Show your support for public schools public school teachers by wearing BLUE this Friday – and keep it up throughout the Legislative Session!
This terrific idea came to us from our friends at Mississippi Professional Educators and was inspired by one of their members, principal Chris Chism, who turned to Facebook to express his frustration with our state leaders who last week donned yellow scarves for a school choice rally to and their push for private school vouchers. The posts quickly went viral and have been shared and “liked” hundreds of times and garnered extensive praise from fellow educators and parents. Read the posts here.
Let’s show our support for the wonderful public school teachers who give their all for our children every day by wearing blue on Fridays. Snap a photo and share it on social media, and use the hashtag Mr. Chism suggested: #BlueforMSTeachers. Invite your legislators to show their support for public schools by joining our Blue Friday movement.
Please also remember to call your senator about these extremely harmful bills which are on the Senate calendar and could come up for a floor vote any time:
SB 2623 is a dangerous voucher bill that over the next ten years would take $1.5-billion away from public schools and send it to private, for-profit, and cyber schools with virtually no accountability. The bill calls for the voucher program to grow exponentially every year and takes the funding directly from the K-12 appropriation. Read more. Ask senators to vote NO.
SB 2400 is a privatization bill that changes the date of school board elections to have all elected school board members on the ballot at the same time, making local school boards vulnerable to takeover by privatization forces. Read more. Ask senators to amend the bill to stagger board member terms or vote NO.
HB 957 strikes the Mississippi Adequate Education Program from law and replaces it with a plan that reduces the funding required in law by hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Read more. Ask senators to vote NO.
Find contact information for legislators or call the Capitol switchboard: 601.359.3770
Share the same message with:
Lt. Governor Reeves Capitol: 601.359.3200
Be sure to wear your #BlueforMSTeachers this Friday – and send us your social media pics. Invite your legislators to join the cause! Spread the word and make those calls. Together, we’ve got this!
