New Series: Federal Rapid Response Strategy Sessions
New Series: Federal Rapid Response Strategy Sessions
In light of the authoritarian actions of the Trump administration—particularly the use of executive orders and the systematic dismantling of federal agencies—state legislators must be well-informed about the direct and indirect impacts on their states and how to respond. These actions often leave gaps in policies, create new challenges, and shift funding, which can make things harder for state governments.
To help state lawmakers stay informed and ready, SiX and State Futures are hosting bi-weekly Federal Rapid Response Rooms. These virtual meetings give state leaders the tools, strategies, and support they need to respond to federal changes and, when possible, push back.
In these sessions, state legislators and policy experts come together to talk about new federal actions, figure out how they affect states, and plan ways to respond. The goal is to make sure states aren't just reacting to federal decisions but are also creating their own strategies and a proactive vision for the future.
State legislators and staff, click here to join us for our next Federal Rapid Response Room!
So far we have covered:
Executive Orders and State Impact
Federal actions can quickly change state funding and priorities. This first session gave lawmakers important information about these fast-moving decisions, their impacts on states, and how to respond. Experts like Somil Trivedi from Democracy Forward and Michigan Senate Leader Winnie Brinks shared their insights. Lawmakers also joined small group discussions to talk about challenges, solutions, and ways to work together across states. The meeting wrapped up with a summary, helpful resources, and next steps.
State Power to Protect Public Schools
Florida Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost, the Education Law Center, and North Carolina State House Representative Lindsey Prather joined this session to talk about public education. Access to education is directly tied to economic and political power — and public education wasn’t handed to us, it was fought for. But for decades, there’s been a strong, well-funded push to privatize schools.
Click here for a recap of the public education session.
Agriculture, Rural Communities, and Food
The Trump administration’s latest moves are already hitting farmers, rural communities, and our food system. In this session, expert speakers broke down what’s happening, how it’s affecting farms and families in rural areas, and what it all means for the future of agriculture and food.
Click here for a recap of the rural communities, farmers, and our food briefing.
Federal + State Regulatory Attacks and State Response
In this session, experts and lawmakers covered DOGE, efforts to weaken federal regulatory agencies, state-level DOGE actions, and positive state responses.
Rapid Response: Social Safety Net Programs
In this session, we focused on Medicaid and social safety nets. Read more about defending Medicaid here.
Education access is directly tied to economic and political power, which is why universal public education was never given to us – it was hard fought, and incredibly popular. But for decades we’ve faced a multi-pronged, coordinated, and well-funded state-by-state effort to privatize public schools. Now, those ongoing threats are compounded by extremists in the federal government eliminating programs critical to student success in school and life in order to give tax breaks to the rich.
Over the past two months, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have aimed their wrecking ball at public schools and the futures of the 50 million students in rural, suburban, and urban communities across America by dismantling public education to pay for tax handouts for billionaires. They have issued reckless, destructive, and even illegal directives to destabilize public schools and target some of our most vulnerable students. They include executive orders to eliminate the Department of Education, mass layoffs, blocking DEI initiatives, allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on public schools, former wrestling CEO Linda McMahon as education secretary, Musk & DOGE’s hostile takeover, congressional action, and a pending supreme court ruling– states have an essential role to protect the freedom to learn for all students. Below are resources to understand the impacts of these actions and how to act.
Content summarized from our public education briefing as part of our bi-weekly federal rapid response series. Legislators and legislative staff can register here for this ongoing series.
Who is impacted if the Department of Education is eliminated?
Established in 1980 by Congress, the department is intended to collect data and research on schooling and education, direct supportive funds to targeted communities, and investigate and enforce civil rights anti-discrimination law. It's the smallest Cabinet-level department, with less than 5,000 employees.
One of the Department of Education’s core responsibilities is to administer programs created by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, under which 7.5 million disabled students—roughly, 15 percent of the student population—have received individualized education services, including pre-employment transition services, special education support services, and much more. While the Trump administration cannot scrap IDEA or its funding without Congressional approval, it could attempt to move the administration of IDEA over to another government agency.
The largest K–12 program run through the U.S. Department of Education is Title I, which provides funding to schools that enroll high percentages of low-income students. Nearly two-thirds of all public schools receive Title I funding. These federal funds ensure that schools have extra supports—more teachers, money for supplies, access to better curriculum, behavioral and mental health programs, and more—to help low-income children succeed and help make up for the gaps between rich and poor school districts. According to the Center for American Progress, 2.8 million students benefit from this program. Find a state-by-state breakdown here.
The Department of Education plays a key role in enforcing civil rights laws that protect students from discrimination based on race or national origin, immigration status, sex, disability, and religion through the work of its Office for Civil Rights (OCR). OCR investigates individual complaints, such as when a child is denied access to special education services outlined in their Individualized Education Plan, as well as complaints seeking to protect groups of students, such as when Black students are receiving harsher discipline than white students for the same offenses.
For rural communities dismantling the Department of Education would severely harm rural students by cutting crucial federal funding for low-income and special education programs, worsening teacher shortages, and reducing access to student aid. Without federal oversight, education quality could become inconsistent, leaving rural schools with even fewer resources and lower standards. Programs that provide free meals, after-school care, and broadband access would also be at risk, widening the gap between rural and urban students. This would deepen inequities and limit opportunities for rural students, making education less accessible and effective.
Disrupting student loan infrastructure could barrel the nation toward higher rates of student loan default. By dollars and cents, student loan debt is the federal government’s largest financial asset. The Department of Education manages that $1.6 trillion asset: it not only disburses student loans, but also provides vital information to borrowers, investigates fraud and abuse in federal student aid programs, and manages servicers.
The Department of Education employees are experts in education; their work serves our public school students in every community in every corner of this country. They are researchers who develop best practices for engaging students with disabilities and lawyers who protect students’ civil rights no matter their skin color or gender. The Department of Education employees also process student loan forms so students can attend college or career training programs. These are students who may otherwise not have the means to extend their education and reach their full potential. The Department of Education employees are experts in the field of education who have a singular purpose and commitment to our students and their well-being. The Trump Administration's actions are gutting education and destabilizing schools in neighborhoods around the nation.
Messaging Guidance
Though our opposition paints our fights as “left versus right,” we know this is actually about folks on the bottom versus the very top. Public education is an issue that unites working families, no matter what we look like, where we’re from, where we live, or who we love. So how do we talk about it? From Navigator Research: When communicating these sweeping executive actions, it’s essential that messengers clearly outline the human impacts of the Trump Administration’s latest moves to cut programs that benefit all Americans to enrich billionaires. Focus on the true victims of this decision - students, teachers, and parents. This move will impact the success of students and schools nationwide to make room for tax cuts that benefit the few.
With their consent, share real-life impact stories of students and families in your district. Here’s a few from the National Education Association:
An educator in Georgia who worked with students with disabilities, helping them in their transition out of high school. She lost her job because federal funding was cut and her students now are left without this critical support.
A former Teacher of the Year in Kansas who teaches special education has talked about the risk Kansas faces, losing 4,000 educator jobs if they gut the Department of Education. More than 81,000 students receive services under IDEA in Kansas.
An educator in California told me that her students are worried about how to take care of their siblings if their parents get deported. Trump’s comments on deporting all immigrants have students fearing for their safety.
A high school teacher in rural Ohio said she has students who read at a middle school level, and she worries they won’t be able to read at a necessary level as adults. Less federal funding means less individualized help for students.
Many believe the elimination of the Department of Education will lead to federal block grants for federal dollars. But why are block grants so dangerous?
The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities details the threat of federal block grants. Block grants are fixed pots of money that the federal government gives to states to provide benefits or services. Block grant funding levels typically are fixed; this contrasts with an entitlement structure, in which anyone who is eligible for benefits or services can receive them and funding increases automatically and immediately to respond to increased need due to economic downturns, natural disasters, or higher-than-expected costs (such as when a new drug or procedure increases health care costs). Block-granting these programs would strip away the federal commitment to help vulnerable individuals and families who are eligible for these programs when they need them. Fixed annual funding would render the programs unable to automatically respond to increased need, as they do today. As need increases, states would have to cut eligibility or benefits or establish waiting lists to stay within capped funding. When it comes to public education, federal block grants would lead to an unprecedented expansion of vouchers and the privatization of public schools.
Working in collaboration with public education advocates in your state and educating constituents and your colleagues on what is at stake is essential. Consider bringing a delegation of your colleagues into a public school for a day, to fully understand the benefits and the hard work that goes into teaching. Connect constituents with community organizations working to protect and expand public education access. State legislators can also be essential partners in litigation support, ballot initiatives, and in securing new sources of state funding for the long-term, such as this proposal from Maryland. States like Virginia have also launched emergency task forces specifically dedicated to responding to federal threats to funding of essential programs and jobs.
Building an Affirmative Vision for Public Schools
We know Project 2025 began in the states; as we face attacks from all directions, it’s essential that we do not just defend the status quo, but build an affirmative vision for the future in states. People love public education and as In the Public Interest details, community schools are transforming public education. Working in collaboration with students, parents, teachers, and the workers who keep our schools running, we can build that vision in the states.
SiX is working to organize partners in-state and across-states in support of legislators defending public education. If you have a research request, let us know.
SiX Economic Power Project: Back To School Edition
SiX Economic Power Project: Back To School Edition
By: Ida Eskamani, SiX's Senior Director, Legislative Affairs
The Economic Power Project (EPP) is SiX's national economic justice initiative, organizing legislators committed to building economies that empower people and advance justice. With school back from summer break, our August edition is all about public schools.
WATCH: FTC Chair Khan keynote at the American Federation of Teachers conference, linking labor and antitrust as united fights for workers’ freedoms. Learn more about the FTC’s efforts to ban non-compete agreements nationwide here.
The Hard-fought Promise of Public Schools
Education access is directly tied to economic and political power, which is why universal public education was never given to us – it was hardfought. Today, a coordinated and well-funded state-by-state effort to privatize public schools through vouchers, tax credits, or “education savings accounts,” is rooted in this history, designed to roll back progress and concentrate power in the hands of the elite few.
Organizing Together and Winning for Our Communities
Public schools are the vehicle that anchors our democracy and creates opportunity for all. Across the country, legislators and education advocates are organizing together:
In North Carolina, students, educators, parents, and legislators stopped voucher expansion legislation.
In Virginia, a powerhouse of 27,500 education workers unionized in Fairfax County, creating the new Fairfax Education Unions, an alliance between the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers and the Fairfax Education Association.
In Alabama, advocates and legislators blocked legislation to expand the state’s “Don’t Say LGBTQ+” law. In Florida, 21 of the 22 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were defeated.
Across the country, community schools are transforming public education. See this report by In The Public Interest for details on 20 case studies.
WATCH: Vermont Rep. Mary-Katherine Stone discusses her advocacy for community schools.
People overwhelmingly support improving public education and oppose vouchers. That’s why privatizers have shifted their focus to values-based arguments, like those around school curricula and parental consent, framing voucher expansion as a “path to halt woke indoctrination” and “escape government-run education.”
Extremists often create fake problems to hide their true agenda. The American Federation of Teachers campaign, Real Solutions for Kids and Communities, is working to ensure educational opportunity for all. Learn more here.
Education is Everything
Education is directly tied to economic and political power, sitting at the intersections of policy making: from budgets and revenue, worker power, and civil rights, to criminalization and democracy. Below are additional resources to consider as we advocate for public education for all:
Making the Connection Between LGBTQ+ Liberation, Racial Justice, and Economic Power
Making the Connection Between LGBTQ+ Liberation, Racial Justice, and Economic Power
By: Ida Eskamani, SiX's Senior Director, Legislative Affairs
The Economic Power Project (EPP) is SiX's national economic justice initiative, organizing legislators committed to building economies that empower people and advance justice. For Pride Month, originating from the Stonewall Uprising of June 28, 1969, we’re highlighting the intersection of LGBTQ+ liberation, racial justice, and economic power.
As a legislator advocating for the LGBTQ+ residents in your state, it is imperative to work in collaboration with our state-based LGBTQ+ organizations and organizers. Need help getting connected? SiX can help. Contact SiX’s Ida V. Eskamani, Senior Director, Legislative Affairs, ida@stateinnovation.org.
By embracing inclusive definitions of family, our laws can better support the diverse structures of all families, including chosen family members, crucial for LGBTQ+ workers. States like Minnesota and Maine are at the forefront, implementing comprehensive paid leave programs that include all families.
From family rejection leading to LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness, to LGBTQ+ elders facing new forms of discrimination in retirement, and every stage of life in between; housing and LGBTQ+ justice are connected. Tenant organizers across the country are working with legislators to advance this agenda, via just cause eviction, rent hike caps, and opportunity to purchase; as well as regulating corporate landlord AI-rent setting and private equity buyouts.
Pride in Criminal Legal System Reform
Criminalization in itself is a profit-driven agenda: incarceration is a multi-billionaire dollar industry that we all subsidize with tax dollars. The Stonewall Uprising of 1969 was in response to police brutality and criminalization targeting queer communities, and queer people have always been over-criminalized and over-incarcerated. According to the Sentencing Project, LGBTQ+ adults are incarcerated at three times the rate of the general population. Among trans people, 1 in 6 report being incarcerated at any point in their lives, and nearly half of those are Black trans people. From queer youth to adulthood, criminalization sits on the intersection of LGBTQ+ identities, racism, and classism. This brief by the Sentencing Project examines the criminalization and over-incarceration of LGBTQ+ people in the United States, highlighting the drivers of overrepresentation and presenting recommendations for reform.
Pride in Our Irresistible Futures
When we dismantle the structural barriers LGBTQ+ people face, we are all more free. We hope you can join us and 600 state legislators and partners as we build an irresistible future, where all people have power and agency over our lives at SiX's 2024 National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia from December 11-13. Early Bird Registration is now open.
The Economic Power Project is an effort spearheaded by SiX’s Legislative Affairs team. Contact SiX’s Ida V. Eskamani, Senior Director, Legislative Affairs, ida@stateinnovation.org.
COVID Resources: Education
The Department of Education and the White House are pressuring schools to open in the fall but are providing little to no guidance for doing so safely, threatening to withhold funding for states or districts who do not comply. While the pressure to reopen schools in the fall grows, so does the number of coronavirus cases, leaving school districts and states scrambling to keep up with a quickly changing situation. States will have to consider how to keep all students, teachers, faculty and support staff safe—not just those in wealthy communities—through budget considerations, remote learning options, financial aid, school meals, testing and tracing, and more.
General Resources
The Education Commission of the States has information, policy considerations, and examples from states in the following education topic areas:
Assessments and Accountability
Broadband and Technology Access
Continued and Future Learning
Early Learning
Finance
Instructional Time and Grade Promotion
Postsecondary
Remote/Virtual/E-Learning
Special Education
Student Health and Wellness
Teachers
Workforce
Resources: K-12
Guidance for Reopening K-12
National Education Association’s guidance for reopening has recommendations for school administrators and teachers (as opposed to state legislators) but will help legislators understand the challenges, risks and opportunities for intervention.
American Federation of Teachers has a guide to reopening. PDF pages 12-14 has recommendations and information for legislators.
Most states plan to use Governor’s Emergency Education Relief funds to expand or continue meeting student needs to access reliable, high speed internet and devices. Legislators can see how other states have used their funds and other opportunities to expand broadband.
Urge the Federal Communications Commission to take measures to secure broadband access for those impacted by COVID-19 like New Jersey did.
Invest in broadband activity to significantly increase rural broadband capacity for distance learning, remote working, telehealth and other critical services like Vermont did.
Invest in existing rural cooperatives in order to support the expansion of broadband to rural communities. This is what Mississippi did.
Establish a grant program for broadband expansion like was done in Minnesota and Mississippi.
Food Security for Students K-12
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Services response to Covid-19 includes lists of child nutrition programs, waivers, parent/guardian meal pick-ups, and other nationwide waivers for students (including students who receive free and reduced lunches).
The CARES Act provides $13.5 billion in emergency aid for K-12 schools that may be directly impacted by how individual states cut their own education spending.
An interactive tool that can be adjusted to look at any budgeting scenario: School Funding; what to expect and what states can do.
Covid-19 Legislative responses: Interactive map to track education bills by state. Includes tracking for all education-related state action regarding the outbreak.
Teacher Resources
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) state policy tracking map that is useful for highlighting present changes to policies for initial licensure, clinical experiences, hiring and induction, and state standards to support EPPs and teacher candidates during Covid-19.
A guide to community conversations on reopening schools safely. Also includes information on bringing the community together around the conversation.
Resources: Institutions of Higher Education (IHE)
Guidance for Reopening Institutions of Higher Education (IHE)
CDC guidance: IHE general setting recommendations and on-campus housing settings including for lowest risk, more risk, and highest risk options.
The CARES Act provides almost $14 Billion directly to IHE. ACE simulated distribution of funds that would be allocated by The Department of Education.
Higher Education policy considerations from NCSL includes in-person vs. remote learning options, financial considerations, admissions and enrollment, and more, and can be found here.
Floridians Want State Lawmakers to Act on Threats Created by COVID Crisis
Strong support for progressive solutions to help working families and ensure the elections are accessible and safe
A recent poll commissioned by the State Innovation Exchange (SiX) shows Florida voters hold deep concerns over the risk that COVID-19 poses to their health and the impact on the economy and the election. Two in three Floridians believe the worst of the pandemic is yet to come (65%).
The Role of Government in Issues Facing Florida
When asked if the state government should play a role in some of the issues facing working families, voters overwhelmingly supported government engagement in:
Safely and fairly administering elections (92%);
Stopping the spread of the coronavirus (90%);
Ensuring equal access to high-quality K-12 education (89%);
Ensuring struggling families and children have access to food (84%); and
Equal pay for equal work (81%).
Voters Support Steps to Ensure Safe and Accessible Elections
Florida voters overwhelmingly believe that the state government has a role to play in safely and fairly administering elections (92%). The majority of Floridians report that they will vote by mail (52%). However, 47% still plan to vote in person, with 27% planning to vote on Election Day and 20% planning to early vote.
Whether or not they are choosing to vote in person or by-mail, voters supported policies to ensure the election is safe and accessible for all eligible voters:
Open additional polling locations to reduce crowds and lines (84%);
Lengthen the window for early voting and allow voters to cast ballots in person up through the day before Election Day (82%);
Allow any registered Florida voter to cast a ballot at any polling location in their county (71%); and
Mail all registered voters applications to vote-by-mail (61%).
Voters Concerned about COVID Impact and Strongly Support Progressive Economic Policies
By a four to one margin voters believe Florida state government should invest more in its residents to ensure they are safe, healthy, and economically secure (64%) rather than state government keeping taxes low and cutting funds to key services like education, infrastructure and unemployment insurance (16%).
Florida has been hard hit by the pandemic with one in three of Floridians responding that they have been laid off or had their hours cut (34%). Two out of three Floridians support extending and expanding unemployment for those workers who have been laid off (65%). Support for this policy cuts across partisan lines with Democrats (78%), Republicans (52%) Independents (65%) in favor.
The pandemic is a top of mind concern for Floridians who report they are concerned about the people losing work and income due to the virus (84%), small businesses and restaurants closing down permanently (84%), Floridians contracting the virus and dying (79%), people of Florida unable to afford their rent or mortgage (79%) and people in Florida being forced to choose between their health and their job (71%).
Given the current crisis, Floridians support policies that will address the hardships being faced by many and make life easier for working families:
Providing low-interest loans to small businesses to help them make it through the crisis (94%);
Extending the grace period for people to pay health insurance bills before their coverage can be canceled (88%);
Limiting what drug companies can charge for prescription drugs (87%);
Offering people in Florida the option to buy into the same public health insurance plans that are available to state employees if they want to (86%); and
Banning the practice of surprise medical billing (85%).
Mainers Concerned About Economy and Health Care, Support the Recent Actions Taken in the 2019 Legislative Session
A recent poll commissioned by the State Innovation Exchange (SiX) shows Mainers are concerned about pocketbook economic issues, the affordability of health care, and education. Mainers also support recent state legislative actions to address these issues and the direction Maine is going after the 2019 legislative session.
Legislators took significant steps in the 2019 session to address the concerns of Mainers and this polling demonstrates ongoing support for progressive policy solutions to the problems facing the state.
Mainers Support Action on Economic Concerns
On a scale of 1 to 10, voters supported legislative action to:
Establish more protections for workers including fairness in overtime pay and scheduling, and preventing wage theft: 7.53
Require paid sick days: 7.42
Expand broadband to rural communities: 7.27
Fund housing bonds for the construction of new affordable housing units for low income seniors: 7.19
Create a state insurance fund to ensure that all employees can take medical or family leave: 6.92
Reduce the gender wage gap: 6.89
Voters Support Action on Health Care
Maine voters prioritize action on health care with a focus on affordability and addressing the opioid epidemic. On a scale of 1 to 10, voters supported legislative action to:
Make prescription drugs more affordable: 8.2
Hold pharma companies accountable for the opioid crisis: 7.75
Create a board to set price limits on drugs: 7.35
Mainers Support Action on Education
Maine voters are concerned about the affordability of higher education and support action to increase access to early childhood education. On a scale of 1 to 10, voters supported legislative action to:
Provide student debt forgiveness for any Mainer who lives and works in Maine for at least five years after they graduate from college: 6.99
Make community college free for all Maine residents who maintain a C average or better while they attend school: 6.88
Ensure every school district offers public preschool: 6.82
Click here to see the poll memo and here for a presentation on full results.
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The State Innovation Exchange commissioned Lincoln Park Strategies to complete the research. The survey was conducted June 14 to June 20 with 600 respondents and has a margin of error ± 4 percent at the 95% confidence interval.
Progressives Fight for Sunrise Agenda in Stormy Legislative Session
Progressive legislators and partners kicked off the 2019 legislative session with a bold Sunrise Agenda focused on the economy, affordable health care, education, the environment and a welcoming Florida.
But during the legislative session, conservatives, who control both chambers, refused to debate the priorities that Floridians identify as critical—like affordable healthcare and housing—and instead fought for priorities that rig the rules for the wealthy and big businesses and protect their own power. The legislative session showed how out of step conservatives are with the will of the people. The contrast between conservatives and progressives couldn’t be more clear.
Our Economy
Instead of focusing on helping Floridians make ends meet, conservatives passed legislation to ban Florida cities from requiring big developers to build any affordable housing as part of new construction. This just further lines the pockets of big businesses and the wealthy, while exacerbating the challenge in creating affordable housing in our cities and surrounding areas.
Progressive Representatives Jacquet and Joseph with Senators Rodriguez, Cruz and Stewart advanced legislation that would help improve the lives of all Floridians. The legislation which would address equal pay, paid family leave and an increase to the minimum wage was introduced but never heard in committee, debated or voted upon.
Our Health Care
Floridians are deeply concerned about the cost and accessibility of health care and prescription drugs. Instead of addressing these issues, conservatives sought to limit women’s access to health care and the right to choose by sponsoring a six-week abortion ban, a 20-week abortion ban and a parental consent law, which was voted out of the House.
Progressive Representative Cindy Polo and Senator Taddeo proposed expanding Medicaid to Floridians under 65 who are at or below 138% of the federal poverty line. This would provide health coverage to an estimated 850,000 hard-working Floridians currently lacking coverage—like single-moms working hard to support their families and adults working multiple jobs but still not making enough money to make ends meet. Conservatives shut down the proposal, refusing to even hear it in committee.
Our Students
Strengthening the public education system that supports 90% of Florida students is a priority for all progressive legislators. Instead of taking steps to improve public education, address the root cause of gun violence in schools and ensure Florida is able to stay competitive and keep great teachers, conservatives prioritized arming teachers and funding vouchers and charter schools in an effort to privatize our public education.
Progressive Representative Margaret Good filed a bill that would address the critical teacher shortage. Her legislation, which had bipartisan support in the Senate, would have allowed retired educators to immediately fill substitute teacher positions helping to fill some of the 2,000 teacher vacancies across the 67 counties. The conservatives shut down this legislation and it was never heard in committee.
Our Environment
The red tide and the other impacts of climate change have taken a toll on our health, our communities and our economy. The short- and long-term economic and health impacts have Floridians along the Gulf Coast struggling. The conservative-controlled legislature took no significant action to help address these challenges.
Progressive Representatives Diamond, Eskamani and Good with Senator Rodriguez filed legislation to help us understand and address these critical issues that will shape our economy and health into the future. Progressives advanced legislation to create a climate change research program, develop a renewable energy plan and address water quality and a decrease in the use of herbicides that created the red tide. All these bills were introduced, but never heard in committee.
Our People
After the 2018 election, Florida again received national attention for our difficulty in making sure that every eligible voter’s ballot was counted. Instead of taking steps to modernize and secure the process for all eligible voters, conservatives made unnecessary changes to the rules for vote-by-mail—which is used by many Florida voters to avoid long lines at the polls. They also took steps to obstruct the will of the people by placing exorbitant fees and other requirements on those formerly incarcerated before they are allowed to vote. This after the progressive community worked to bring the Constitutional amendment restoring these rights to a vote—which was supported by 65% of the people in November 2018.
Finally, conservatives changed the process by which signatures are gathered by everyday Floridians to amend the state constitution. Over the last decade this process has been used by the voters to address some of Florida’s most pressing issues—from pocketbook issues to who has the right to vote—because conservative lawmakers refuse to enact the policies that reflect the will of the majority of Floridians.
While the 2019 legislative session saw little progress on issues to help everyday Floridians, progressive partners and legislators will continue to work with constituents and colleagues to build on the groundwork laid in 2019 to advance the priorities in the Sunrise Agenda.
Fighting for Families Through an Allegiance to Public Schools in Tennessee and Nationwide
As part of SiX's 2018 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action, Lyn Hoyt, State Alliance Coordinator forthe Tennessee Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, wrote a guest blog on the importance of investing and supporting K-12 public schools and advancing local efforts supporting community schools in Tennessee and nationwide.
By Lyn Hoyt
Public schools are the vehicle through which we guarantee allchildren a free education from kindergarten through 12th grade. In our collective interest, we promise that poor children and rich children, students with disabilities, students of color, immigrant and non-immigrant, will have access to an equitable, quality public education, paid for by taxpayers and controlled by local communities. Public schools ensure that our students have the skills they will need for good jobs and productive futures. They also teach young people how to participate in our democracy.
Yet across the country, we continue to invest more in schools serving white children than in schools serving African American and Latino children. And as the number of students living in poverty has risen in the U.S., state and local funding for public education has decreased in the past decade. Public schools are one more American institution caught up in the rising inequality that faces our nation.
The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS), a national labor and community collaboration, believes that public schools play a critical role, not just in strengthening our economy, but also in supporting the success of local communities. As we participate in the State Innovation Exchange’s “Fighting for Families” week of action, we know this: We have to get education right.
As the State Alliance Coordinator for AROS in Tennessee, we are building a statewide AROS coalition that includes organized parents, educators, students and community members. Tennessee AROS includes the Tennessee Parent Teacher Association, the Tennessee Education Association (TEA) and other local community-based groups. We came together a year ago to advocate for a new approach to the complex challenge of improving our public schools. Our mission is to support the creation of public schools where families, communities, students and educators take ownership of their schools to insure the success of every child.
This year, we are working with a unique bipartisan group of state legislators to promote “transformational” community schools across Tennessee to create a locally led, district level approach to school improvement. The most effective community schools combine six components: a rich, culturally relevant curriculum; an emphasis on high-quality teaching, not high stakes testing; wrap-around supports for students and their families; positive discipline practices such as restorative justice; authentic parent and community engagement and inclusive school leadership. Studies by the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Learning Policy Institute, along with the National Education Policy Center suggest that these components, working together, can have dramatic effects, not just on student academic outcomes, but on school culture and climate, teacher retention, chronic absenteeism and more.
Our community schools bill HB2472 and SB2393, filed by sponsors Senator Steve Dickerson (R) and Representative Harold Love (D), creates a fund where the state may allocate resources from various sources to support staffing community schools site coordinators through a Local Education Agency and district-led application process. Any school in the state whose performance has placed them on the priority or focus list would have the opportunity to apply. The commitment to a needs assessment and site coordinator are the major part of the fund application plan. AROS will advocate for a deeper engagement with educators and families to be a part of school-level implementation. It is an exciting time to be organizing parents and teachers to become a critical part of creating the schools our children deserve as we fight for families.
Our approach has been one of bi-partisanship. The community partnership piece is something that appeals to conservatives. And the community voice in the process is one that appeals to progressives. All agree that we must do more to make sure children can be successful in school. Everyone also agrees we must approach this sustainably with multiple funding sources, not just state or federal grants. So, long term commitment from the community and school districts are critical.
The long-range strategy is to develop a culture of shared decision-making that includes educators and families, ultimately strengthening participation in democracy, supporting great teaching and stabilizing communities as well as improving student academic outcomes. In public education, that’s how we make sure that our democracy is working for all of us. AROS is proud that Tennessee is working collaboratively to strengthen community schools across the state. We are modeling the democratic process and organizing the community around those agreed-upon goals and identifying the community resources to achieve those goals to help make our schools great.
Lyn Hoyt is a Nashville resident, public school parent and the State Alliance Coordinator for TennAROS.org
