Last Wednesday, my friends over at MOMocrats were kind enough to let me borrow their radio show and we chatted up the host, Donna Mill Schwartz (SoCalMom) and special guest Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters and one of the co-founders of Parents Across America.
We talked about everything from No Child Left Behind (and what needs fixing), charter schools, existing public schools and how in New York City, charters and existing schools are being pitted against each other for precious real estate. We also talked about how billionaires who chose class sizes of 16 or less for their own kids who attend private school are A-okay, strangely enough, letting other peoples’ kids be in classes of 28 and 40 students or more.
Finally, we discussed how parents are organizing all across the country, because we see how state budget cuts (and manufactured “crises” in the case of Wisconsin) has pushed the political conversation to extremes. Ideological extremes, as well as fiscal ones. And we, as parents who strongly support public education, aren’t about to stand for it. Listen as Leonie, Donna, and I talk about how to organize locally and where to focus our efforts nationally.
President Obama reiterated his support for funding education and a new, improved No Child Left Behind law in order to Win the Future. Plus, an important presidential election cycle is coming up–we need to be prepared to act and fight on behalf of our kids and everyone’s kids.
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