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In the past few weeks, we’ve highlighted our new Public Charter Youth Leadership Council (PCYLC) on our Facebook and Twitter pages. We selected over 20 passionate, talented DC public charter school students, all driven to advocate for the public charter community, from a large pool of applicants. After all, who would be better to advocate for financial parity in DC public education than the very students being affected?
Given the successes and first-hand experiences the councilmembers have, we couldn’t be more excited about what lies ahead for these students and the PCYLC. To have their voices heard, we even scheduled a panel of PCYLC councilmembers to speak at the DC Council Committee of the Whole hearing on March 28.
In preparation, we asked councilmembers to draft what they might like to say to the Council for the most recent PCYLC meeting. To give you an idea of what the councilmembers are all about, here’s some of what they wrote:
“[A]lmost every year, the Mayor gives DCPS schools extra money. Not only is it against the law, but it’s unfair. Why would you give one kid at one school more money than one kid at a different school?”
“I wanted to go to RWPCS [Richard Wright Public Charter School] because I wanted to be a sportscaster. So far they have given me the tools to become what I want to be in life. As a school that focuses on Journalism and Media Arts, we don’t have money for new equipment. Nor do we have space to keep equipment we have now.”
“Kids at my school should have the same resources as students in DCPS schools.”
“Give us the same opportunity to show . . . what we’re made of.”
These are the words of students who feel they are being treated unfairly. But what’s important is that they are taking a stand and advocating for parity. We think it’s vital that you, as a member of the public charter school community, do the same.
We’ll be posting more about what you can do to show the DC Council that DC residents support public charter schools and want them funded fairly. Keep checking our blog and following us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest on how you can get involved!