rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/defund-the-nypd-fully-fund-public-schools-2?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-defund-the-nypd-fully-fund-public-schools-2' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Alliance for Quality Education https://actionnetwork.org/groups/alliance-for-quality-education https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg It has been an incredibly powerful week of righteous protests demanding justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, and so many others that have lost their lives to police violence and we won’t let up. We are making the connections of police brutality in our streets and in our schools. The uprisings across the country for those murdered by the police, are leading to policy victories we never thought were possible. The Minneapolis school board voted last week to cut ties with the police department. Their City Council officially committed to disband the Minneapolis police department. Other cities across the nation are following suit and New York City must be one of them.   The violence we witnessed with George Floyd extends to the over policing of Black and brown youth in schools. On Tuesday, the New York City Independent Budget Office brief showed that Mayor de Blasio is STILL proposing a cut of $800 million from NYC public schools, including cutting mental health supports. Yet he proposed to spend nearly $450 million on police in schools and millions more to expand the NYPD. Send a letter to the NYC Council Budget Negotiating team: Cut funding for police and fully fund ALL public schools. The Mayor’s regressive and violent actions will continue to traumatize Black and brown students. De Blasio and the City Council have a choice: instead of cutting education and needed services to students, they can make the moral and just decision to defund the NYPD and invest in our communities. They won’t do that without our pressure. Join us to demand the Mayor and NYC City Council decrease spending on the police and fully fund NYC public schools. Send a letter to the Budget Negotiating team: #DefundPolice and fund NYC public schools! This choice IS easy, strong leaders should center our students and their wellbeing, and NOT perpetuate the criminalization of Black and Brown people in the streets and in their schools. It is clear that we are lacking that strong leadership at the city level. We need to put pressure on them to take the actions we truly need to serve the most marginalized students. The Mayor, Speaker Corey Johnson, and the City Council’s Budget Negotiating Team could decide the final budget at any moment in these next two weeks. We need all hands on deck today.   Send a letter today letting them know that our students deserve to feel safe in schools. Mayor and NYC Council, invest in education, NOT criminalization. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/defund-the-nypd-fully-fund-public-schools-2