Join PAA's anti-racism book club

PAA's anti-racism book club is a part of our project on the Impact of Poverty and Race on Educational Opportunity. This work has included creating fact sheets illustrating the impact of poverty and race and hosting other book club sessions, including our last session in November with Seattle educator Jesse Hagopian.

Our next session, which was rescheduled from last week, will take place this Sunday, April 2, at 8 pm ET, 5 pm PT. We'll take a close look at some of the work of Tim Wise, a prolific writer and speaker on racism.

      When: Sunday, April 2 (this Sunday!) at 8 pm ET, 5 pm PT

      How to join: For audio alone, call in to 515-604-9727, then enter access code 728537
                          For video feed, log on to freeconferencecall.com and click on "Join a Meeting."
                               Enter the online ID: parentsacrossamericawebinars (note that it's plural...) 

You don't need to download a program to join online.

If you need a toll-free number to join by phone, please let us know - email us at [email protected]. 

You can purchase Tim Wise's book, "White Like Me," almost anywhere, and/or you can read some of his essays here , or watch or listen to video or audio clips here. 

We will also be talking about positive steps to take to address the inequities in our nation and in our educational system.

We believe that it's even more important now to continue this series, which provides a safe place to discuss issues of poverty, race and education with a goal of finding real solutions for our children.

PAA tweet of the week: follow us @parentsacrossam and retweet it!

The sponsor of HR610, the House voucher bill, is the same Rep. Steve King who just tweeted that "we can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies." Here's a tweet for Rep. King:

Parents of ALL our babies say throw @SteveKingIA, his supremacist views and his HR610 voucher giveaway proposal out with the bathwater.      

      

PAA affiliate Michigan Parents for Schools joined public education leaders and parent groups from across Michigan last week to file a lawsuit to prevent the state and Gov. Rick Snyder from funding private schools with public money. The lawsuit stems from a $2.5 million line item in the state budget that reimburses private institutions for state mandates.

According to MIPFS executive director Steven Norton, who is also a PAA Board member, "Michigan's Constitution clearly states the use of public funds for private institutions is prohibited: The groups will also file a preliminary injunction to immediately halt and prevent the use of public dollars being spent on private schools until the lawsuit is resolved.

Other plaintiffs include the Michigan Association of School Boards and the ACLU. of Michigan.

The story was covered in the Detroit Free Press, mLive, and other media outlets.