Upcoming Events for Education Advocacy

My organizing client, the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign, is working to raise the profile of funding reform in the state. We are organizing a series of small-group discussions on school funding at various venues. If you are outside Akron and interested in participating, you can still sign up on the Fair Schools Website.

If you are in Akron, I am hosting the conversation as a TownHall on School Funding this Thursday at 6:30 at the Akron-Summit Main Library. We will talk about the problems with the school funding system and relate that back to the current fiscal straights that have necessitated the levy campaign. We will also talk about possible solutions and seek input from participants about possible changes in the system.

I am combining the Fair Schools campaign's continuing effort to get citizen input into negotiations seeking to draft a school funding ballot issue with Akron's own do-or-die levy campaign. As I've said before, skeptics are more than welcome to come to these events or just raise concerns in the comments. Make sure you know all the facts before you vote.

Ohio Fair Schools is also recruiting participants for a Conference and Lobby Day in Columbus on May 10. Whether or not you can attend one of the discussions, you can sign up for the lobby day. If you are in the Akron area, you can contact me through the blog for more information as I am coordinating the area delegation.


More directly tied to the levy campaign, a group of parents is organizing a Vote for Our Furture Rally to be held Friday, April 28, 2006 4:30 pm
at Cascade Plaza. We'll be there for an hour or so with students, parents, High School band members and a few VIPs. If you are an APS parent, bring your kids down. It should be a fun, energizing time. Again, I'll take queries through the blog email.

Meanwhile, the podcast for the Meet the Bloggers session with School Board members Kirt Conrad and James Hardy is up. We had some citizen input thanks to Redhorse's enterprising PR work, and Tim and Gloria came down to help. Thanks as always to George on the boards.