Houseparties Sept 22nd For EDUCATION

http://www.greatpublicschools.org/hostsignup

On Sept 22, 2004, parents, teachers, students and concerned families will come together at meetings in homes, schools and churches across the country to launch a citizen-led fight for our public schools. The Campaign for America's Future — along with MoveOn.org, the National Education Association and more than 40 allied groups — are joining forces to sponsor these community meetings. Together on September 22nd, thousands of us will convene to confront the President's failing grades on education, and begin to develop real solutions for our children's future. Please join the more than 2,300 teachers, parents and students who have already registered to host house parties this September.

Volunteer today to host a house party for great public schools: http://www.greatpublicschools.org/hostsignup <http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=188577&l=52624> While education challenges mount, President Bush and Congress have broken their promise to fund the "No Child Left Behind" act. The result: Washington is placing greater burdens on schools, while shortchanging them nearly $27 billion — resources essential to making reforms work. Despite his lip-service, President Bush is NOT taking the action needed to provide American children with first-rate educations. We're cutting taxes for millionaires while laying off teachers. We're building schools in Iraq, while slashing school construction funding at home. The facts speak for themselves:


• More American children than ever are pouring into already overcrowded schools.
• Many attend their first day of school without the preschool so vital to learning.
• America now faces the largest wave of teacher retirements in our country's history, while young teachers leave the classroom at alarming rates.
• 14 million children are home alone after school, but after-school programs are the first to be cut in the current budget crunch.
• College costs are soaring, and loan and grant programs are not keeping up.


We have to put education back on the agenda in reality, not in rhetoric. And the only way that will happen is when teachers, parents, students and citizens join together to demand that our children's education be given the priority it deserves: http://www.greatpublicschools.org/hostsignup <http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=188577&l=52624> On September 22nd, our house parties will jump-start the national movement for our children's education — and we've made them lively and easy to host. As a house party host, you'll receive a free video or DVD to air at your party, and a resource kit to guide you every step of the way. The parties will provide a living room setting for friends and neighbors to talk about the challenges facing our schools and how we can make a difference. I urge you to host a house party on September 22nd — and join the mobilization for great public schools. It is the beginning of a movement for change, one living room at a time. Please join us: http://www.greatpublicschools.org/hostsignup <http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=188577&l=52624> Thank you. Sincerely,
Robert L. Borosage, Co-Director
Campaign for America's Future

I'd like to see my parents take this one over; I'd attend, but I think the best way to influence the direction of education is for parents to lead the way. Teachers are categorized as a "special interest group," "incompetent," "terrorists," etc. by the opposition.

I got this notification yesterday or the day before; I think it is a great first step, but I'll keep saying this:

We need to be talking about more than lack of funding. Funding a bad law doesn't make it better. If we focus all of our efforts on funding, it legitimizes that bad law. Once it's funded, it then becomes difficult to protest the law, because we already said the problem was the funding.

Those "real solutions" need to address the disastrous "accountability" portion of NCLB, as well as the access to student info given to military recruiters.