Building Community Support for Every Child's Right to Education
A guest blog post from Sara Hicks-Kilday, the Director of The San Francisco Child Care Providers’ Association (SFCCPA), on two films that celebrate the importance of early childhood care and education.
If we believe education is a right of all children, what does this mean about how it should be funded and delivered? Public K12 education in California struggles to keep its per pupil funding up with the national average, while at the national level education faces cuts. Despite families’ need for support for their children at an early age, and a young child’s need to be immersed in a caring learning environment right from the start, early care and education (ECE) does not receive public funding at levels to deliver to all children.
Often these two communities, K12 and ECE, educator and family conversations, actions, and policies are separate. The San Francisco Child Care Providers’ Association (SFCCPA) invites all interested in education as a right to two films on education, from ECE to K12: a celebratory & educational event — followed by community discussion.
Celebrate National Teachers Day with two movies:
What better way to appreciate teachers!
Once Upon a Time. 6:30 pm. An episode of California Newsreel, The Raising of America
Imagine how different things would be today if quality early care and education had been available to any family that wanted it for the past 45 years. It almost happened! Thanks to California Newsreel for making & giving special permission to show this episode at The Roxie!
Backpack Full of Cash. 7:05 pm. Before the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the appointment of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, filmmakers Sarah Mondale and Vera Aronow couldn’t have known that the national education debate would dramatically shift to the very issues at the heart of their film: charter schools, vouchers and privatization. Now, this timely new documentary, Backpack Full of Cash, takes viewers into the world of market-based education “reform.”
Pay what you can. Suggested prices are based on that fact that early care and education providers’ wages are half that of the average women’s wage (similar to a K12 teacher) and one third of the average male income earner. Teaching is #essentialwork — fund it!
Tickets available through The Roxie’s ticket office.
Ticket prices:
- ECE educators - $4
- K12 educators - $8
- Average SF male wage earner - $12
- Supportive high income earner! - $20
- I’m doing fine and want to support educators! - $50
Ticket fees support The San Francisco Child Care Providers’ Association. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Sara Hicks-Kilday is the Director of The San Francisco Child Care Providers’ Association (SFCCPA). The SFCCPA is a grassroots, ECE educator-led organization dedicated to working for the highest quality early care and education for all of San Francisco’s diverse young children and families, by recognizing and strengthening the influence and expertise of early care educators, and building unity with families and community allies to access needed resources.
The opinions expressed by guest bloggers are of the individual author only and not necessarily those of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco or its staff or board of directors.