America’s Teachers: From Walkouts to the Ballot Box

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 29, 2018
CONTACT:
​Mara Sloan
​DLCC Communications Director
[email protected]
​202.449.6740

 

 

WASHINGTON — As students and teachers head back to school, today the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) released a memo highlighting the record number of educators who just a few short months ago participated in the “red state revolt” against Republicans’ draconian cuts to education funding and are now running in record numbers for elected office themselves.

 

The memo showcases the disastrous policies and budgets passed by state Republicans that led to the walkouts and has inspired educators and school administrators to step up and run to replace them in statehouses across the country. Many of the educators on the ballot this November are running as Democrats, and the DLCC highlights some of the work of state Democrats to improve schools and expand access to public education – like in Washington where state Democrats were able to fully fund teacher salaries after flipping the state Senate from red to blue in November 2017.

 

“The effects of state Republicans’ attacks on education are far reaching,” said DLCC Executive Director Jessica Post. “Teachers are having to take on second jobs to make ends meet, parents are being forced to find emergency child care when schools are too broke to stay open a full five days a week, and students are piled into overcrowded classrooms and given outdated materials. By electing more teachers and education advocates to legislatures nationwide, we can get back on the road to progress for educating the next generation of leaders. The DLCC is proud to highlight nearly 100 teachers and education advocates on our Spotlight Races page who will fight for teachers and students in every zip code. We continue to stand with our partners at the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and look forward to welcoming a new “class” of educators to statehouses across the country this November.”

 

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is the only organization exclusively committed to electing Democrats to state legislatures all over the country and winning Democratic control of chambers. For over two decades, the DLCC has been working with state legislative leaders to invest strategically in state programs, which has led to Democrats flipping 44 seats since Trump’s inauguration. The DLCC is building on Democrats’ winning momentum and continues to lay the groundwork for substantial gains in 2018 in statehouses nationwide. State Democrats recently scored critical victories in Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Florida, Minnesota, and elsewhere, while also leading the resistance against the Trump administration’s extremist policies. You can learn more about critical upcoming elections and follow DLCC’s Spotlight Races at races.dlcc.org.

 

To view the memo, visit www.dlcc.org/backtoschool. For more information or to schedule an interview with the DLCC, please contact Mara Sloan at [email protected].