PAA Action News
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May 21, 2015
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Welcome to PAA Action News, the information and action newsletter of Parents Across America.
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PAA Action Alert
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A good week to
contact Congress at home!
Congress will be out next week for the Memorial Day holiday. This gives us another great opportunity to reach our Senators and Representatives in their home offices, which is sometimes easier than trying to reach them in D.C.
We believe that there may be some movement on ESEA after Congress comes back from the Memorial Day break, and that there is an intention to get a full Senate vote on the "Every Child Succeeds Act" which passed out of the Senate education committee in April.
If the Senate is able to pass their bill, the House may then vote on something similar, since we understand that their version of ESEA, HR 5, is DOA in the Senate.
PAA has been urging you to contact your US representatives about ESEA for what seems like years....and there is a laundry list of issues and concerns PAA would like to see addressed in a new federal education law. You can read our full ESEA position paper here and see our chart comparing our positions with Senate proposals here, though the latter is not current to the most recent amendments. We also highly recommend this excellent summary from activist educator Mercedes Schneider.
For today, we'll just remind you to ask your senators to co-sponsor S. 1025, which changes the annual testing mandate to a grade-span requirement. You can read our letter to all 100 Senators on the subject here - feel free to use any part of it!
We will have a more comprehensive updated message on ESEA reauthorization for you soon.
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Mark your calendars!
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PAA annual conference details coming soon!
We are finalizing a venue and a schedule for our 3rd annual leadership conference in Washington DC, which is set for July 20-22, 2015.
The conference is open to PAA chapter and affiliate leaders and to anyone interested in becoming a chapter or affiliate leader.
We will spend some time preparing for and meeting with our Congressional reps, sharing our work, learning some new skills, and setting goals for the coming year.
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PAA and PAAers in the news
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SHE WON!!!
We are so excited to help spread the good news -- our founding member, Helen Gym, won her primary for a spot on the Democratic ticket for Philadelphia City Council. That race will be in November.
Here's part of the platform Helen is running on:
If we are going to fix our schools, we need to re-build a culture of investment in public education. We need to end a sickening approach of austerity and deprivation for Philadelphia's children. We have an incredible moment today to change a decade of failed "reform" efforts. I've got three children in this system. I am and have been invested for the long haul. It will take a mother's passion, an educator's vision and an organizing sensibility to set this city straight and bring financial stability, educational equity, and racial justice for our children.
And the people said, Yes!
Stay tuned for what we hope will be a wonderful opportunity to thank Helen for her dedication and courage.
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PAA chapter and affilate news
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Welcome new affiliate!We are so happy to welcome a new affiliate in Georgia, the Parents' Coalition for Quality Education. Like them on Facebook! |
Join us!
| If you share our overall goals of progressive, positive education reform and more parent input in education policy making, we invite you to affiliate with us if you are an existing group, or to form a new PAA chapter. The more of us there are, the stronger our voice will be at every level. Here's how! |
PAA blog highlights
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Keep up with our blog for more news and commentary on public education from the parents' point of view. |
To learn more...
|  If you have questions, comments, suggestions or stories to share, please e-mail us at info@parentsacrossamerica.org or visit www.parentsacrossamerica.org. Looking for regular updates on key education stories? Join the PAA News List by e-mailing PAAnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
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