Dear Editor:
Here we are once again at the beginning of a new year, a presidential election year to be exact. We have had seven months and more than 20 hours of debates in 2019 and 29 debates since the 2016 presidential election, yet there are still 50 million public school students and 3.1 million teachers in this country who have been ignored in these debates.
In the last four years, no presidential candidate from either side of the aisle has had a real political conversation about poverty and how it has affected public education in America.
In less than one week, the Florida Education Association will take on Tallahassee with a rally for public education next Monday, Jan. 13. You are invited to join us as we urge lawmakers and organizers to increase funding for students and schools, raise pay for all school employees and end the over-testing of students in our districts.
We cannot afford to rest on our laurels and allow another election to pass without standing up and fighting for the issues that matter most to those who need us the most. Our student scholars and our educators are counting on us to be there, Monday, Jan. 13, from 9-4:30 p.m.
This is your opportunity to hear from people just like us: students, parents, educators, moral leaders, and clergy from Florida and across the country about how low-to-median income families are the most impacted by a lack of proper funding for education and failed systematic policies.
It is our unwavering compassion for the 2.9 million Floridians living in poverty, which has called the Poor People’s Campaign to act expeditiously. We refuse to let another presidential debate take place, without calling for a robust discussion on public education!
Corey Givens, Jr.
