A new group of education leaders, school advocates, and business partners recently formed a coalition to fight the negative perception surrounding public schools, misinformation, and share the good news that’s happening in their systems.
Public schools are combating issues like declining enrollment, school closures, and the growth of school choice. Over the last few years, ABC15 has reported on nearly a dozen school districts and their leaders choosing to close school campuses due to declining enrollment. On top of that, school leaders say they’re also dealing with misinformation.
"We face a lot of things about the narrative around how we don't use money appropriately, or you have enough money, or you're not transparent despite all the audits we do,” Dr. Michael Winters said.
Winters, the superintendent for Saddle Mountain Unified, spearheads the Coalition for Arizona Public Schools alongside Dr. Kimberly Guerin, the superintendent of the Madison Elementary School District.
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"We tend to operate in silos in public education. We keep our heads down, and we do the work. When we hear some of these negative stories, and we want to refute some of them or share our good news, we just do it individually. That only gets out so much," Guerin said.
The coalition met on Wednesday in a summit to refine and work on furthering their mission. The meeting included dozens of other school district superintendents across the Valley and beyond, school advocates, and partnering businesses.
Their plan is to spread the positive happenings in all their school systems and are working to combat the misinformation and negativity that seems to spread faster.
"If there's a news story or a politician says something, we can respond, and our goal is to respond within 24-48 hours to either provide the truth or more explanation and the context around things," Winters said.
Over the years, some of those educators feel the perception of public schools has declined. Through COVID and an increase in school choice, which includes charter schools and the expansion of the Universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, educators say they’ve been trying to fight through misinformation that spreads quickly online.
"In my 33 years in public education, I have found that public education has been somewhat politicized," Guerin said.
They hope that through the coalition, they’re able to change the narrative. The group says the work has already started, and they plan to ramp up more in the coming weeks and months.
“We just believe in the power of all of us coming together to speak the truth about public education and how we fight for every student in the state of Arizona,” Guerin said.
