Dear Friend,
Disruptive innovation - like the work CER has done for nearly 25 years - is why today more families than ever before have access to better educational opportunities. Earlier this month I was reminded of this when speaking with Olga and Michael Block at NY Ed Tech Week, ‘The Global Innovation Festival,’ an annual event produced by the StartED Accelerator at NYU, on whose board I serve. The Blocks are pioneers in the innovative schools movement who sought to transform educational attainment for poor kids and founded BASIS, an award-winning liberal arts-focused school network with emphasis on STEM curriculum and AP courses.
When they first started in Tucson, Arizona, the education establishment did everything in its power to block the Blocks, including changing zoning laws so parents could not drive onto the property, accusing them of being elitist and making other such challenges to the school's right to open or even exist. This is actually nothing new or surprising. We see it every day. But they persisted. Persistence. Grit. Determination. Courage. These same virtues we seek to foster in students and know make more sense than a test score are what we see in pioneers like Olga and Michael.
I am proud that our work has paved the way for people like this to start schools, for innovative companies to transform schools, for policymakers to reinvent how we educate America. We were there when Basis needed advocacy some 20 years ago, and now there are 24 Basis schools available to students in 3 states.
We are there when lawmakers need help fighting the unions, when Secretaries of education need a push, when people and organizations do and say things that are untenable.
And while there are many voices now working who were not there at the beginning, there is only one CER, whose voice is distinctly and consistently strong and relentless in being willing to tackle the difficult fights and challenge the actions of people and organizations who work to block educational freedom, opportunity and innovation at every turn.
We need your help more than ever before to continue this work. It’s not easy, and it’s not always visible, but it happens, every day.
Please take a minute now to make your annual contribution or if it’s your first time, join us to help CER make the next 12 months truly impactful for kids of all ages.
I can’t thank you enough for your support and your ongoing work in the field.
With appreciation –
Jeanne Allen, Founder & CEO
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San Juan County, Utah- The Memorandum Decision filed by Judge Shelby at 4:59pm on Thursday was a difficult way for San Juan County to begin the holiday weekend. This week, the County will file asking the Court for a Final Judgment so that we can determine our next steps.
San Juan County is committed to providing free and fair elections. We have a core belief that every citizen should have the opportunity to select the candidate that they believe is the best. San Juan County has worked to provide fair elections since before the 1984 DOJ ruling and continues to strive for this ideal.
San Juan County has long sought to be like other Counties across America with their own autonomy and the ability to chart their own future rather than have our future dictated to us. With this new ruling, San Juan County elections will continue to be a political football where special interest groups determine our future.
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