RFS feel-good update (5/15): Fighting for schools wherever & however we can

Mostly just good vibes though

Hi all -

Hope your weekend was a delight as we inch ever closer into summer! I’ve got nothing but good vibes today — let’s dive right in…

In RFS community updates:

• We’ve got 16 Democracy Defenders on the ballot in Pennsylvania tomorrow — these are folks who are part of the Clerk Work effort to preserve democracy from the ground up. Stay tuned for election results!

• Meet 8 amazing AAPI candidates we’re supporting this year.

• Love this from Virginia. (Click thru to see all the pics.)

  

• MN Sen. Alice Mann has been leading the charge on a paid family and medical leave program in Minnesota - a bill that could be transformative for Minnesotans.

• Reps. Maggie Nurrenbern and Ian Mackey are speaking out against anti-trans legislation in the MO state house.

• PA Rep. Rick Krajewski is leading on legislation that could restore the right to vote for those serving time for felonies.

• Congrats to Emmanuel Guerrero, who will be the first and youngest Latino elected to represent his district on the Pasadena City Council in Texas!!!

• Also huge congrats to Denishea Williams, who won a seat on the Cedar Hill school board in Texas!!

• IA Rep. Sami Scheetz lays out all the ways the Iowa GOP is harming Iowans in this no-holds-barred op-ed.

• Sen. Tiara Mack and Rep. Karen Alzate are leading on environmental justice legislation in Rhode Island that would provide more scrutiny on permitting for projects that contribute to pollution, landfills, and more.

• Allegheny County Councilmember Bethany Hallam is continuing her fight to raise the minimum wage for county employees, bumping it to $18 in 2024, $19 in 2025, and $20 by 2026.

• AZ Rep. Oscar De Los Santos makes the case for tackling both the housing crisis and climate crisis by revamping rigid zoning laws. This is my jam.

A perpetual bench-watch: Joe Vogel has announced his campaign for Congress in Maryland; if he wins, he’d be only the second Gen Z member of the body. Joe joins an incredible growing group of RFS alum already running for higher office, including Yassamin Ansari running for Congress in AZ, Malcolm Kenyatta running for PA Auditor General, Wesley Harris running for NC state treasurer, and Joe Signorello, who’s primarying Sen. Menendez in New Jersey. Let’s goooooo!

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In related reading:

• This is a thoughtful and well-researched look at the structural problems facing our gerontocracy — a government run primarily by an older generation. Congress is, tbh, extremely old, and it directly affects their legislative priorities.

• Congress is also failing to represent moms, and wow does it show in their governing. Our partners at Vote Mama have an excellent new report out showing just how under-represented moms are.

• It’s fallen mostly out of the headlines but the right continues to restrict access to the polls in an organized long-term fight to subvert democracy at every possible turn. Keep an eye on this.

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Let’s talk education. The right is investing in offices that intervene in schools all across the country, including in….

• Colorado, where the results have been catastrophic, with staff leaving in droves and a social studies curriculum that specifically encourages disengaged students who don’t participate in democracy.

• Florida, Texas, Missouri, South Carolina, and Utah - the five states that have become the center of the nationwide fight on book bans (on both school boards and in state legislatures) — the NYT looks specifically at what’s happening in Florida and notes that the textbooks in Florida are also sold in other states, because what happens in a red state never stays in a red state.

• Illinois, where they came up short, but just barely.

Last week’s New York Magazine cover story breaks down the history of this fight. This isn’t just a messaging exercise for the right — it’s about building sustainable power by changing what kids learn and the kinds of communities we build.

Over the past three years, legislators in 28 states have passed at least 71 bills controlling what teachers and students can say and do at school. A wave of library purges, subject-matter restrictions, and potential legal threats against educators has followed.

Education has become an obsession on the political right, which now sees it as the central battlefield upon which this country’s future will be settled. Schoolhouses are being conscripted into a cataclysmic war in which no compromise is possible — in which a child in a red state will be discouraged from asking questions about sexual identity, or a professor will be barred from exploring the ways in which white supremacy has shaped America today, or a trans athlete will be prohibited from playing sports.

We’re doing our best to fight for progressive values in education at the levels of government that directly touch the issue — and to fight for it in as many states as possible. The crisis is urgent — thanks for helping stay in it.

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Thank you as always for all you do as part of this team. We’re lucky & grateful for your support.

- Amanda