Support our charter petition to give students in Northwest Georgia a great school!

Pell Grants allowed me and so many others to be first generation college graduates. Education should not be based on wealth, and allows people to be financially self-sufficient.

Kids in our state suffer from underfunding of school programs. Congress should not cut after school programs for our kids. Vote No on trump's budget.

If we allow enrichment programs to be cut from the "Amreica First" budget, our children and their families will suffer. Many families depend on these programs not only for their chldren's enrichment but for the child care they provide.

I am starting this petition because I am one of the many in this country buried in student loan debt that seems to go nowhere. I have no problem paying the loan back, but I do have a problem with the interest rates. It is out of control. It is in no way beneficial for students to even go to college anymore without grants and scholarships. Taking out loans is shooting yourself in the foot and trapping people in debt. This is why I have started this petition. So that Americans can go to school and not be buried in debt for the next 10 to 25 years of their lives.

Hawaii public education is at a critical crossroads. Hawaii has the potential to have the best public education system in the nation if current movements in innovation, collaboration and empowerment are unleashed to their full potential. However, this potential is stymied due to special interest control of the Superintendent search process. The H.L. Castle Foundation, which shares interlocking leadership with the Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce, has been too intimately involved in setting the public education policy agenda. Recent actions by the H.L. Castle Foundation in the Superintendent search reveal clearly that corporate money buys corporate control. The H.L. Castle Foundation offered to fund the search for the superintendent, and selected an Iowa-based search firm known for seeking out corporate-minded educational leaders who will likely be inappropriate for our state's culture, context and vision for the future of Hawaii's public education. The H.L Castle Foundation also held the process hostage by withdrawing their funding offer of $50,000 when the candidate pool widened to include a candidate who had been openly critical of the education policies the Castle Foundation helped to craft under the federal 'No Child Left Behind' law and the federal 'Race to the Top' program. They only reinstated the funding they had originally offered when the candidate withdrew. This is unacceptable. Now more than ever, we need public control of public education. Please sign below to show your support for transparency in public education. We are calling for the Castle Foundation to remove itself completely from the decision-making processes surrounding the selection the next Hawaii DOE superintendent.

Starting in the fall of 2017, SRHS seniors who have met the graduation requirements cannot have a "home period" (taking one period off). The district claims it is due to a new law; however, the lawmaker disputes that and the California Dept. of Education says there is no law that bans a "home period." Many districts (including Poway) have "home periods," which allow students to hold part-time jobs/internships, volunteer, and/or play sports and still maintain good grades. This makes them more well-rounded, which is what high-level colleges are looking for. This is in the best interest of children. Thank you!

Many schools in Virginia do not have a licensed nurse to provide safe and ethical medical care. For some Virginia students, school nurses may be the only healthcare resource they have access to. School nurses have the potential to be community health equalizers in the care of Virginia's socioeconomic disadvantaged and disabled child and youth populations. School nurses support and facilitate school inclusion for all students. Public schools could be an economical, common-sense platform for the frontline application of Virginia’s community public health intervention programs coupled with the potential for long-term research. Incorporating a community’s public health approach with school health programs has the possibility to improve health equity and health literacy, target resource application with long-term cost efficiency not only in money but overall improved public health and wellness. My own experience working in a public school setting has been impacted by a lack of medical appreciation and understanding for the role of school nurses. Many of the administrators and school board decision makers do not have a medical background and lack the knowledge base needed to envision the potential of a public health approach/ application to the school health needs. This issue is most apparent in the area of students with disabilities. One of my most important roles is advocating for the federally protected civil rights of students. School nurses are the necessary experts for 504 plans. I truly believe school nurses could help the state of Virginia in reaching its goals for wellness, health equity, and reduction in healthcare cost. An “out of the box" vision for the state of Virginia's school health program could positively impact more than the success of students, but the success of communities. American Academy of Pediatrics Statement https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/AAP-Policy-Statement-Recommends-Full-Time-Nurse-in-Every-School.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR:+No+local+token National Association of School Nurses https://www.nasn.org/PolicyAdvocacy/PositionPapersandReports/NASNPositionStatementsFullView/tabid/462/smid/824/ArticleID/803/Default.aspx https://www.nasn.org/PolicyAdvocacy/PositionPapersandReports/NASNPositionStatementsFullView/tabid/462/smid/824/ArticleID/17/Default.aspx The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools http://www.healthinschools.org/ More Information https://www.facebook.com/schoolnurseforeverychild/

The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced Bill 610. This bill will effectively start the school voucher system to be used by children ages 5 to 17, and starts the de-funding process of public schools. The bill will eliminate the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESSA) of 1965 which is the nation's educational law and provides equal opportunity in education. It is a comprehensive program that covers programs for struggling learners, AP classes, ESL classes, classes for minorities such as Native Americans, Rural Education, Education for the Homeless, School Safety (Gun-Free schools), Monitoring and Compliance and Federal Accountability Programs. The bill also abolishes the Nutritional Act of 2012 (No Hungry Kids Act) which provides nutritional standards in school breakfast and lunch. For our most vulnerable, this may be the ONLY nutritious food they have in a day. The bill has no wording whatsoever protecting special needs kids, no mention of IDEA and FAPE. Some things the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESSA) of 1965 does for Children with Disabilities: -ensures access to the general education curriculum -ensures access to accommodations on assessments -ensures concepts of Universal Design for Learning -includes provisions that require local education agencies to provide evidence-based interventions in schools with consistently under-performing subgroups -requires states in Title I plans to address how they will improve conditions for learning including reducing incidents of bullying and harassment in schools, overuse of discipline practices and reduce the use of aversive behavioral interventions (such as restraints and seclusion). Please call your representative and ask him/her to vote NO on House Bill 610 (HR 610) introduced by three Republican reps. Please copy and paste this post (rather than hitting "share") so it isn't limited to the friends we have in common. Thanks for advocating on behalf of our nation's youth and their families. See the bill here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/610

Summary Alabama Science in Motion (ASIM) has been an essential core component of Alabama's public schools for more than 23 years. We implore our legislators to represent the interest of students, teachers, and concerned community members by immediately putting ASIM back in as a line item in our Education budget. Furthermore, we ask that the funding for this critical program is increased to cover its actual operating costs to $3.5 million and that these funds be dedicated solely to Alabama Science in Motion. What is ASIM? ASIM provides teachers and high school students with expert guidance, professional development, curricula, and laboratory equipment that, in many cases, would be unavailable due to prohibitive costs. There are 33 ASIM specialists who travel around the state in multiple regions to share resources both in and out of classrooms. In 2016, ASIM specialists delivered $82,000 of supplies and $430,000 of equipment to 136,684 students in 352 schools, serving 132 of 137 school systems. The ASIM program is offered to ALL school systems in the state. What are the benefits of ASIM? For Students: ASIM works precisely because of the focus on student-centered classroom labs. A model program, ASIM efficiently shares high tech equipment among thousands of Alabama students. In having access to ASIM’s mentorship and laboratory equipment, much of which would otherwise be unavailable, students develop a genuine interest in science and are more prepared for higher education and the workforce. Having equitable access is critical for educational opportunities for children in poverty. In Alabama, these students are most often children of color and/or children from rural areas. Through ASIM experiences, many first-generation college students are more prepared to navigate university-level laboratory-based science courses. For Teachers: In having access to ASIM’s science education training and support, teachers gain specialized knowledge and invaluable tools. Teachers bring the continuing professional education they receive immediately into their science classrooms. ASIM specialists ensure that teachers are provided with updated equipment and that experiments are correlated to the latest science standards. Given the trend of increasingly high teacher turnover, ASIM guidance is particularly important for new classroom teachers in our school system. Specialists offer teachers collaboration, expertise, and encouragement in a challenging profession. Why did the Alabama legislature originally plan, create, and fund ASIM? Our representatives had a vision to get science into Alabama classrooms based on the pressing need to offer students a pathway to excel in the industries of science and technology. In a global economy, increasingly driven by digital technology, robotics, and information, this vision is more crucial than ever. What are the costs and budget for ASIM? ASIM has received its own line item allocation of around $1.6 million annually in the state budget for the past few years. It was funded at twice that amount before proration slashed the budget. AMSTI (Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative), a similar program for primary and middle school students, has allocated $1.5 million of its own operating budget for the past few years to keep ASIM operating at its current levels. That alone is strong evidence that science professionals highly value what ASIM is doing to prepare students to be scientifically literate. As of March 2017, the ASIM program has been completely taken out as a dedicated line item in the Alabama State Education budget. Governor Bentley’s administration has moved it under the "Other Current Expense" category of the Education Trust Fund in the state budget proposal for next year. Grouping ASIM into this discretionary fund ensures that the program is no longer earmarked as a priority. It will have to compete for funding with an array of unrelated budget items. Further, Governor Bentley’s administration has recommended that ASIM receives no discretionary funding at all from the “Other Current Expense” budget. This recommendation sends a clear message that the current governor and education superintendent want ASIM to be dismantled. What is the vision for Alabama public high school science? Alabama State Education Superintendent Sentance has argued that ASIM is not achieving his desired results for student performance and intends to work with Governor Bentley to phase out the program. Yet he and the governor have not presented a clear, detailed, and proven proposal for a comprehensive replacement for ASIM. Nor have they offered any data that something else will work better than this model program, which other states look to as a blueprint for cooperative science and technology. Few if any state delegates have been sent out to observe ASIM in action. Nor has any official data been collected from students, graduates, parents, teachers, scientists, or others who have firsthand experience with ASIM. Finally, Superintendent Sentance has unveiled a long-term plan to completely defund AMSTI as well. Since ASIM and AMSTI are the only two programs in the history of Alabama public schools that offer equitable access to high-tech, hands-on, student-centered, college-prep science education for all students, it is unclear what vision for education our current state administration holds. What are the long-term costs to Alabama students if ASIM is destroyed? Diminishing or obliterating the ASIM program strips Alabama public schools of essential components of our science education curricula. Our students rely on these components to have the mastery of science necessary to forge ahead as competent leaders and citizens. As a state, we continue to complain about a broken education system while citing standardized test numbers that imply only 24% of Alabama high school students are prepared for college science. Therefore we cannot risk losing ASIM, which ...

Governor Hogan is considering funding charter schools rather than completely funding Maryland's public schools. Reduced funding will cut special programs from our schools. My grandson, a ninth grader, will lose many of the programs he now has in a public school.

We, the undersigned constituents of Bridgeport, agree that Aresta L. Johnson, Ed.D should be hired as the permanent acting Superintendent of the Bridgeport Public Schools District. She's currently the acting Interim Superintendent . SHE KNOWS OUR CHILDREN NEEDS and has a proven track record of success within the Bridgeport Community and School System. There's work to be DONE and we believe Dr. JOHNSON IS THE WOMEN FOR THE TASK OF MOVING OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT FORWARD.