A parent in Massachusetts asked for help writing a petition. Can you help?
She wrote:
“I would like to petition to emphasize that the focus on charter schools is draining money, resources, and motivated students and their families from the traditional public school system. Instead of helping ALL students in public schools, focusing on starting charter schools only helps a small percentage of students in each district.
“As a parent who’s worked so hard in my district, I’m very frustrated that the progress being made in my city’s traditional public schools is being threatened with a loss of funding if a new charter school opens up.
“I’m sure we could get 25K signatures on a well-worded petition, but hope it will present positive steps, not just negative responses to what’s being done now.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I can help with writing the petition. Email me and we can get to work on it. 🙂
Positive posts to parents on my blog. Check it the “Most Precious Thing” series @ mgmfocus.com
I certainly hope Massachusetts’ parents and teachers join together to make this happen. Working together is the only way we will stop this madness!
Parents and teachers are also invited to join in a call the White House campaign to ask for an end to the Race to the Top.
https://www.facebook.com/events/279621162140230/
They need a list of all the positive things they have been able to do in their schools and the effect they have had. Then, tell what has been or is in danger of being cut because of loss of funding to charter schools. Tell how choice is actually limiting choice within the public schools.
Citizens for Public Schools, I’m certain, would be delighted to assist you with this endeavor! They are a non-profit based in Massachusetts and work hard to educate the public about entities like high-stakes testing and charter schools which damage our public schools. They assisted teachers, local politicians, and interested citizens in my district in putting together a forum on high-stakes testing, recently. Great group to work with! http://www.citizensforpublicschools.org
When we argue that charters take resources from traditional public schools, the answer is that charters are only taking the regular per pupil expense, and not even getting any of the capital funds, so I hope the wordsmiths can take this idea into account. The argument that charters are draining resources is not getting much traction in NC.
Happy to help with writing petition. Pls email me any drafts and will send feedback…irashor@comcast.net
I recommend using SignOn.org as your petition site. Also my background is on online organizing, and I would love to help. Please email me at justicelovejesse AT gmail.com