Watch as UWers participate in the March 4th National Day of Action. Students across the country are protesting the privatization of public institutions of higher education, demanding affordable tuition and fair treatment of university workers. For more information, check out the UW’s Anti-Budget Cuts (ABC) coalition’s blog site here.
hey hey! ho ho! budget cuts have got to go!
John, a senior at Skyline High School in Sammamish
On Monday, LEV took a whole busload of students from around the state down to our state’s capital for a crash course in education advocacy.
Aside from free t-shirts and pizza (a good thing on any day), we also had the opportunity to get together with other students from their legislative districts and brainstorm some message points to deliver to our legislators. We even took part in the gargantuan Rally for Our Future on the steps of the Capitol building, along with 4,000 other like-minded students and citizens, and heard the personal stories of people from all over the state who demonstrated the need for new revenue and the ramifications of cutting funding for education and human services.
Maria and Jesus, who attend Health Sciences and Human Services High School in White Center, rallied to protect funding for kids, schools and human services.
The day culminated in an EPIC scavenger hunt around the capitol, where the student-advocates delivered their notes to their legislators, busted out dance moves on the floor of the rotunda in the Legislative Building, and had the opportunity to sit in on the debates on the House and Senate floors.
Parents brought their kids to Olympia to remind legislators who are impacted by state budget cuts.
It was pretty incredible to be able to see some of the inner cogs and gears of our government (supposedly) working hard on…something. It was also a pretty venue for students to express their opinions on the issues.
Jesus Robles, a junior at Health Sciences and Human Services High School in White Center, was one of a handful of students who stated their beef directly in a video testimony: “My favorite part was being interviewed over the issues in my school and sending the letters to the representatives and senators,” he says.
All in all, LEV gave over 40 students the opportunity to take a direct role in their government and gain some experience in working directly with their representatives.
We met with Sen. Margarita Prentice's legislative aide, Beau Perschbacher, to talk about how budget cuts could impact their schools.
“It was really exciting to express our concerns to the people who are making the decisions,” says Bill Dow, a freshman at the University of Washington, who had the opportunity to sit down with an aide from his state Senator’s office. He adds, “And I want to get marble installed in my dorm room.” (Marble is a pretty constant feature at the capitol-and yes, that includes the bathrooms.)
Experiences like this demonstrate the ease with which concerned students and constituents can see first-hand how their state is being governed, and convey their concerns to their representatives. It was a first time for me, and I was amazed at how we could simply walk into the offices of our representatives and senators and deliver them a note with our views, or pull them out of the chamber to talk with them directly. I mean, how cool is that?!
The answer, of course, is very, very cool.
We left Olympia with a better understanding of how our state is governed and how easy it is to convey our concerns to our elected officials.
Yes it can!
On Saturday, over 100 students and volunteers showed up at the Boathouse at Greenlake to rally for the renewal of Propositions 1 & 2 (the school levies!) These are funds that make-up 23% of the Seattle School district’s operating budget. We’re talking stuff like basic building maintenance and technology upgrades, as well as teacher salaries! Without these levies, the school district would not be able to fund a 6th period in the school day. Whew, big deal.
Below are a few pictures from young voters in action:
One volunteer and UW student, Rocio Woods, would like to remind us all that this year’s all mail-in election comes at a slight cost to the voters: 44 cents!
“Apathy can undermine our best intentions to ensure that Seattle Public Schools receive the funds that they need for their daily operations and capital expenditures. That’s if we don’t pick up the necessary postage to get our ballots in!”
UW students volunteering on the levy campaign are taking steps to ensure that apathy doesn’t get the best of us—they are passing out stamps on campus. Here they are below phone banking at campaign headquarters:
Don’t forget: tomorrow (Feb. 9th) is the LAST day to post-mark your ballot for it to count! Your public schools need your support!
Want to know what students can do to help the Seattle school levies? Well, here’s what we’ve been doing! Several students have given short presentations at a couple different community events this past week to let people know that passing the levy is important to us! We had the ears of the good people at the 46th Legislative District Democrats on January 21st, presentations to local preschools, at school community meetings and one student is reaching out to the Kenyan Community here in Seattle. A few of us have been volunteering hours from the campaign headquarters by working on translating some of the levy literature into Somali and Spanish.
We’ve also been going behind the scenes with our very own camera team, covering the events where the levy is being highlighted. Our Communications Specialists have been keeping their fingers in motion as well, contacting newspapers and community papers to keep the levies on the forefront of everyone’s mind.
And then there’s phone banking! Nope that’s not where you deposit your phone for safekeeping – it’s all about putting your cell phones to good use! Students have come into the Schools First Headquarters (on 524 Dexter Avenue, N. in Seattle) and joined up with community organizations around the city reminding people that their votes matters! We may have also shown up for the free PIZZA! More phone banks are scheduled so if you want to join in on all the fun send us an e-mail to let us know when you can make it (and how many slices they should plan for)!
The last bit of big news is that Schools First is having a rally! This Saturday (the 6th) from 12:00 to 1:00pm at Green Lake Boathouse (5900 West Green Lake Way N). Students (as we speak) are hard at work on getting this event planned and off the ground. Come join us and be a part of this student-led rally to get out the vote to renew Seattle’s levies!
1) Obama stated his commitment to making community colleges across the country more affordable
2) the Bus held Olympia in a Can (part 1 of 3)!
The first three weeks of the legislative session have been a whirlwind of topics: the budget, pre-kindergarten, the budget, race to the top, umm the budget, new revenue sources, and did I mention that people are concerned about Washington’s budget? Not so much a ‘whirlwind of topics’ … maybe more of a black hole, actually.
Amidst the furor over our 2.6 billion dollar deficit, Washington students must know one thing. State need-grants and work study money for two and four year students are on the chopping block.
This was the hot topic last night at Grey Gallery and Lounge, where over 100 young people convened with the Bus, LEV, WSA, and UAW Local 4121 to hear and discuss how this session will affect campuses across Washington.
A few, key facts:
Washington State has over 83,000 college students receiving some form of need-based grant or work study money.
83,000 is more than a sold out Seahawks game at Qwest Field and roughly 2/3rds of all students across the state!
Cutting the state-need grant would entirely eliminate funding for 12,300 students and reduce (by more than half) the awards for 57,000 other students.
Nobody likes the idea of students taking out private loans to pay for their education-except the banks.
Check out Washington Student Association’s calendar for days of action in February and stay posted to League of Education Voters’ student Facebook page for updates on how young people can stay involved in this year’s legislative session.
The title says it all… What will universities and community colleges across Washington do to cope with this session’s ominous budget cuts? A recent poll of UWers suggests some interesting student perspectives on the issue.
Primarily, UW students do not want the quality of their education to decrease given our State’s budget deficit. The survey results beg the question, “Are students willing to pay more tuition to maintain their current level of excellence?” and when you put it that way, then yes, it appears as though they are.
With Washington facing a 2.6 billion dollar deficit, we’re going to see some cuts to higher ed. In fact, it would appear inevitable. But does that have to mean higher tuition? It seems like UW students have a few of their own suggestions about where that money should come from. For the full report, check it out on Publicola.
