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Freedom Summer: Initiative 42Goals:

To understand Initiative 42 and its impact in MS For Youth to understand their role to pass Initiative 42

Discuss the importance of Initiative 42 for AEJ

Discussion before training:How has or how does funding impact your local work or campaigns?

During Freedom Summer AEJ groups will be working with the Better Schools andBetter Jobs (BSBJ) Campaign on collecting petitions for Initiative 42.

The vison of BSBJ is the make full funding of public education a constitutional right andreality for every child in Mississippi.

BSBJs mission is to convince voters that closing the education gap will open economicopportunity of all Mississippians.

Background (5 min video attached covers this information) :

In 1997 Mississippi Legislature passed the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) to ensurethat students would have the same adequate minimum funding regardless of where they lived.However Mississippi Legislature has funded MAEP according to the formula only 2 times and they used funding from special situations like Hurricane Katrina and the Federal Stimulus Package.

Since the legislation cant be counted on to do it on its own, BSBJ proposes to put on the 2015 ballot aconstitutional amendment requiring the state to provide an adequate and efficient education. This isInitiative 42.

Initiative 42 (5 min video attached covers this information) :

Initiative 42 would amending the constitution to require the State to provide and the legislature tofund an adequate and efficient system of free public schools, protecting each childs fundamental right to educational opportunity through the 12 th grade. This initiative would also authorize the courts of the State to enforce this section with appropriate injunctive relief.

How Will Do We Get Adequate Funding (5 min video attached covers this information) :

To fund initiative 42 state will not require raising taxes. Also, it will not require the elimination of, or reallocation of funding from any currently funded program. To fund it the State will need maintaincurrent funding through 12 th and then devoting no less than 25% of any future increases in generalfunding and other tax collections until reaching the constitutionally required adequate level of funding by the year 2022 and maintaining it in the future.

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How To Pass Initiative 42 (5 min video attached covers this information) :

To place an initiative on the ballot in 2015, we will need at least 107,216 certified signatures of

registered voters this summer. BSBJ will achieve this by gathering at least 21,444 certified signaturefrom each of the 5 congressional districts. As a precaution, BSBJs goal is a total of 200,000 signatures.Thats 40,000 from each congressional district. There will be petition circulators will be collecting signatures.

Rules for Petition Circulators:

During Freedom Summer AEJ will participate in talking with Mississippi residents to get their signaturefor the petition. Unfortunately due to Mississippi State law, only Mississippi residents can collect signatures for petitions. AEJ groups will be paired with petition circulators from Mississippi. Youth willbe talking to voters about the initiative and once they have someone ready to sign the assignedPetition Circulator will collect the signature. Our youth will also be talking to other youth to get involved with the campaign and volunteer to get signatures for the initiative.

Petition circulators should ensure that signers do not sign more than one petition. Circulators must collect signatures only from registered Mississippi Voters. Circulators should ensure that the name,address, county and other voter information is fully legible. Circulators must not mix signatures fromdifferent counties. Circulators may not solicit signatures within 150ft. Of a polling place on any election day. Circulators must sign and complete all information required in the Certificate of Petition Circulator at the bottom fo each petition page.

What voters need to know about Initiative 42:

17 years ago, Mississippi Legislature promised adequate funding for K-12 education.That promise has been kept only 2 times and k-12 has been underfunded by billionsof dollars.Mississippi cannot expect economic growth without well educated students. For now, our states students rank very poorly even compared with neighbor states.From recent polling questions, 70% of the registered voters contacted said they believed the Mississippi legislature would not live up to its promise to adequately fund the Mississippi.The Mississippi Adequate Education Program Act passed in 1997, was aimed at solving the problem that some schools do not have the local resources to provideadequate education for their children, compared to other districts with greater resources. MAEP sought to equalize the states support for every child so that each

district could begin each school year with the same level of funding per child.

Discussion Questions:

Why is the initiative asking for adequate and not just equal funding? How will adequatefunding versus equal funding impact shools of color in Mississippi.

Why is it important for youth to be part of of this effort? Who is impacted the most by

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inadequate funding?

Why is it so important for a state to make an adequate funded education a constitutional right for students?How would this victory impact the country? What would it be like if all states inthe US had a right to a funded education four students?

Review Exercise:

Have youth break up in to groups. Have them come up with a 2 min Public Service Announcement (PSA) or a commercial about Initiative 42. The audience will be youth of color.Your PSA include the following: explain initiative, show its impact, and have a clear ask for action for youth.

What were themes in the different PSAs? How do the PSA connect with your personalexperience in schools with inadequate funding?

Closing:

Ask for any reflections: Is this something you are willing fight for? Are you ready for FreedomSummer?

Review AEJs goals for Freedom Summer:

- To center the fight for education as current advance of our movement.- To learn from the South.- To strengthen youth organizing to lead and win state campaigns on funding equity across the

country.- Develop youth organizing in Mississippi

Review your organizations goals for Freedom Summer:NOTE: During Freedom Summer their will be an opportunity to ask questions about theinitiative before going out to canvass.