Save Our Schools

Save Our Schools
Name	Save Our Schools
Formation	1990s
Type	Advocacy coalition
Headquarters	United States
Region served	United States, international campaigns
Notable people	Diane Ravitch, Jonathan Kozol, Barbara Madeloni, Bill Ayers, Naomi Klein

Save Our Schools is a grassroots coalition and advocacy network formed to oppose widespread policy changes affecting public schools in the United States and to promote alternatives emphasizing equity, community control, and public investment. The coalition has coordinated teacher unions, civil rights groups, parent organizations, and progressive intellectuals to challenge policies promoted by political leaders, philanthropic foundations, and private corporations. Its campaigns have intersected with national debates involving lawmakers, federal agencies, and prominent activists.

History

The coalition emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s amid debates over federal legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act, state-level school reform efforts in California, New York, and the rise of charter school expansion in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit. Influences included earlier movements connected to the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and local community leaders in districts such as Los Angeles Unified School District and Houston Independent School District. Key public figures associated with related critiques included Diane Ravitch, whose shift from a policy insider to a public critic echoed similar mobilizations, and Jonathan Kozol, whose writings on urban schooling galvanized parent and activist networks. The coalition's formation also responded to philanthropic initiatives by organizations tied to figures such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and to policy agendas promoted by think tanks like the Brookings Institution and the Manhattan Institute.

Save Our Schools organized national conferences, teach-ins, and protests that connected with campaigns against standardized-testing regimes enacted under the No Child Left Behind Act and later the Every Student Succeeds Act. In several metropolitan areas, the coalition allied with civil-rights organizations such as the NAACP and faith-based groups including the National Council of Churches to contest school closures and privatization initiatives advocated by municipal administrations and state education departments.

Goals and Platform

The coalition articulated goals emphasizing sustained public investment in neighborhood schools, opposition to large-scale closures, critique of high-stakes standardized testing regimes, and resistance to privatization through vouchers and for-profit management. Its platform invoked civil-rights precedents such as rulings from the Brown v. Board of Education era and linked demands to legislative processes at the U.S. Congress and state legislatures like those in Massachusetts and Texas. Prominent demands included restoration of bargaining rights supported by unions like the American Federation of Teachers and policy proposals aligned with advocacy groups such as the Center for Popular Democracy and MomsRising.

The coalition framed its policy alternatives by referring to models in countries with strong public systems, citing reforms debated in contexts involving institutions such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and comparisons sometimes drawn with practices in Finland and Canada. It also sought accountability mechanisms reflecting standards argued in judicial decisions such as those by state supreme courts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Campaigns and Activities

Activities ranged from local organizing around school board elections to national coordinated days of action, including rallies outside offices of policymakers and philanthropic foundations associated with school reform. Save Our Schools affiliates participated in demonstrations parallel to actions by the Occupy Wall Street movement and aligned with coalitions opposing austerity measures promoted after the 2008 financial crisis. The network staged public forums featuring activists and scholars such as Naomi Klein, Bill Ayers, and Diane Ravitch, and collaborated with labor leaders from the Service Employees International Union and the National Education Association on strike-support efforts.

Tactics included petition drives, legal partnerships with organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, community research projects modeled on studies from universities such as Teachers College, Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley, and media campaigns engaging journalists at outlets including The New York Times and The Washington Post. In several districts the coalition supported school-site councils and community land trusts to retain neighborhood control, drawing on precedents involving the Coalition of Community Schools and initiatives in cities like Boston and Oakland, California.

Organizational Structure and Funding

Save Our Schools functioned less as a single incorporated entity and more as a federated network of local coalitions, nonprofit partners, and allied individuals. Structural models resembled those used by multiorganizational campaigns involving the Movement for Black Lives and progressive networks tied to the Democratic Socialists of America. Funding streams included small-donor fundraising drives, grants from foundations sympathetic to public-school advocacy, and in-kind support from unions such as the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association. Occasionally, fiscal sponsorship arrangements were managed through intermediary nonprofits similar to the Tides Foundation or community foundations operating in metropolitan regions.

Leadership combined elected local coordinators, steering committees drawn from partner organizations, and prominent public intellectuals who served as spokespeople. The network maintained partnerships with legal advocacy groups, research institutes, and faith-based organizations to leverage expertise in litigation, policy analysis, and community outreach.

Criticism and Controversies

Critics accused the coalition of resisting innovation, clashing with reformers associated with philanthropic initiatives led by figures like Bill Gates and private managers linked to firms modeled after Edison Schools. Education-reform advocates such as those aligned with the Broad Foundation argued that opposition to charter growth and accountability measures impeded systemic improvement. Debates became heated in school-board campaigns and municipal politics involving mayors in cities like New York City and Chicago, where tensions over mayoral control and teacher-evaluation systems drew national attention.

The coalition also faced internal controversies over strategy, including disagreements between labor-aligned members and community organizers, and over alliances with polarizing figures whose pasts were invoked by opponents. Questions were raised about transparency in funding when fiscal sponsorship structures mirrored arrangements used by larger advocacy networks that attracted scrutiny in local press and by political opponents.

Impact and Outcomes

Save Our Schools influenced public discourse on testing, accountability, and privatization, contributing to policy shifts such as moratoria on certain closure policies in districts including Philadelphia and legislative amendments at statehouses in New York and California. Its mobilizations helped shape debates leading to revisions of federal guidance under Every Student Succeeds Act implementation and informed legal challenges spearheaded by organizations like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In local elections, coalition-backed candidates and school-board members in cities such as Boston, Oakland, California, and Seattle altered governance priorities toward investment in services and community-engagement models.

The long-term legacy is mixed: while some districts retrenched privatization efforts and expanded community-driven programs, other regions saw continued growth of charter networks and market-oriented reforms championed by entities like the KIPP Foundation and related funders. The coalition’s efforts remain a reference point in ongoing national dialogues involving unions, civil-rights organizations, policymakers, and philanthropic actors.

Category:Education activism