Welcome!
Our History
In December, I started feeling really demoralized about the future of public education. To me, public schools are the foundation of a healthy diverse democracy, and the richest country on earth can afford to invest in its schools, its educators, and its children’s lives so our communities can thrive.
That’s obviously not our current reality, but I refuse to accept the status quo as a permanent reality.
With union and social networks, we started planning and organizing. Out of that vital planning work in the spring, came a framework for how to support a rank-and-file movement across the Commonwealth to collectively demand the funding and social supports our students have needed for so long.
We’re committed to the ground-level organizing and community outreach to win the necessary funding formulas, staffing levels, municipal policies, and state laws that will reinvigorate our public schools. This work is beyond what one local union or a regional bargaining council or even a strong state union leadership team can do. It will take all of us.
Why Now for Large-Scale Collective Organizing and Action?
The public education system has been overburdened and underresourced for a very long time. There are, however, new dark realities that have fundamentally harmed public education and necessitate a powerful, coordinated response. These include:
President Trump, over the authorization of Congress, is witholding over $6,000,000,000 from the nation’s public schools. In Massachusetts, that will mean a loss of $94,000,000, or 12.1% of the federal government’s funding for last school year (citation).
Medicaid cuts from the Big Ugly Bill are projected to force school districts to eliminate school health services staff, special educators, mental and behavioral health clinicians, and prevention services (citation). This will compound the existing mental health crisis in this country.
Without the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, another recently-slashed federal program, families no longer are automatically eligible for free and reduced school meals (citation). Hungry brains cannot learn, so restoring food access is part of education justice.
Without the Department of Education to enforce the Individual with Disabilities Eduation Act, students with disabilities and their families lose an essential tool in defending their access to a free and equal public education (citation). This hurts everyone in a school community.
The list could go on. Ultimately, it is clear that public education is entering a new crisis stage, and that we cannot rely on electoral politics to correct the course.
Notes from the Organizing Committee
The Organizing Committee guides our work in creating the communication structures, rank-and-file membership engagement, legislative advocacy, internal strategy, and so much more. We meet virtually for 30 minutes per month. Our first full-body meeting is Thursday, July 24th at 7pm.
All are welcome to join the Organizing Committee! Use the button below to sign up.
Read on for why May Day 2028 is a particularly important date in our planning and thinking.
The May Day Movement & 5/1/28
May Day has always been an important holiday in the labor movement. In January 2024, Shawn Fain, the president of the United Automobile Workers, called for mass, simultaneous labor actions on May 1, 2028. As he said:
"It’s our opportunity to create a crisis for the billionaire class to win more for all of us."
Since then, many unions, civic organizations, and advocacy groups have taken up the mantle. Predicated in the knowledge that we are stronger together, we ground our strategy in the preparation for a mass mobilization.
We can do this.
Keep dreaming of fully-funded schools, thriving communities, and a better world. We can make it a reality.
In solidarity,
Megan
P.S. Nothing lifts my spirit more than Broadway musicals 🙂 Please enjoy this rendition of “Keep Marching” from the show Suffs.