Saturday, September 14, 2024
Friday, September 13, 2024
Civic Education for Students
The Office of California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., would like to invite you to our upcoming 2024 California College Civic and Voter Empowerment Summit.We would also greatly appreciate your help with spreading the word about this important event. Please share the information below with your networks, college students and anyone who would benefit from learning about college civic and voter empowerment and the upcoming General Election on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
Event Details
Join California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., and the Students Vote Project for important updates on the 2024 General Election. Learn from civic engagement leaders, enhance campus civic involvement, and participate in a virtual internship fair for college students.
Wednesday, October 9, 202410 a.m. – 12 p.m. PDTTopics to include:
- Importance of Voting Rights and Civic Engagement
- Civic and Voter Empowerment Coordinator “Best Practices” Panel
- Presentation on “What is on the Ballot?”
- Virtual California State Internship Fair for College Students
View social media graphics and flyer for the virtual meeting: drive.google.com/drive/folders/14fKu4UMu9WeZTGI7tmCFAZm19i-kHlvt
Thank you for helping us spread the word! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at caststudentsvote@sos.ca.gov.
For media requests, please contact sospress@sos.ca.gov.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Normal Meets Weird: Debate
Father of Child Killed in Ohio Crash Begs Trump, Vance To Stop Politicizing Son’s Death
How JD Vance Turned The Conspiracy Machine On Haitians In A Small Ohio City
Monday, September 09, 2024
Laying Out Their Economics Before Tomorrow’s Debate
Saturday, September 07, 2024
Texas Take Over of Public Schools Fails
The Troubling Trend of State Takeovers of Public Schools
Despite aiming to close achievement gaps, state takeovers of school districts worsen education inequality for low-income and minority students.
Blogging Our Great Divide
August 06, 2024
The state takeover of Houston Independent School District, the eighth-largest public school system in the United States, is entering its second year.
State-appointed superintendent Mike Miles is celebrating the occasion by touting state test score results that show preliminary improvement in student achievement. Other leaders in education across the country are paying close attention to Miles’ tactics to see if they’re effective enough to implement in their own schools.
Since 1989, over 100 school districts across the U.S. have been subjected to state takeovers, in which the state seizes control of low-performing or financially struggling school districts, replacing their locally elected school boards. This is done with the goal of dramatically improving the district’s academic or financial performance. State takeovers are difficult to neatly describe because they vary from place to place depending on the policies that the state-appointed board and superintendent decide to implement. But they are overwhelmingly ineffective.
A 2021 study done by researchers from Brown University and the University of Virginia analyzed over 100 state takeovers between 1989 and 2016. It found “no evidence that takeover generates academic benefits.” In fact, it can take years for schools to return to their previous levels of academic achievement after a takeover.
Texas State Takeovers.
https://inequality.org/great-divide/the-troubling-trend-of-state-takeovers-of-public-schools/
Thursday, September 05, 2024
Monday, September 02, 2024
Celebration of Labor Day
As we celebrate Labor Day, 2024, there is some very good news.
Bernie Sanders
Public approval of labor unions, at 70%, is higher today than it has been in decades. Over the last year major unions like the UAW have won some highly publicized strikes, while many other unions have negotiated trail-blazing contracts for their members. Young people at Starbucks and on college campuses are now more involved in labor organizing than ever before. And, for the first time in American history, a president of the United States, Joe Biden, walked a picket line with striking workers.
It is not an accident as to why we are now seeing more militancy and growth in the labor movement. The working people of our country are increasingly aware of the unprecedented level of corporate greed and power we are now experiencing, and the outrageous level of income and wealth inequality that exists. They understand that never before in American history have so few had so much, while so many continue to struggle. And they are fighting back. They know that workers in unions can negotiate contracts that give them better wages, working conditions and benefits than non-union workers. They appreciate that when you’re in a union you have some power against the arbitrary decisions corporate bosses.
Working people today are more than aware that, over the last 50 years, there has been a massive transfer of wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 1%. They are disgusted that, despite huge increases in worker productivity, real inflation-accounted for wages for the average American worker are lower now than they were over 50 years ago as 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. They are insulted that CEOs of major corporations make almost 350 times as much as their average employee. They are concerned that the American dream is ending and that their kids may have an even lower standard of living than they do. And they worry that with the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence and robotics, they have no power as to what will happen to their jobs as the economy undergoes major transformations.
The average American worker also understands that his/her political power has been significantly diminished as billionaires pour huge amounts of money into both political parties as they undermine our democracy. It is no great secret as to who now has the clout in Congress. It is the billionaires, the corporate CEOs, the campaign donors and their well-connected lobbyists.
