The event was hosted on Zoom and broadcast on Facebook Live. Although TCAC put on the forum, moderator Dawn Freo opened the event by clarifying, “TCAC does not endorse candidates but we encourage candidates to endorse our policy platform and demands.”

The three candidates running for Superintendent are incumbent Rocky Hannah, Democratic challenger Dr. Pam Hightower, and write-in candidate Keisha Washington—only Dr. Hightower accepted the invitation to participate. The forum was moderated by PPTSA Chair Isabel Ruano and TCAC Communications Director Dawn Freo, and covered the topics of educational equity, Title I funding, COVID-19, disparities in discipline with regard to nationality, and school safety.

Leon County is home to the poorest zip code in the state, 32304, and as such the students there face increasing inequities when it comes to education. As Dr. Hightower put it, “Giving us equal does not make it equitable”. She presented excellent proposals to address these inequities: creating after-school opportunities to students within impoverished communities and increasing the resources being allocated to schools that are falling behind.

Dr. Hightower suggested initiating “progress monitoring” to determine where students are academically when they begin school, followed by the current standardized tests in April/May. Progress monitoring already occurs in the majority of Leon County schools through STAR testing, an application that sends Florida tax dollars out of state. “Though Dr. Hightower said many good things in regard to teachers, she seemed to be very pro-testing, the exact opposite of what many teachers feel is needed, including myself,” said teacher and local activist Megan Grant.

With regard to school safety, Dr. Hightower intimated that school resource officers (SROs) being on campus is a positive, provided they are properly trained. She stated that SROs should not be disciplinarians, and that having them on campus starting in elementary school would teach students to have “a whole different respect for officers.” Research suggests that police presence on school campuses in Florida is a large contributor to the school-to-prison pipeline. According to statistics from the US Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection, in 2015, Florida schools referred 13,749 students to law enforcement, 30% more often than the national average. Florida schools are also more than twice as likely to refer Black students to law enforcement and 3.25 times as likely to refer students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). The tasks Dr. Hightower suggested SROs should carry out—traffic control, bicycle safety, anti-bully training—could easily be done by trained, unarmed, civilian personnel.

#TallahasseeFL #EducationRights #Elections #PamHightower #policeInSchools

Stephie Taylor, a key organizer with the University of Minnesota SDS chapter said, “We are happy to have the convention in a Midwest city again. We expect young activists from all over the country to show up and talk about important issues of today like opposing U.S. wars, fighting racism and sexism, and how to bring change to the rising costs of education, student loans and access to education. This will be a convention to remember.”

The plenary sessions and workshops feature some of the most influential leaders against war and oppression in the country.

Hatem Abuddayeh will speak for the Rasmea Odeh Support Committee. He will be joined by Jenn Meeropol of the Rosenberg Fund for Children who will chair the session, “From Ferguson to Palestine: Political Repression is a Crime!”

Joe Iosbaker of the United National Antiwar Committee will speak at the anti-war plenary, “From the Belly of the Beast: Fighting Back against U.S. Wars and Imperialism.”

SDSers and other student leaders will speak on “Education Is a Right: Campus Economic Fight Backs and Achieving Access to Higher Education for Everyone.” This will detail the SDS national “Education for All” campaign that fights for immigrant student rights on campus.

There will be workshops about student activism, including “Building Struggle in Red States.” “Combatting Chauvinism,” and “Empowering People of Color through Political Struggle.”

On Oct. 13, the final day of the convention, SDS will vote on various resolutions submitted by SDS chapters speaking out on different people’s movements within the U.S. and around the world. SDS will adopt these resolutions nationally for chapters to orient their work for the coming year. Resolutions in the past included condemning U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, condemning systemic racism and repression against African-American, Chicano and Latino youth, combatting attacks on students’ rights, and opposing tuition hikes.

The convention will take place at Blegen Hall at the University of Minnesota. For more information or if you want to donate to the convention, please visit http://newsds.org or go to National Students for a Democratic Society’s Facebook page at https://facebook.com/StudentsForADemocraticSocietyNational.

#MinneapolisMN #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #SDS #EducationRights #JoeIsobaker #TuitionEquity

Stephie Taylor, a key organizer with the University of Minnesota SDS chapter said, “We are happy to have the convention in a Midwest city again. We expect young activists from all over the country to show up and talk about important issues of today like opposing U.S. wars, fighting racism and sexism, and how to bring change to the rising costs of education, student loans and access to education. This will be a convention to remember.”

The plenary sessions and workshops feature some of the most influential leaders against war and oppression in the country.

Hatem Abuddayeh will speak for the Rasmea Odeh Support Committee. He will be joined by Jenn Meeropol of the Rosenberg Fund for Children who will chair the session, “From Ferguson to Palestine: Political Repression is a Crime!”

Joe Iosbaker of the United National Antiwar Committee will speak at the anti-war plenary, “From the Belly of the Beast: Fighting Back against U.S. Wars and Imperialism.”

SDSers and other student leaders will speak on “Education Is a Right: Campus Economic Fight Backs and Achieving Access to Higher Education for Everyone.” This will detail the SDS national “Education for All” campaign that fights for immigrant student rights on campus.

There will be workshops about student activism, including “Building Struggle in Red States.” “Combatting Chauvinism,” and “Empowering People of Color through Political Struggle.”

On Oct. 13, the final day of the convention, SDS will vote on various resolutions submitted by SDS chapters speaking out on different people’s movements within the U.S. and around the world. SDS will adopt these resolutions nationally for chapters to orient their work for the coming year. Resolutions in the past included condemning U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, condemning systemic racism and repression against African-American, Chicano and Latino youth, combatting attacks on students’ rights, and opposing tuition hikes.

The convention will take place at Blegen Hall at the University of Minnesota. For more information or if you want to donate to the convention, please visit http://newsds.org or go to National Students for a Democratic Society’s Facebook page at https://facebook.com/StudentsForADemocraticSocietyNational.

#MinneapolisMN #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #SDS #EducationRights #JoeIsobaker #TuitionEquity

The unannounced occupation was the first follow-up to a March 6 action (http://www.fightbacknews.org/2013/3/7/tampa-students-occupy-administration-building-defend-education-rights ), when over 20 students spontaneously decided to occupy the Patel Center after marching to demand a meeting with President Judy Genshaft.

SDS will hold a sit-in every week until Dr. Genshaft agrees to discuss education rights at a student-facilitated forum. Sooner or later, the administration will learn the consequences of sending the message that they are uninterested in accommodating anyone without wealth to throw around.

Adam Freeman, USF's Media/Public Affairs Coordinator, condescendingly advised the students to contact their “representative” – student body president Brian Goff. The occupiers pointed out that Goff, whom the administration sent to speak with SDS during the March 6 sit-in, had promised to send an e-mail requesting that Genshaft agree to the forum and to join two activists with the Coalition to End Rape Culture at an upcoming meeting with the victim's advocacy center. He didn't keep his word on either front.

Freeman tried to make a big deal out of how far in advance Genshaft's schedule was booked, but admitted that no attempts had been made to schedule a meeting in the three weeks since students had first marched in to demand one. The university's representatives became perturbed when activists pointed this out. (http://coalition-to-end-rape-culture.tumblr.com/post/45099181831/do-you-know-the-history-of-corruption-and-rape-culture )

Danielle Leppo, an English major at USF, said, “We showed the administration that we're not backing down, that we will be heard and that we will continue our sit-ins until our demands are met.”

Gage Lacharite, a freshman majoring in computer science, noted “The administration gave us the same runaround they had given us before, only this time they begrudgingly promised they would tell us by next week if a meeting could be set up.”

USF students will continue to struggle until their demands for education rights, including no tuition hikes, are met.

#TampaFL #EducationRights

Milwaukee, WI – Students for a Democratic Society’s call for a National Day of Action to Defend Public Education was answered by the Education Rights Coalition, Milwaukee SDS, undergraduate and graduate students, union members and community members who rallied on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, March 14.

At present the U.S. government spends about $128 billion on education, a meager amount compared to the $851 billion military budget. Additionally, student loan debt has surpassed $1 trillion, more than the U.S.’s level of credit card debt.

Rallying in Spaights Plaza (during midterm examination week), students held signs like “Chop from the top!” and “Education is a right!” and a large banner that read “Fund education not occupation!”

Tiffany Strong from SDS, Jorge Maya from Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES), and Gilbert Johnson, Vice President of AFSCME 82, gave personal testimony to the rising cost of education and its unaffordability, especially for disabled, undocumented, poor and oppressed nationality students.

Gerardo Alvarado, an organizer from Youth Empowered in the Struggle, said, “Until scholarships are available for undocumented people the rates for immigrant students attending college will be low.”

After rallying in Spaights Plaza, the demonstrators marched to present their list of demands to Chancellor Michael Lovell and Vice Chancellor Michael Laliberte at Chapman Hall.

Reminiscent of a protest a couple years back when 15 students were arrested in a standoff with UWM police outside Chapman Hall, the coalition members were met once again with a locked building guarded by university police. A sign on the north entrance read “No admittance! Use east entrance!” When asked if they could enter as a group a police officer replied “not today!” as he let in individual staff members.

Protesters refused to leave until an administrator met with them and received their demands. They then were greeted by another officer and Dean of Students Jim Hill, who asked for a representative and who claimed they did not know where the chancellor and vice chancellor were. Hill insisted he would present the demands to the chancellors himself. After stating the demands of the protest in a mic-check outside Chapman Hall, the coalition members marched back to Spaights Plaza where they held several more mic-checks in and around the student union, again announcing their demands.

The Education Rights Coalition presented the following demands: that all student loans be forgiven; chop military spending and more money for Pell grants; Increased availability of scholarships for disabled, undocumented, poor and oppressed nationality students; and increased availability of funds for state employees.

#MilwaukeeWI #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #EducationRights #ChopFromTheTop #EducationRightsCoalition

Minneapolis, MN – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a national progressive student group, held a “Day of Action for Education Rights” on March 14. High school and college students in different parts of the country protested government cutbacks and stood up for education rights. The four demands put forward by SDS were: No cuts – chop from the top; pass the Student Loan Forgiveness Act (HR 4170); freeze all tuition and fees; and corporations off campus.

Around a dozen SDS chapters and other youth-led organizations throughout the country took up the call and 150 individuals, professors and unions endorsed the national day of action for education.

On March 6th, Tampa Bay SDS kicked off the March days of action by marching into the Marshall Center at the University of South Florida chanting, “Chop from the top!” They dropped a banner from the fourth floor of the student center. Students want to cut both the bloated administration and their salaries, rather than raise tuition. So students marched on campus to the Patel Center to convene a meeting with USF President Genshaft about their demands of redistributing their campus’ wealth. After pretending to not be in her office and repeated refusals to meet, the students responded with a sit-in and started a call-in campaign, despite being subjected to harassment by campus police.

At the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, 40 undergraduate students, graduate students and staff turned out to protest the budget distribution problem at the University of Minnesota. U of M SDS called for a rally in front of Morrill Hall and the office of University President Eric Kaler. Students and staff spoke, demanding President Kaler cut administrative management positions, instead of raising tuition or layoffs of front line staff.

Michelle Spivey of U of M SDS said, “There is one administrator for every 3.5 students. On the other hand there is only one faculty member – or one professor – for every 16 students! It is unacceptable to support a bloated administration at the expense of students.” The rally turned into a march, taking to the street with protesters chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, administrative bloat has got to go!” and “No cuts, no fees. Education should be free!”

High school students in Aurora, Colorado protested standardized testing. Students were encouraged to walk out of their Transitional Colorado Assessment Program (TCAP) exams and go to the state capitol to protest. The students demanded an end to standardized testing, more money for humanities education and an end to school closings. Students protested with signs and banners that read “T.his C.an’t A.ssess P.rogress,” and “Teach. Don’t test.”

At the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee leaders of Students for a Democratic Society, Youth Empowered in the Struggle, AFSCME Local 82 and the Alliance of History Graduate Students gathered at Spaights Plaza to protest inadequate funding. The groups composing the UWM Education Rights Coalition demanded a cut to military spending and more money for Pell Grants, increased funding for students from oppressed backgrounds and publicity of and increased funds for state employee reimbursement programs.

After rallying in Spaights they marched to present their demands to the administration at Chapman Hall, chanting “Education is a right! Students and workers unite and fight!” but found the building locked and guarded by university police. The coalition members also had several mic-checks, one outside Chapman Hall and four in and around the student union. When Michael Raspanti, a representative of SDS and the Education Rights Coalition asked to meet with Chancellor Michael Lovell and Vice Chancellor Michael Laliberte, Dean of Students Jim Hill claimed he did not know where they were and offered to present their demands to the chancellor and vice chancellor.

In Utah, students and teachers rallied on the steps of the state capitol on March 4. The Revolutionary Students Union of Salt Lake Community College led the protest to address increasing tuition costs, student debt, bloated administration and salaries and other issues related to the corruption of education. Students and teachers spoke out against state funding cuts, while Utah legislators emerged from the capitol to watch and listen.

A special-education teacher at the rally, Summer Smith-Woole said she was protesting because of, “the attacks on education and how schools are being run as businesses, putting profits before people, instead of people before profits.” A speaker on the steps of the capitol, Claudia Gutierrez-Sanchez, was optimistic about “getting people from different perspectives to speak out towards a same goal.”

This is the fourth March Day of Action for Education Rights since the surge of student struggle in California in 2010. These days of action continue to be an important way for students across the country to feel united and connected with one another in their similar struggle against the conditions of public education. Students should join with the SDS to continue the movement and to build the struggle. More should and can be won to win a great victory for the cause of education. They say cut back, we say fight back!

#MinneapolisMN #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #SDS #EducationRights

All roads lead to Wall Street. Both predatory lending and closings of public schools are due to Wall Street’s plunder of every human need in order to seize money for its profits.

Both predatory lending and school closings are particularly aimed at communities of people of color. Essex County, New Jersey, in which the cities of Newark and Irvington are located, has the highest foreclosure rate of any county in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut region. Irvington and Newark are among the hardest hit in Essex. Both have high concentrations of Black and Latino people. Also, more than 20 Newark schools have been closed in the last three years. All but one are in areas that serve African American neighborhoods.

Also, combined struggles on more than one front strengthen every area of the people’s struggle for economic justice. The battles for a real national health care system for all, a good quality public school education for all, full employment in good-paying jobs, and others, are closely linked.

For several years there has been a huge uproar in Newark against school closings. Thousands have turned out at public meetings to oppose the actions of the dictatorial Trenton-imposed administration.

Annette Alston of the Newark Teachers’ Association said students find themselves suddenly forced to attend charter schools far from where they live. There is a new teachers’ evaluation rubric that is either not understood by administrators or abused by them. Teachers are forced out of their jobs and careers for no good reason. A recent study found charter schools in Newark outperform public schools. However, the study did not take into account that charter schools select students from households with high parental involvement; they expel others they do not want, and so forth. It is only being done to save money on public schools. Years ago women were attacked for being witches, she said. Now teachers, who are mostly women, are being attacked. It also appears that a large proportion of affected teachers are black.

Kathleen Witcher of the Irvington NAACP, and a retired educator, gave an evaluation of charter schools based on her family’s experience. Her children went through Newark public schools and went to colleges like Stanford, Rutgers, and USC; one has a PhD. She has grandnieces in charter schools. Her monitoring turned up things she called horrendous. Students are not taught mathematics from axioms but from ditto sheets – just plug in the numbers and keep going. A grandniece won a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school but couldn’t write essays because they had not been taught in charter school. Meanwhile the state of New Jersey is being allowed to shortchange public schools.

Sharon Smith of Parents Unified for Local School Education (PULSE) quoted Dr. Martin Luther King who spoke of people who sleep through a revolution. She said we are in a revolution now and must find new responses. Public schools are destroyed by the lack of resources while charter schools get all the latest equipment, for instance. On Jan. 9, people from 18 cities concerned with a “new mode of education that is destroying our children” went to Washington to meet with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

There is no sustainable, positive change coming from charter schools. It all stems from Wall Street demands for profits. The group filed a Title 6 complaint (civil rights violation) against school closings. The group won a federally-supported grass roots tour of affected school districts and a federal hearing on school closings. Also, six schools in Newark named for closing remain open.

Still there is no new investment in affected school districts, with wholesale firing of teachers. Potentially 185,000 students are in danger of having their schools closed. PULSE is planning a “Journey for Justice” to keep schools open.

The evening was a definite step toward building a broad front of unity in the people's struggle for economic justice. The linkage of issues went a long way toward showing the problem is capitalism itself.

#IrvingtonNJ #PoorPeoplesMovements #WallStreet #EducationRights #Capitalism #PublicSchools #CoalitionToSaveOurHomes #HomeForeclosures

Minneapolis, MN – About 40 students and campus workers rallied at Morrill Hall and marched through the University of Minnesota (U of M) campus on March 14 to protest rising tuition costs and the university’s top-heavy administration. The protest was part of a national day of action for education rights.

The U of M administration has come under fire recently for having too many highly-paid top level administrators and too few front line workers and for raising tuition year after year. The unions at the U of M have made these points repeatedly for years. In December, a Wall Street Journal investigative reporter caught on to the story and wrote an in-depth expose on high-level administrative bloat at the U of M, which happened amidst a decade of skyrocketing tuition and layoffs of front line workers. This threw the administration into a tailspin as the Minnesota state legislature held hearings to question President Kaler about it. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton made the university’s funding appropriation in the new budget contingent on an outside audit of the university administration’s priorities.

In her speech at the protest, Michelle Spivey of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) said that at the U of M, “There is one administrator for every 3.5 students. On the other hand there is only one faculty member – or one professor – for every 16 students. It is unacceptable to support a bloated administration at the expense of students! Education is a right and students like you and me have had enough!”

The protest was organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the U of M clerical worker union, AFSCME Local 3800. The protest was also endorsed by the Women’s Student Activist Collective (WSAC) and La Raza Student Cultural Center.

U of M union leaders spoke at the rally, including Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME Local 3800 and Barb Bezat of AFSCME Local 3937.

Horazuk told rally participants, “We will continue to speak out against administrative excesses and the increasing corporatization of the U. We will continue to fight to ensure that this university is a university for the 99%, not the 1%. We will continue to demand that the U chop from the top.”

Students who spoke included Grace Kelly, representing graduate students, and Katherine Soenke from the Women’s Student Activist Collective.

#MinneapolisMN #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #EducationRights #UniversityOfMinnesota #ChopFromTheTop #tuitionHikes

Gainesville, FL – On March 14, students from across the U.S. and Canada will demand an end to all fees and cuts to higher education. At their fall national convention, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) published an “E