Funding Alert

On August 28, the Public Education Network launched a nation wide-multi year campaign to get Americans involved in public education. The campaign, called Give Kids Good Schools, asks Americans to Learn about education issues, Vote for issues that support quality public schools and Act in favor of quality public education by calling upon leaders to do more to support education.

The campaign includes a website, www.givekidsgoodschools.com that provides parents and citizens with information about public schools: how they are funded, what makes a good school and even access to information about their local schools with a link to SchoolMatters, a website of partner Standard & Poor's. A series of tv, radio and print advertisements are previewed on the site that encourage grown-ups to take action to "give kids good schools."

The website also includes a Take Action section which enables individuals to write letters to their newspapers, contact their elected officials and share information with friends.

Eventually, the website will include a page for every state in the nation which will provide state specific information and networking opportunities for education reform activities in each state. Playing a key part in the role out of the campaign are the local education foundations which are members of the Public Education Network. Local Education Funds (LEFs) are community-based organizations that work closely with public school administrators, teachers and school boards, and partner with parents, community leaders, businesses and students, to improve public schools.

There are currently 79 LEFs in 34 states and the District of Columbia including three in New Jersey: the East Orange Education Foundation, the Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence and the Paterson Education Fund.