My son is a special education student at Niwot Elementary. The Special Education Facilitator helped him, and many other students, through the long and arduous process of getting an IEP (Individualized Education Plan). The Special Education Facilitator supports the school and special education team by working directly with children who are having behavioral and/or emotional struggles. The work of the Special Education Facilitator position is not going away, it is being pushed on to the remaining special education team who have their own responsibilities to attend to. This cut will have a huge impact on all students and staff at all SVVSD schools.

Since 2008, Arizona has cut almost $1 billion in education funding. Shortchanging Arizona’s children by nearly $1 billion has consequences: textbooks that are 25 years old, leaking roofs, class sizes as large as 40 students, outdated technology, and inadequate support staff to keep students safe and systems working. On April 26, tens of thousands of educators and other staff rallied at the state Capitol in Phoenix to demand that elected officials provide adequate funding for Arizona’s public schools. To restore those massive cuts and create a continuous revenue stream for funding public schools and educators’ salary hikes, the Arizona American Federation of Teachers recommends: • Support for the proposed ballot initiative that would allow voters to decide on increased revenue from high-income taxpayers. • Legislative rebalancing of the “three-legged stool” of state revenue—the income tax, property tax, and sales tax. • Closing tax loopholes and reviewing all tax giveaways to make sure the state is getting an adequate return on tax breaks and tax cuts. The additional revenue raised could be used to fix older school buildings and build new ones—and pay off the lawsuit that contends the state hasn’t provided the required money for school site maintenance; create curriculum that is aligned to the state standards, and provide classroom necessities ranging from modern technology to basic classroom supplies; provide 100 percent funding for all-day kindergarten and for pre-K programs; restore arts programs, alternative education programs for special education students and classes for gifted students; or, provide a salary increase for all school staff—teachers, paraprofessionals, custodians, secretaries and others.

This petition is to raise awareness for lunch shaming. We want to educate people on this topic so they can fully understand this issue and protect their children from this excruciating embarrassment. Lunch shaming is a process performed by nearly 50% of school districts in the US. It occurs when children with past-due or unpaid lunch bills are denied food, stamped with a note on their body, or are even publicly humiliated by having their lunch dumped in the trash in front of other students to send the message home to pay their lunch bill. Unfortunately, many children cannot afford to pay for lunch and often school lunch is the only meal these children will receive. Several states have enacted laws to protect children from lunch shaming and we want to do the same here in Colorado. Please help end lunch shaming by signing this petition today.

We, the band students at Rush City High School, believe that Mr. Boneske is a qualified and skilled teacher who has greatly improved our band program. Over the last year, we have grown to enjoy and appreciate his knowledge If he is terminated, the band program may suffer from lack of participants.

Having done research into area school districts, we find that Copley is the only school that requires the journaling aspect as part of the PE option.

We're interested in starting this petition because we felt that this would bring another opportunity to express yourself and add something to the culture, here, at Shadow Ridge. If we are allowed this opportunity, it will open doors and be something new, unique, and fun.

Many passionate teachers are losing their jobs over the cut of state funding. We need these electives and teachers to educate the future generations. These electives are needed because they educate students about future careers and lifetime skills.

Our Corvallis School District has adopted a sustainability policy, its own Sustainability Task Force has recommended establishing the Sustainability Coordinator position to implement the policy, and the Board has created a salary position for putting it in the upcoming 2018 budget. Now they can make great progress for sustainability in the district, putting legs on its policy, by funding the position. Testimony to the Budget Committee can be made on May 3rd.

Our Teachers and Support Staff deserve better pay. Our schools deserve better funding. The Community wants our District to support the Teacher Walkout. The Community insists that you not impose any disciplinary or punitive actions against our Teachers. We also know that you can and should maintain critical community services including food services to low-income families during the walkout. Don't make hostages out of those who can least afford to be punished.

Standardized testing has always been seen as a gray issue, but in reality it really isn’t. The biggest importance it carries is how much colleges look at a student’s scores. Yet, standardized testing was never meant to test the aptitude of a student in the first place—but rather how well a teacher is doing their job. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only reason they shouldn’t be used to measure a student’s academic progress. As a student myself, I can tell you that to take a standardized test, we first practice for a practice test, which is used as a practice for the actual test, but we still do practice for the actual test, and practice for the practice. Confusing? It IS. Whether your class has actually gotten to a certain subject that the testing will go over doesn’t matter, as you are still expected to already know it. And when the testing is over you never get it back to see what you did wrong, just your score. This doesn’t help a student improve! I’ve asked fellow students and each have told me that it only makes them feel stupid. I’ve taken a poll and petition and have recorded that only 1 person likes standardized testing, 23 (and a half) feel that they benefit from it, 66 want to get rid of it, and 101 have said that it makes them feel worse mentally. If you don’t see a problem that 101 students—KIDS, feel worse by pieces of paper, then there is a problem. When it comes down to it, the Department Of Education only cares about our “education,” and not our actual mental health. I know too many kids that feel suicidal and zero students that look forward to the grind of this testing. And the only students that felt they benefitted from this grueling process told me it was because of how colleges look at their scores which helps their chances. But here’s the thing; multiple countries DON’T take standardized testing and still have many people going to college. And do you want to know the real kicker? They are the top schooling systems in the world. Now lets delve into the unfairness of these tests. Every year we are told that they are all fair to every student’s as we are each given the same test. THIS IS WHAT MAKES IT UNFAIR. Do not tell me that every single student is exceptional in Mathematics , English, Science, —and Mathematics again! We are not all the same. If a student is horrible at art, everyone immediately tells them that it is okay and how it isn’t for everyone and how art doesn’t have to be good—yet God forbid if someone can’t do a math equation. If you are bad at any major class, you are seen as stupid, not trying hard enough, lazy and that you give up too easily. This is the same message standardized testing gives out. Every student is different and learns different because, believe it or not, we ARE people. Yet standardized testing tests us all the same like we are some type of hive mind! And for those with learning impairments don’t even get a different test—they are just given more time to do it, even if they DON’T want it! These tests even hurt those students from minority backgrounds, low-income families, and those with impairments! Yet we are all expected to be used as a proper grading system for the teachers. What an excellent idea! That last sentence was a part of my “teenage sarcasm,” if you couldn’t catch it. What’s worse than the stress and ridiculousness, is that we lose actual learning time! How ironic is it that the test that is meant to measure our learning is also limiting it? This has even caused many students to dislike learning, which is a pity. It’s human nature to be curious and want to learn, yet being forced to kills the motivation of it. The only students that don’t get stressed by these tests are usually the ones that have stopped caring about their grades. As for the parents that agree with it, let me remind you that YOU don’t actually have to take it. You don’t know what it is like to actually sit there for hours and fill in little bubbles that decide your future. I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not. And it also decides teachers’ fates. These tests are used to also punish and even fire teachers! I, myself, have asked some teachers on where they stand with this and they hate them as well! They benefit NO ONE. For those students that do do better on standardized testing than actual school curriculum don’t outweigh the students that do worse on the standardized testing but do well on actual school curriculum. I’ve come to realize that at the end of the day, all that these tests amount to is lowered expectations, insecure students, stressed out kids AND adults, loss of school time and curiosity, and how those in charge are trying to force kids to think and learn one certain way and teach them that anything else is “wrong”—oh, and of course that percentage of students that do well. But the Department Of Education, of course, will only focus on that percentage. Is this a good time to mention that depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies has increased in teens? Or that standardized testing is increasing? Of course, there can’t possibly be any correlation between the two! Again, that last sentence was some more of my good old sarcasm. If you’ve caught on by now, good job! Bottom line; standardized testing sucks. Excuse my brash way of saying it. But let’s be real, school is stressful enough without these tests, and when you take as much time as I have to do them, you get a little brash. If you’ve read all this, thanks! If you read a bit of it, I don’t blame you but thank you all the same! And if you sign this petition, thank you so much. You have no idea what it means to me or any of the other students that suffer from these things. I’d love to see these tests gone forever, but I know that some students do like them—like that one person on my poll that said yes. And I, unlike the Department of Education, bothered to ask. I want them to at least change. That department is full of adults that don’t actually have to take them—kids do....

We need to keep the foundations of music in our school. This has an impact on everyone, especially those who are in the classical BFA.

We are starting this petition because we have also been affected by the early start of the bell schedule. People should be concerned about this issue because due to this lack of sleep, students are not performing to the best of their abilities. Also, check out our survey, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFESPV9chidCeE4Vaq57ewfd9wZFAhagjVHSuQzqVpd1YFKg/viewform?usp=sf_link