currently in deferment and my wages are being garnished. I'm struggling as is it and these people won't get off my back. The economy has went to booming to people losing their jobs in groves and I'm affected by all this.

I believe that if State Education officials had to work directly in a classroom (teach), they would finally leave their "ivory tower" and truly experience what educators are facing on a daily basis. Rude students, un-cooperative administrators, over crowded classrooms and testing instead of teaching. Members of The N.Y.S .Board of Regents are constantly coming up with paperwork and tests in order to "look busy". Yes we teachers recognize the lazy way out, creating "busy work". Get Up! Get Out! Reach into classrooms across the state before you dump more silly paperwork and tests on teachers and their students.