Go vote for progressive Education Council Members today!
Important elections for Citywide and Community Education Councils are happening right now, running through Tuesday May 13. All NYC public schools parents who care about the future of our schools should be voting in these elections.
Two years ago, in several districts, candidates endorsed by a conservative parent group called PLACE won many seats. PLACE includes several parents aligned with the book-banning, right-wing organization Moms for Liberty, and in the recent past also endorsed Lee Zeldin for Governor and George Santos for Congress. Many of their members take positions on issues that we fervently disagree with, including advocating for the repeal of the class size law.
This year, we recommend that you vote for candidates listed below or here, supported by allied progressive groups, Alliance for Quality Education and D15 Parents for MS Equity. If your child attends a school in District 1, 2, 3, 20, 22 or 30, you can be even more strategic and vote for the candidates recommended for parents at your school at this AQE link, in order to maximize your impact and the number of progressive candidates who gain seats.
Instructions: Sign into your NYC School Account to vote. You have one ballot for every child enrolled in a NYC public school, organized by school district; if you have a high school child, you will vote in the Citywide High School Council election. You have additional ballots if your child has an IEP, is an English Language Learner, or attends a D75 school, enabling you to vote in those respective Citywide Councils. Each ballot allows you to select three candidates, and we urge you to take advantage of that fact by voting for three from the list below.
Important warning: Feel free to share this message via email and social media — unless you happen to be one of the candidates listed. Two years ago, the DOE disqualified one of the candidates we endorsed after she had won a CEC seat, merely because she had shared our endorsement on Twitter. Months later, the NYC Comptroller sent a letter to the Chancellor, showing how this action by the DOE was arbitrary and unfair, by targeting one of our candidates but not any of the PLACE candidates who did the same thing. We also believe that this action violated our constitutional right to free speech, as well as the candidate’s – but we don’t want to risk that happening again.
Update on the citywide elections coming up: We recently sent out surveys for candidates running for Mayor, Council, Public Advocate, Comptroller and Borough President, focused on key education issues, and will post them soon, along with our endorsements. We are also co-sponsoring a Mayoral forum and will have more info on this very soon.
But go vote for progressive Education Council Members today!
