We made our goal! What’s next?

Greetings!

We reached our year-end goal! We are thrilled we raised $20,032! Achieving our fundraising goal is an important affirmation of our work. So we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your support will help realize our 2020 vision in support of Massachusetts public schools :

to make sure that the promised funding gets to the students who need it,
to fight privatization, and
to replace discriminatory high-stakes testing with fair and helpful assessments.

Open our emails (and follow us on Facebook and Twitter ) to learn about actions, events and other ways you can stay involved and help us realize this vision in the coming months. If you are interested in volunteering for one of our three areas of focus -- testing, funding or privatization -- contact me about joining the CPS policy ci rcle in that area.

Policy circles are open to CPS members, board members and others who agree to participate in monthly meetings (or calls) to develop policy positions, content and actions for the organization in an issue area.

For example, our testing policy circle has developed a series of fact sheets, including one on how the state standardized test system hurts students of color and another that fact checks the myths about MCAS testing.
Our privatization policy circle members developed a fact sheet on the fight against charter school expansion in New Bedford, which formed the basis of CPS testimony at a State House hearing on charter school legislation.
Our funding circle will be educating activists about the Student Opportunity Act and monitoring its implementation.

See details below and RSVP today for two upcoming events, an event with author Diane Ravitch on Feb. 26 and a CPS house party in Arlington on Feb. 9.

In case you missed it...

Watch our Year in Pictures video

to see how you made a difference in 2019.

Sincerely,

Lisa Guisbond

CPS Executive Director

Upcoming Events

Get your tickets today!

Come hear

Diane Ravitch

on her new book, "Slaying Goliath"

Also with Barbara Madeloni & Maurice Cunningham

7pm, February 26, 2020

Cambridge, MA

Save the date and your seat for an evening with Diane Ravitch. Diane's new book, Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public Schools , features the story of Massachusetts' victorious 2016 No on 2 campaign to keep the cap on charter schools.

Diane Ravitch is a dynamic and powerful speaker, an inspiring leader in the national movement for educational justice, and against testing insanity and the privatization of public education.

She is a historian of education and Research Professor of Education at New York University. From 1991 to 1993, she was Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. She once supported education reforms like high-stakes testing and charter schools, but once she saw the evidence showing these policies were damaging to children and education, she changed her views and became a champion of reversing these policies and saving our public schools.

Diane will be joined by two key players in that victory, former MTA President Barbara Madeloni and Maurice Cunningham, a UMass Boston professor and blogger who follows dark money in education politics. 7pm at First Parish in Cambridge, Unitarian Universalist, 3 Church St., Cambridge. (Snow date, March 4.) Get more information and register here .

Save Sunday, February 9

for a CPS House Party in Arlington

Our next CPS house party with a purpose will be Sunday, Feb. 9 at the home of Mary Cummings in Arlington. Come meet fellow members, learn about CPS and share your ideas and concerns with us! We look forward to hearing from you. RSVP here .

Donate

Citizens for Public Schools i s a 501 (c)(3) organization, a voice for Massachusetts Public Schools since 1982.