As part of the Campaign for Quality Education (CQE), Youth Together, along with other grassroots organizations, rallied and held a press conference on July 13, 2010 on the steps of the Alameda County Courthouse. Scores of people gathered to support the filing of a historic lawsuit known as CQE v. CA. The CQE represents thousands of Californian families that seek to fix the “broken” school financing system. Once again, the state will be sued because it has failed to provide adequate funds for our schools.
News reporters from several local news stations showed up to cover the story. I’m glad there was a lot of media covering this story because this lawsuit will be a major step in making sure all of California’s students have access to an equitable and quality education. Community organizers along with some parents and students voiced their concerns and personal experiences. They expressed frustrations over having to put up with this school system that doesn’t provide efficient and sufficient funding for its students. I think more students should have spoke. Our voices should be heard because we’re the victims of this crime. I also noticed that there were only a few people of color that showed up to support the filing of this case. Which I think is wrong because it is us low-income, immigrant people of color that this broken system is affecting the most.
California’s school system now ranks 44th in spending per student. But this lawsuit is not about asking for more money, it is about keeping the state in check and making sure they spend their budget wisely. Decades of working with legislators to fix our school systems have not gotten us anywhere. It seems that the only way to get the state to ensure proper funding is by suing them yet again and also showing them examples of people’s lives they affected. By this statement of having people and media and communities come together to file the lawsuit shows the state we mean real business.
Leave us a comment:
July 25th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it