Education
Schools Must Be Saved: An Open Letter to Congress Demanding Urgent Action
Schools Must Be Saved! That’s the thrust of a recent open letter to Congress demanding urgent action to save the K-12 public school system. In a press release dated July 28, 2020, the call came from Long Beach community organizers, policymakers, and national leaders. The co-signers included Black Lives Matter Long Beach, Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Board Member Megan Kerr, Congressman Alan Lowenthal, Congressman Ro Khanna, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, Long Beach Councilmember Rex Richardson, and over 70 Democratic National Committee (DNC) delegates from 14 states.
According to the open letter, U.S. school districts need urgent funding to keep children safe and healthy. The long list of needs for public schools included funding to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) for students and staff, hire more nurses to monitor their health, hire more custodians to sanitize the classrooms more frequently, and hire more teachers to reduce class sizes. The letter stated that “if Congress does not distribute at least $200 billion in emergency funds for K-12 classrooms, many schools will not be able to protect teachers, staff, parents, and most importantly our country’s most valued asset – our children.”
The letter’s co-signers minced no words when they described schools as facing the threat of budget cuts due to tax-revenue shortfalls. They pointed out that unless Congress invests $200 billion in the K-12 public school system, “…policy experts predict that hundreds of thousands of teachers will be fired and some states will lay off more than 20% of their teaching force.”
Vice-President of LBUSD’s Board of Education Megan Kerr said in the letter that, “teachers and staff will need to innovate to provide a rigorous and relevant curriculum in this new era of education.” Kerr added “It cannot be done without the full funding and support from our federal government. We need the resources to meet the needs of each child, no matter how they come to us to learn.”
Another co-signer and one of the two co-authors of the letter, Cesar Armendariz, a Downey high school teacher, warned that, “…we must consider the consequences of cutting school budgets in the midst of a pandemic. It’s nothing short of catastrophic.”
The co-signers of the letter encourage parents, educators, and the general public to engage their Congressional representatives with the highest level of urgency. The public can support this movement by signing the petition to Congress on www.BeTheirHeroes.net. Supporters may contact the co-authors of the letter at info@BeTheirHeroes.net.
