To: Governor Tom Wolf

Pittsburgh: Reclaim the Promise of Public Education--Our Schools, Our Solutions

Pittsburgh wants great neighborhood public schools that are safe and welcoming, are fully funded and have teachers who are well-prepared, are well-supported, and have manageable class sizes and time to collaborate. We want our schools to be centers of our communities and ensure that children and families have access to wraparound services to meet their social, emotional and health needs. We want curriculum that focuses on teaching and learning, not testing, and that includes art, music and the sciences. We want to put the public back in public education.

The top-down policies of the last decade have not worked. It's clear that austerity, competition, division and hyper-testing have not and will not help our students. Top-down edicts, sanctions, mass school closures and denigrating teachers will not move the needle in the right direction. Our children and our schools deserve better.

We want a new direction for our schools. Teachers, students, parents, community organizations, civil rights advocates and faith leaders recently met in Los Angeles and together endorsed "The Principles That Unite Us."

I urge you to sign on to these principles. We need our leaders to stand with us, united around a common vision for our schools.

You can read more about the principles here: www.reclaimpublicednow.org/principles

Why is this important?

In October, teachers, students, parents, community organizations, civil rights advocates and faith leaders met in Los Angeles and together endorsed "The Principles That Unite Us." Now, on Dec. 9, we're taking action in Pittsburgh as part of a National Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Public Education. We're uniting around a common vision for our schools.

Local teachers and parents, community groups and labor unions, students and faith leaders are united to reclaim the promise of public education for all children. We want great neighborhood public schools that are fully funded and are centers of our community, with wraparound services and curriculum that focuses on teaching and learning, not testing.

We need our elected leaders to sign on to the principles. By signing this petition, you'll be telling Gov. Corbett that you're united with us and that they should get on board.

Together, we can reclaim public education as a propeller of our economy, an anchor of our democracy, and a gateway to opportunity for every child.