Press Release: Thousands of Milwaukee Parents Fight School Takeovers with “Walk-ins” at 100+ Public Schools

Students, Parents, Educators and Alumni to “Walk in” in Support of Protection of Public Schools

Tomorrow at 7:00 am CT, thousands of parents, educators, students and community leaders will hold “walk-ins” at more than 100 public schools across the city of Milwaukee to celebrate public schools and to share information about how a proposed public school takeover will hurt students and the Milwaukee economy. The walk-ins are in response to a public school takeover plan passed as part of Wisconsin’s 2015-17 state budget.

In addition to the Milwaukee school takeover provision, the budget expands school privatization statewide by removing the cap on the number of students who can participate in a statewide voucher program, and by creating additional authorizers for privately run charter schools across the state.

What: Walk-ins to support and protect public schools

Who: Parents, students, educators, community members, local and state legislators

When: Friday, September 18, 2015 at 7:00 a.m.

Where: Fernwood Montessori School, 3239 S. Pennsylvania Ave.

Legislation to create more of these state-run districts has been aggressively pursued across the country this year. Over the past six months, in addition to Wisconsin, Georgia and Nevada have also created state-run districts. Similar bills have been proposed in a half-dozen other states.

Last month, the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS), a coalition of national organizations that together represent more than seven million parents, students, educators and community members, released a report arguing that state takeovers of public schools and districts are systematically targeting African Americans and Latinos and denying them the right to run their schools.

Read the report here: http://www.reclaimourschools.org/sites/default/files/out-of-control-takeover-report.pdf

The report critiques what AROS calls an intentional effort to remove local control so that schools can be privatized without the opportunity for communities to voice their public opposition. The report examines some of the most prominent state takeovers of schools and school districts.

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The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) is a national table of organizations of parents, students, teachers and community members who are fighting for the public schools our children deserve.