UPCOMING EVENTS:

                                                    
The "Enough is enough!" rally for public education on April 19 was a great success!   More than 500 people attended The Alliance for Quality Education sponsored event held at CU-ICAR in Greenville.  See video segments below.

The rally was part of the state-wide "Enough is enough!" campaign kicked off by the April 14 rally at the Statehouse. 

Participants at the Greenville rally filled out more than 300 cards to send to state senators.  In the week following our rally more than 1,500 additional cards from the Greenville community were sent to legislators.  The message on the cards asks our legislators to prevent any further cuts to public education, oppose any new mandates and to find new revenue streams to increase funding for our schools.

Six outstanding speakers made the case that continued funding cuts will have a devastating impact on classroom instruction, the education of our children and the teaching profession.   They also made clear that the funding cuts are not due entirely to the downturn in the economy but are also a result of choices the state legislature has made in recent years--choices that have directly reduced funding for our public schools.   View and listen to their speeches:

-  Welcome and Introductions by Erwin Maddrey, chair of The Alliance for Quality Education.
-  Joni Young, a parent of a child at Hughes Academy.
-  Kelly Nalley, county teacher of the year, a Spanish teacher at Fork Shoals Elementary and one of five finalists for state teacher of the year.
-  Brenda Byrd, principal at Bethel Elementary.
-  Briana Hunter, an eighth-grade student at League Academy.
-  Billy Crank, Senior Community Relations Manager, Michelin North America.
-  Dr. Keith Ray, a parent of children in Greenville public schools and a former chair of the Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees.

As was also pointed out at the rally, in the upcoming year the legislature will have important choices to make about the future of public education funding.   They can choose to implement comprehensive state tax reform that will provide a stable and adequate level of funding for public education and all state services.   Or they can choose to maintain the status quo and allow deeper and deeper cuts to public school funding.

State comprehensive tax reform  is currently being studied by an independent state tax realignment commission (TRAC), which will report their recommendations in November.  In their  2011 session, our state legislature can choose to implement these recommendations.