Happy Tuesday Activists! We hope you're having a good week so far. Today we have an important Call To Action for you. You may know that this is the last week of budget negotiations happening in Harrisburg. And a few really important bills are part of that process. So make a call TODAY to your State Rep and ask them to vote NO on this bill. See below!
CALL TO ACTION Say NO to taxpayer funded private and religious school vouchers. Find your state Representative here This comes under the heading of keeping our elected officials accountable, whether or not we voted for them. Governor Shapiro is pushing to wrap into the budget a school voucher program. It would fund vouchers for students in "low achieving" school districts. The result will be to pull taxpayer money from Pennsylvania's public schools and put it the hands of barely-regulated, private corporate and religious school owners. Several state and national unions have registered their strong opposition to this voucher plan. In case you were wondering, Philadelphia schools already receive a very low level of funding (around $5,000 per student) and have to beg the state and city for funding. Shapiro's proposal will deny even more funding for the city's school children. As the unions point out, the proposal could also go against February’s Commonwealth Court ruling holding that the state’s public school funding system is unconstitutional. It needs to be voted down. On a side note, one of our speakers for Friday's rally, City Councilman Isaiah Thomas, penned a commentary asking for as much energy for fixing the school buildings in Philadelphia as was expended for fixing the I-95 roadway. Seems reasonable! Call your state Representative TODAY and tell them to vote NO on this damaging proposal. Find your state Representative here
FREEDOM TO READ RALLY + MARCH THIS FRIDAY, June 30 at Noon As you know, Moms for Liberty is holding their annual convention here in Philadelphia from June 29 - July 2. The Philadelphia Inquirer has reported that they plan to protest at various branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia, including the Central Branch on Vine Street. So we will tell them we will protect our libraries from their book bans and our communities from their hate speech. The Rally For Freedom To Read will be THIS FRIDAY, June 30 at noon in front of the Central Branch, 1901 Vine Street. Then we will march to the Marriott Hotel, 1201 Market Street, which is where the M4L convention will be held and day-long protests by other groups will be going on. Sign up here so you get all the updates.
35 Doors Project Talk to voters in your neighborhood to get out the vote. This is some of the most important work you can do - and it's fun! Check out our 35 Doors Project on our website page! Email us here for more info. We'll give you the training and all the materials you'll need. Vicki will tell you all about it!