Education (Pre-K to 12th Grade)
Every child has the right to a free, appropriate, high-quality education.
Entrenched disparities in funding, curriculum, and climate lead to stark disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes, which can cause lasting harms to children. That’s why The Children’s Agenda is driven to ensure fairness and equity in educational funding, language access, disability supports, and racial equity.
Schools should be places where students are welcomed and supported in their learning and development. Children should feel safe and respected. Expectations should be clear, consistent, and fair. When children make mistakes, they should be held accountable in ways that are age-appropriate, get to the root of the problem, and help them learn and grow. That’s why The Children’s Agenda works with school districts to identify policies and system changes that can boost the culture of schools and sustain positive school climates. And that’s why we promote restorative practices and an end to over-reliance on suspensions and expulsions.
Read the Latest from The Children's Agenda
Advocacy
Local-level Testimony
- Our testimony on the proposed 2025-26 budget for the Rochester City School District
State-level Testimony
- Our testimony on education funding to the Joint Legislative Hearing on the 2024-2025 NY State Budget
Foundation Aid
Public education requires adequate and equitable funding. After years of advocacy and a lawsuit brought by parents who were frustrated by the chronic underfunding of schools, New York State developed the Foundation Aid formula in 2007 to create equitable school funding across districts. The formula is designed to be progressive, factoring in community wealth and student need in order to direct the greatest State funding to districts with the fewest resources and the highest needs.
Solutions Not Suspensions
In New York, students are suspended from schools in response to a wide range of behaviors, including minor infractions like being late to class and dress code violations. This form of punishment begins as early as Pre-Kindergarten. The overreliance on exclusionary discipline continues despite research that indicates suspensions are ineffective and harmful and that they deepen academic inequities, especially for students of color, those from low-income backgrounds, and students with disabilities.
As part of the statewide Solutions Not Suspensions Campaign, The Children’s Agenda supports The Judith Kaye Solutions not Suspensions Act (A118/S134). This bill will reform the harsh usage of school suspensions by establishing restorative, age-appropriate, and equitable disciplinary measures in New York’s schools.
The Big Picture about Suspensions
Learn the Facts about Your Community
NYS Assembly and Senate Districts
Explore the statistics for the 2024-25 school year in your local district so that you can advocate effectively with your representatives.
Select Monroe County School Districts
Fact sheets on suspensions for Brighton, East Irondequoit, Gates Chili, Greece, Pittsford, Rochester, and West Irondequoit school districts.
Get Involved: Join Our Solutions Not Suspensions Work Group!
We meet the last Tuesday of each month from 6:30-7:30pm, online via Zoom.
Fill out this form and Carmen Torres will be in touch to welcome you and tell you how to join the next meeting. You can also call her at (585) 256-2620 ext. 2613 with any questions you may have. Se habla español.
