Letters to the Editor: Join Public School Strong Iowa
Do you care about public schools? Iowa CCI wants you to join a new initiative: Public School Strong. Learn more during upcoming Zoom meetings.
Advertisement
Feedback Needed for DART’s New Bus Network
Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) is redesigning its public transit network. DART is collecting public input on two maps that represent different options for delivering bus service.
From now until April 30, attend a public meeting or look at the maps online and take a short survey to share what kind of transit network you want. Learn more at reimagineDARTdsm.com.
By Tim Glaza
Even though I don’t have children, I’ve come to realize I deeply benefit from strong public schools because they’ve helped make our country far more equal, educated and democratic. Iowa’s public schools were once top-ranked - enough of a source of pride to be on our state's quarter – but we’ve fallen behind because of chronic underfunding and poor leadership.
But under Gov. Kim Reynolds, our public schools are feeling deeper funding cuts through her private school voucher scheme and the dismantling of our Area Education Agencies. This agenda isn’t being driven by Iowans – it’s coming from a web of corporate think tanks and billionaires like Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump. It’s not only about cuts and privatization, but also about our students’ freedom to learn the truth.
Iowa’s politicians have led the charge to ban thousands of books from our school libraries and are changing laws to make it impossible to teach our true history.
Why is this happening? I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say it’s about power, control and whitewashing our nation’s history. A robust education leads to a more informed and active citizenry, and that’s sadly what people currently in power don’t want. They want to control the narrative, control what we’re thinking or believing, and lead us away from asking tough questions that lead to tougher answers. But as we’ve seen throughout our history, when we grapple with tough questions and answers, we grow and progress.
That’s why Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) has launched Public School Strong. Public School Strong is a multiracial, multigenerational group of parents, educators, students and community members who are organizing for fully funded public schools that teach the full truth of our history, uphold the dignity of individuals of all races and backgrounds and have the resources to unlock the full potential of all students so they can be the leaders of tomorrow.
And we believe this organizing movement starts at the school board level.
We’ve trained 155 leaders who have shown up to school board meetings in 16 school districts so far. And we want to go much bigger in 2025 to show grassroots support for our public schools, teachers, and staff – and to push back against Reynolds’ takeover of our schools and our history.
At school board meetings, Public School Strong leaders show up to observe and learn about what is happening in our districts, build relationships with school board members, and take action locally to strengthen and protect our public schools.
We love public education, and we believe all of us have a role to play in supporting our public schools because we all benefit when they are strong and thriving. If you want to work with us to win fully funded public education, please join Public School Strong. Visit www.iowacci.org/pss to sign up for our next orientation at 6 p.m. on April 28 or May 27 on Zoom. Our future is worth it.
Glaza is the special projects director with Iowa CCI in Des Moines and leads their public education campaign work.