Calls for Action

Hi all~

This bill would undermine funding to public schools while demanding that school vouchers be allowed for states to receive funding. It would also reduce the nutritional quality of school lunches. Please find a link to an letter writing campaign made easy. Then, create a hard copy for hand delivery. Please check your email as we switch gears on Resist Trump Tuesday to focus a bit more on Trent Franks.

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/oppose-hr-610-a-bill-designed-to-push-school-privatization
 
Cut and pasted.

 In late January, HR 610 was introduced by Steve King of Iowa, with representatives from Maryland, Texas and Arizona signing on.

HR 610, the School Choice Act, would eliminate the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which was passed as a part of Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty." Federal funds would be used instead to create "block grants" to be used to "distribute a portion of funds to parents who elect to enroll their child in a private school or to home-school their child." It would also roll back nutritional standards for free lunches for poor children.

It is very clear that bills like HR 610, which would provide vouchers to private and religious schools, would be supported by both the U.S. Department of Education and the White House. In fact, it would appear that every alternative to democratically controlled public schools will be favored, while a clear bias against public schools will exist.

Send an email today to your Representatives that says, "Do not sign on to or support HR 610." We make it easy to do. Just use the link listed below:

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/oppose-hr-610-a-bill-designed-to-push-school-privatization?source=direct_link&

#Education

We need you to join us in taking action today. It is very likely that this week the new administration will overturn critical protections for transgender students.  

Last year, the Department of Education and Department of Justice issued guidance under Title IX that barred discrimination against transgender students, and ensured they have access to the restroom consistent with their gender identity.

These protections are vital to creating safer, healthier schools where all children have an opportunity to learn and succeed.   

But those protections are under imminent threat, which is why the new administration needs to hear from you - trans people, families, and allies - that recinding these protections is unacceptable and will endanger the lives of trans youth across the nation. Please join us and thousands of other people from around the nation in calling Education Secretary DeVos and tell her why it’s so important to enforce Title IX protections for trans youth.
 

Dial 202-401-3000 and them that Title IX is the key to safer, healthier schools for all students.  Then please share this message and ask your networks to do the same.

Our voices can make the difference for transgender students.

#Education

The Secular Coalition has filed the following report on legislative activity on bills they follow in the Arizona Legislature. The report notes that the school voucher bills are moving rapidly through with strong Republican support. The Education Committee may want to encourage action on these bills.

Attachments:
Download this file (tory-weekly-report-02-03-17.pdf)Tory Weekly Report 02-03-17[ ]Grant Preston157 kB