$25, 000 / 2016
Statewide, NY
Originally founded in 2001 to build support for a resolution to the funding equity lawsuit brought by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) has developed into a powerful voice for education equity. AQE brings together parents, teachers, and unions statewide to develop a shared education reform campaign to increase equity in educational funding and to eliminate zero tolerance in schools. New York State has the highest income inequality in the country and some of the greatest inequity in school funding. Simultaneously, there is a school suspension crisis in New York State that is disproportionately impacting Black and Latino students. Hazen’s renewal grant will enable AQE to work with a coalition of advocates and allies to secure $3.9 billion in statewide school funding increases over the next 2 years, win tax reforms which will require billionaires to pay their fair share in order to adequately fund public schools, to develop legislation for comprehensive school discipline reform and require charter schools to follow the same discipline policies as public schools.