Families:

Children & Education

What I Believe

For parents to nurture their children, they need to spend time with them.
If parents need to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet, time with their kids is minimized.
Parents need recreation time for both their and their children’s good mental health.
Parents need a earn a living wage working just one 40-hour work week.
Providing a living wage is good for the economy, e.g., tax revenue
Strong public schools are critical to supporting healthy families
Public schools are the heart of the community they serve, are more diverse and spend their funds more wisely.
Virtual and charter schools have inadequate internal accounting processes for state funds.

Why I Believe It

In my own life, as a single mom, I’ve worked full time and attended school full-time while raising three children. I know how this works (or doesn’t). Childcare is very expensive and sometimes not the best environment for children, particularly very young children. I had very little control over who was caring for my children.
Employers often make no allowances for you as a single parent, no sick time for you, when you or your child is sick, having to take yourself or your child to the doctor, etc.
The stress related to being a single mom with three children was great.
With my own children attending public schools, I felt the teachers cared, did so much with so little, and always had their best interests in mind.

Data Supporting My Belief

By 2024, in areas all across the United States, a single adult without children will need at least $31,200—what a full-time worker making $15 an hour earns annually—to achieve a modest but adequate standard of living. ("Why America Needs a $15 Minimum Wage", Economic Policy Institute)
The emotional, psychological and physical burdens of carrying and delivering a baby continue beyond the delivery room. Yet 25% of women in the U.S. have to go back to work in just two weeks to make ends meet. ("In the Fight for Paid Parental Leave, 6 Months Should Be the Minimum", Forbes)
Child care can be expensive and hard for working parents to navigate, even in the best of circumstances. Smart, compassionate companies help their employees through this minefield, recognizing that it could be the benefit that matters most for employee retention. ("How Some Companies Are Making Child Care Less Stressful for Their Employees", Harvard Business Review)
...by fourth grade, public school students actually have greater academic success than their
demographically similar peers at private or charter schools. The Lubienskis call it “The Public School Effect.” ("Top 10 Reasons Public Schools Are the Best Choice", Huffington Post)
An investigation by the Indiana State Board of Accounts says a quest to “maximize profit” at two virtual charter schools led its leaders to inappropriately collect more than $68.7 million in tax dollars by inflating student enrollment numbers for years. ("Two Virtual Charter Schools Must Repay $154 Million for Inflated Enrollment," WFYI