Our city has lost its sense of ownership over the school system. White flight triggered decades of population decline leaving the school district without a stable tax base. Many white families who stayed opted for private options further eroding the district’s potential. VICC transported thousands of our Black students to the county with only moderate success attracting white students to the City.

After several decades of steadily declining population and enrollment, City leaders backed education reform, bringing in charter school options in the hope it would slow the decline. This change brought new chaos expanding the system without a plan or oversight.

The instability in the system was worsened by the instability in SLPS. Financial despair and leadership woes prompted state takeover. Twelve years of appointed governance sought to destroy democratic principles.

The system became unwieldy and complicated. Very few options offer high quality educational opportunities. And even fewer of those are accessible to our students most in need of them.

For all of these reasons and many others, we lost our sense of ownership over the school system. We must commit to learning how to regain it and we must commit to doing it together without the fragmentation with which we have grown so comfortable. Our elected leaders and policy makers are positioned to serve as leaders in this effort. They can model the collaboration and vulnerability necessary to bring the City, SLPS, and the charter schools together.

This education platform serves as a guide for anyone who would like to participate in this new approach, but it is especially written for those seeking elected office. Throughout the campaign, candidates have an vocal and visible platform to advance these ideals and initiatives into the general public awareness.

We are less than 15 years away from the 200-year anniversary of SLPS. Let's use those years to reinvigorate ALL of our public schools so they can proudly serve as the important city infrastructure they are for another 200 years.