Friend,
Teaching was my
first union job and an early lesson in the importance of constant
activism and advocacy.
For nearly 20 years I taught mathematics to middle and high
school kids of all socio-economic backgrounds.
I was elected by my colleagues to represent
them for multiple years on my local Education Association Board, and
at our state union assembly.
I have taught in both wealthy and poor neighborhoods.
I have seen disparities in funding even
within school districts
based on zip codes. In poor
communities, many students are faced with limited resources and
classroom support – not to mention old, failing
infrastructure.
As a
lifelong activist herself, Jill knows as well as I do that poverty is
the single factor impacting school success. We need a president
willing to leverage the power of the federal government to address the
root cause of inequality, or that will never
change.
The distribution of poverty hits
majority minority schools the hardest. The response is often punitive, taking away
resources rather than adding them. Worse, the people
making decisions about resource distribution are almost never those
who really know what students need to succeed –
educators!
Education is the great equalizer. If we are
to truly consider ourselves a democratic society, funding education
equitably is imperative. We are far from reaching that goal. Our
public schools must be fully funded. All of them.
I’ve been a teacher.
I’ve been a union organizer. I’ve been an activist for over 30 years.
I have never stopped fighting for a better future – and that’s why I’m
proud to be working with Jill to get her elected.
We
urgently need to raise another $100K in the next few days to hire
enough petitioners in New York so voters will have a pro-worker,
pro-teacher, anti-poverty candidate on the ballot. Can you chip in
$25, $50, or even $100 to help us reach our
goal? |
