Republican Donald Trump will be forty-fifth president of the United States, and his election has spurred the Democratic Party to soul-search as it surveys its many state and local losses as well as that at the top of the ticket.

Public education activists seek clarity on the Democratic Party’s commitment to publicly-funded and democratically-run neighborhood schools. The new head of the DNC could pivot the entire party in a new direction that’s crucial for the survival of public education at local, state, and federal levels.

These are some questions we hope our freelance reporters are able to pose to future leaders of the party:

1) Will the Democratic Party champion public education and forsake charter lobbyist campaign donations for its candidates? (Wealthy donors to Republicans AND Democrats expect their candidates to privatize public schools. We must fight to strengthen and improve publicly-run schools as a public good. The Democratic Party must reject Donald Trump’s “Profiteer and Punish” approach.)

2) How will the 50-state (or 3,143 county) strategy by Democrats work to promote free public college in the states?

3) Will the Democratic Party enact a “Shadow Cabinet” to proactively push the work of the Democratic Party platform as part of opposition to the current administration?

This livestream is being brought to you by one of K-12 News Network’s freelance writer-reporters, Barbara Lewis.