Students, parents, teachers and the community are joining together to share knowledge about what's going on with public schools and colleges, build skills to organize for education justice, and outline our campaign to #FundOurSchools and build a #DebtFreeFuture for students and families.

Breakout Session Descriptions

#FundOurSchools: Understanding our broken school funding system and how to equitably fix it

Facilitators:
Beth Kontos, President, American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts
Colin Jones, Senior Policy Analyst, Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center

We see the devastating impact of budget cuts in our schools across the state. Discuss strategies, bills, and local campaigns we can create or amplify to get our schools the funding they need for students to thrive.

Building a #DebtFreeFuture: Organizing for Debt-Free College in Your Community
Facilitators:
Zac Bears, Executive Director, PHENOM (Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts)
Sydney Little, Organizing Director, PHENOM

Decades of cuts by state leaders have broken the promise of an affordable college education. Learn more about our campaign and how you can help win a #DebtFreeFuture for every student and family in the Commonwealth.

More Than A Score: Building a Larger, Stronger MA Test Resistance Movement

Facilitators:
Lisa Guisbond, Executive Director, Citizens For Public Schools
Deb McCarthy, Elementary School Teacher, Hull Public Schools

This session is for parents, educators and students from across Massachusetts who are interested resisting the high-stakes testing that is overwhelming our public schools.

Stories of Justice: Using narratives and knowledge to talk about education justice

Facilitators:
Ruby Reyes, Director, Boston Education Justice Alliance (BEJA)
Charlotte Lowell, March For Our Lives: Boston

Learn how to tell your own education justice story and how to help your community capture and share their stories.

Confronting the Corporate Agenda
*Workshop is in Spanish with interpretation to English

Facilitators:
Lily Huang, Co-Director, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice
Edwin Argueta, Organizer, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice

Together we will explore why corporate education ‘reformers’ have their eyes on our public schools and how they are profiting off of our public education system.

Winning on the Ground: Electoral politics and field organizing
Facilitators:
Jonathan Rodrigues, Organizer, Boston Teachers Union
Paul McClory, Acting Grassroots Director, Massachusetts Teachers Association

Our movement for education justice has already proven we can win when we talk to each other at the most local level: our schools and neighborhoods.