On Saturday, September 21, students, parents, educators and friends of public schools from around Milwaukee and across Wisconsin will assemble at Milwaukee High School of the Arts at 10:30 a.m., then march across the 16th Street Bridge to Forest Home Avenue School, where a rally will commence at 1:00 p.m. to proclaim the civil right of every child to a world class public education.
Students, parents, active & retired educators and school administrators, clergy, civil rights groups and community leaders are organizing the “Public Education is a Civil Right” event as a follow up to a similar march and rally that occurred in 2011.
Organizers will call for a return to Wisconsin’s historically strong system of public education.
March participants and rally speakers will showcase aspects of quality public education that students have lost or risk losing from massive cuts in public school spending since 2011. Organizers are demanding that officials:
• *Fully fund public schools to provide a world class education for every Wisconsin student
• *Keep a strong local taxpayer voice in school governance
• *Stop privatization of public education
• *Hold voucher schools accountable
• *Require quality physical infrastructure for all schools
Organizers are opposed to recent moves by state government to devastate public school funding, siphon public funds to private education, and expand voucher schools without accountability. They also oppose schemes that would remove local control, like the failed “recovery district” idea floated by ideological interest groups.
Sponsors of the march include Parents for Public Schools, Women Committed to an Informed Community, the Wisconsin Alliance of Excellent Schools, school districts including Greenfield and Shorewood, members of school boards from around the state, local teachers’ unions from Milwaukee, Racine, and surrounding communities, the Wisconsin AFL-CIO and other labor unions, and dozens of other organizations, elected officials and community leaders.
The march and rally will include school drum lines, sports teams, walking art shows, award-winning students & teachers and other illustrations of quality public schools.
The public is invited to participate in this free event. Lunch will be available for purchase from food trucks at the end of the march, and organizers will provide water along the route.
Transportation will also be available for those who cannot walk the entire three-mile march route.
WHAT: Public Education is a Civil Right March & Rally
WHERE: Beginning at Milwaukee High School of the Arts, 2300 W. Highland Ave., marching south across the 16th Street Viaduct to Forest Home Avenue School, 1516 W. Forest Home Ave.
WHEN: 10:30 a.m. Gather and kickoff event at High School of the Arts March south across 16th Street Viaduct 1:00 p.m. Rally at Forest Home Avenue School
WHY: To demand a world class public education for all Wisconsin students
