To: Baltimore City Council
Fully Fund Baltimore's Community Schools
We, the undersigned parents, teachers, school support staff, students and community members, call upon our city’s leaders to strongly support the community-schools strategy that is transforming Baltimore’s public schools and communities. We urge the city of Baltimore to make a formal, long-term commitment to community schools and fully fund community schools and out-of-school time in the city’s budget next year.
Why is this important?
In Baltimore, 36.5 percent of people live below the poverty line. That’s $23,492 in annual income for a family of four, according to the 2012 Census Bureau American Community Survey. Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of education at Stanford University and architect of Stanford’s School Redesign Network, argues that socioeconomic status usually accounts for 50-60 percent of overall achievement in schools, while individual teachers may account for only about 7-10 percent. Darling-Hammond also points out that factors related to housing, nutrition, violence and gang-related activity, transportation, and a host of other obstacles communities face affect students’ educational experience as well.
Community schools work to address some of these obstacles and have proven successful in providing meals, medical services, home visits and academic opportunities that go beyond the classroom. Increasing and expanding funding will help continue the great work started in the 47 existing community schools in the Baltimore City Public Schools district and help provide all Baltimore’s children the opportunity to succeed.
Show your support for Baltimore’s community schools. Sign the petition below.