Educate Our State

Join the fun!
We know -- it has been awhile; we have been busy sending our kids off to college and the workforce, joining school boards, advocating in Sacramento and working with state legislators to fix the loopholes that hurt public education funding in California.
We also realize it is time to pass the torch to parents who are still in the public school system. Are you a parent advocate with the energy and interest to also work statewide to help our public schools? We promise it is interesting and important. Let us know below or message us and we will reach out. Thank you!

For real though. 💯
📷 Jennifer Coogan

If opening schools is so important, why are we skimping on protections that curb COVID? End the scarcity mindset and bare-minimum policies on COVID and education. Mobilize public health spending and precautions to help teachers and schools.

We think kids and families feel this way too!

Exactly!

First Grade Fun Times

♥️

https://twitter.com/nursekelsey/status/1303866132101763072?s=21

Do not know source (on pants pocket) but thank you, teachers 😞🙏

Thanks to our Research Director Jennifer Bestor who took apart the history of deferrals and why it hurts the poorest school districts and their students the most. Yes, public education funding is MUCH more complicated than it should be...https://www.educateourstate.org/deferrals_and_their_impact

Deferrals and their Impact on Schools Educate Our State

Most public schools will be dealt a heavy blow due to California's falling revenue, in the form of record setting deferrals. These started yesterday, with a delay in their June 30 payment. Our poorest school districts will suffer the most.

Guide to California’s education budget deferrals: pros, cons and costs of delayed payments School districts prefer late payments to budget cuts but some districts will bear a larger burden, and it may be years before deferrals are paid off.

Are you ready to head back to school?

https://edsource.org/2020/california-schools-must-provide-daily-live-interaction-access-to-technology-this-fall/634452

California schools must provide daily live interaction, access to technology this fall California lawmakers introduced distance learning provisions around instructional time, attendance and connecting with parents.

We are hopeful that with parents Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Siebel Newsom at the helm, for the first time our schools won’t pay the highest price. Schools already give up $9 BILLION every year of their stable, local property taxes, please don’t defer their state funding. That hurts the poorest schools in the poorest counties in California, those least able to weather yet another funding crisis. Teachers still need to be paid when the money does not come in.

Great (short 🙂) read with thoughts about where we are and where are and what we should be focusing on. What do you think?

https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/lost-learning-time-is-not-the-crisis-15c3a909a04a

Lost Learning Time is Not the Crisis It should not dictate decisions about when and how to re-open schools

Parents, teachers — are you ready to head back to school in the fall? Is your school making preparations?

https://abc7.com/education/state-superintendent-releases-guidance-for-reopening-ca-schools/6237342/

State superintendent Tony Thurmond releases guidance for reopening California schools California's Department of Education on Monday released a detailed how-to guide to safely reopen schools in the age of face masks and physical distancing.

We are up in Sacramento today at the budget meeting advocating that the legislature protect the funds allocated for public education. Here's our Research Director just before the meeting starts :). Interested in listening/ join us here: https://www.assembly.ca.gov/media/4202-video

How Oakland students got 15,000 people to march against police violence on Monday — Berkeleyside Youth organizers hope the massive student-led action, which offered hundreds of masks and hand sanitizer for COVID-19 safety, will inspire other young people to organize, too.

Thank you, Teachers! We know you miss your students, are working harder than ever to deliver learning virtually, and to support your class community. We celebrate you!
https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2020/05/teacher_appreciation_week_three_educators_helping_students_covid19.html

It's Teacher Appreciation Week. See How 3 Educators Are Helping Students During COVID-19 These teachers are doing whatever they can to help their students during COVID-19, including donating money to needy families, caring for a baby, and visiting a student to cheer her up.

If you do not have the food or help you need, please contact your school admin for school help, city leadership or council if it’s under their purview. Stay home, stay safe, and post below if you need help — we or our community should have answers.

The children, teachers, families and other school advocates say a huge thank you to Gavin Newsom for making a significant investment in the housing space, while resisting renewed city and county attempts to force K-12 schoolchildren to fund redevelopment.
https://www.educateourstate.org/noonsb795

Not again! PLEASE leave what little is left of schools’ property tax alone Educate Our State

No matter where. Absenteeism is rampant, our children are struggling for many reasons. Thank you, teachers, for being there. ♥️ We hope you are having a restorative break!

The Secret to Classroom Management Our students—like all of us—are often facing invisible challenges. Empathize first, and the rest will follow.

We know the research says play-based learning for young children, and not forcing children to read in kindergarten. What do you think? If you agree, how do we change the trajectory and embrace the research?

What The Research Tells Us To Do According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Economic Forum, and Unicef (and acc...

If you are at the CSBA conference this week please stop by our booth, learn about our resolution (in comments) and say hello to former State Superintendent and our board chair Delaine Eastin. (End of Row 400)

Thank you to our Chair Delaine Eastin and Research Director Jennifer Bestor for your advocacy today in Sacramento!

What do you think? If you like this idea, what grades? Please share your thoughts.
https://www.cpr.org/2019/11/05/this-colorado-middle-school-banned-phones-seven-years-ago-they-say-students-are-happier-less-stressed-and-more-focused/

This Colorado Middle School Banned Phones 7 Years Ago. They Say Students Are Happier, Less Stressed And More Focused Teachers at Mountain Middle School in Durango knew they had to do something.

We wish you a safe and happy halloween! If you have some time while waiting for your trick-or-treaters, get informed about one of the worst tricks -- taking the schools' property tax away from them! We defeated it once (thank you!) but it will be back with a different title and we will need your help again :). https://www.educateourstate.org/noonsb5

We hear very little good coming out of these active shooter drills -- and serious stress. Let's figure out a better way to address the dysfunction that creates people who want to attack children and schools, instead of asking children to attempt (often unsuccessfully) to avoid a situation because we could not confront possible solutions. Thoughts?

Active Shooter And Other Drills At School Are Giving Kids A Lifetime Of Anxiety There is a fine line between teaching kids to make good decisions and forcing them to think — and worry — like tiny grown-ups.

Thank you to our Research Director Jennifer Bestor for speaking out against SB-5 "Housing and infrastructure are high-profile goals – swiping school property tax to fund them is cruel...High-profile issues belong at the ballot box."
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/18/letter-cruel-to-swipe-school-property-tax-for-housing-infrastructure/

Letter: Cruel to swipe school property tax for housing, infrastructure Kudos to Gov. Gavin Newsom and former State School Superintendent Delaine Eastin for standing up to the powerful construction industry.

Wooo hoooo! Thank you to all of you who shared our posts, called, wrote, and to our tireless (volunteer!) Research Director Jennifer Bestor who went up and testified in Sacramento against SB-5 several times and to our Chair Delaine Eastin who wrote about it and spread the word. Tonight is a victory for the children in California’s poorest school districts, for the integrity of our local tax dollars, and for the power of the people over wealthy special interests. We are so grateful that Gavin Newsom is putting children first in so many ways, and that his administration continues to work to ensure a bright future for all of the children of California. https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/SB-5-Veto-Message.pdf

Opinion: Gov. Newsom, veto bill to use school money for housing Former state schools chief Delaine Eastins calls for affordable homes without putting education at risk.

Please contact the governor today by phone or email and ask him to VETO SB-5 — he has until the 13th or it becomes law (contact info: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mail/ ) and of it is law once again our local property tax dollars collected to fund education are diverted. Tell your friends — it is urgent. Thank you!

Opinion: Gov. Newsom, veto bill to use school money for housing Former state schools chief Delaine Eastins calls for affordable homes without putting education at risk.

Please reach out to Governor Newsom's office today and ask him to veto SB-5 - as former State Superintendent Delaine Eastin says "Affordable housing is a well-recognized issue. It does not require under-the-table funding from education." Contact info here - please spread the word: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mai

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/08/opinion-gov-newsom-veto-bill-to-use-school-money-for-housing/

Opinion: Gov. Newsom, veto bill to use school money for housing Former state schools chief Delaine Eastins calls for affordable homes without putting education at risk.

This is a game changer for children, schools, California. Thank you Nadine Burke Harris for your leadership and Gavin Newsom for creating this role.
https://chronicleofsocialchange.org/child-welfare-2/californias-surgeon-general-readies-statewide-screening-for-child-trauma/37658

California Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris Prepares to Launch Universal Trauma Screenings California Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris talked with The Chronicle of Social Change about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s agenda, plans for a statewide screening ACEs process, and how doctor shortages are affecting children’s health in the state.