By Amanda Menas On May 17, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sexual orientation and gender identity. LGBTQ+ educators, students, and allies nationwide briefly celebrated the step forward, as the bill moved on to the Senate. Kelly Holstine, Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year, says…
House returns from recess, prepares to vote on Dreamer bill Just days from now, the House will vote on the American Dream and Promise Act (H.R. 6)—the first Dreamer bill to advance to the floor in five years. H.R. 6 provides a pathway to citizenship for nearly 2.7 million Dreamers brought to this country as…
By Joye Barksdale For the first time since 2013, the House of Representatives will vote on legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for 2.5 million Dreamers, individuals who came to the United States as minors. The legislation would also benefit Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients. The…
Text by Cindy Long, Photos by Patrick Ryan The #RedforEd movement took its message to Capitol Hill at a briefing hosted by the Progressive Congressional Caucus where four educators from around the country shared victories and how Congress can help them with the continued fight to fund public education. “#RedforEd is not a teacher’s movement,…
By Amanda Menas The conversation about public education is changing in statehouses across the country. The assumption that schools must operate in austerity—that educators must “do more with less”—no longer prevails. After more than a decade of deep education cuts and lagging teacher salaries, a renewed commitment to public schools is emerging. What’s changed? Some…